The Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology in the College of Human Sciences hosted a conference themed Trauma and the Spirituality of Children and Youth in modern society.

During the two days of the conference, respected scholars in the field presented papers on various issues that could have negative impact and disturb the spirituality of children. The presenters dived deep to the theme and highlighted the importance of spirituality and spiritual practices as a solution to most of the traumatic experiences children are growing under, specifically in modern society.

As much as the focus was on trauma and its effects on spirituality of children, the conference speakers highlighted that spirituality is something that somehow touches and influences most people of different cultures in the world. This allowed for interesting and diverse reading on the impact of traumatic experiences on children and their spirituality, which highlighted the necessity to teach children and parents in general about the importance of spiritual exercises, as a way of healing the spiritual and physical wounds from the past.

Also highlighted was the difficulty experienced in talking about spirituality without sounding “old school” or religious or even sounding “suspicious”. Differentiating between spirituality and religion is always a hard one to distinguish in most cases because of the thin line in between although this distinction is fundamentally important.

In today’s modern society, touching on the topic on spirituality can be a sensitive and confusing topic especially during the time of trauma and decolonisation. Sometimes to talk about spirituality is to open another “can of worms” whose purpose seem to mystify and divide than unite people through their different spiritual practices.

The gap between spirituality and being a human being in modern society seem to increase slowly but surely and this should raise concerns especially from the position of people who believe we are spirits before flesh. That is to say, before flesh there is a spirit or a soul, therefore, to deal with trauma that is caused by flesh is to go back to spiritual practices.

Various ways of spiritual practices that can be adopted for children and adults such as yoga, walking, praying, meditating, dancing, poetry and art were mentioned. This was highlighted because it is believed, to adopt some form of spiritual practice or belonging to a faith group can assist with staying connected to nature, self and others. The presenters reflected on various traumatic experiences of survivors of human trafficking, being raised by divorced parents, and socio-political influences.  

The keynote speaker of the conference was Joan Marston who just retired as Chief Executive of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) and currently holding a position has its ambassador.

Marston, as an expert on the topic of trauma and its impact on children and youth, said during her presentation that “with trauma there is disconnect” that also comes with feelings of “lack of meaning and purpose” in one’s life.

She deployed the metaphor of the rainbow as a way of connecting and expressing the need to engage on spiritual awareness exercises, because with a lifestyle that does not involve any form of spiritual exercises and awareness becomes a depressing life.

In considering the impact trauma has on the life of children and youth with their parents and their communities, Marston argued in order to live a spiritual life, one must “find meaning, purpose and enjoy your time with passion. Make it count. Make it meaningful”. In line with her conclusion of the presentation, she highlighted that “spirituality contains the word ritual”, therefore, to live a spiritual and peaceful life is to adopt spiritual and meaningful rituals.    

Joan Marston (Retired Chief Executive of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network) delivered the keynote address at a recent conference on Trauma and the Spirituality of Children and Youth in modern society held by Unisa’s Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology.

* By Zingisa Nkosinkulu (CHS communications and marketing)

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