Respect for difference was a hallmark of Mandela’s life philosophy and FAMSA decided to salute his legacy on Mandela Day by arranging an interfaith panel on how to approach dying and death.
Different faith communities have different ideas about the end of life and different rituals associated with death, burial and mourning. Knowing about those differences helps one to be aware of the attitudes of people around us.
This is not the first time that Pauline Sevitz, FAMSA’s Western Cape/ Counselling Manager, and her colleague Annatjie Wait have put together such a panel designed to equip its counsellors with knowledge so that they will understand and have compassion when working with people around the issues of death and mourning.
The workshop, facilitated by Pauline, was well attended and the participants raised important issues like suicide, euthanasia, abortion and cremation. The golden thread that ran through the whole panel discussion was the need for respect, non-judgmentalism and compassion for the people with which they worked.
The Cape Board would like to congratulate FAMSA both on the important work its organisation does as well as for its recognition of value of educating to create a culture of interfaith understanding.
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