The Doum-tree of Wad Hamid

By Tayeb Salih

WERE YOU TO COME to our village as a tourist, it is likely, my son, that you would not stay long. (…)

Source: Salih, Tayeb. “The Doum-Tree of Wad Hamid.” In: The Wedding of Zein and other Sudanese Stories. Oxford: Heinemann Educational, 1968.

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current affairs

In The Guardian article “Letting them die: parents refuse medical help for children in the name of Christ” Jason Wilson asks whether state law should force parents to seek medical attention for their children and not to rely on faith-healing alone. 

links

Jason Wilson “Letting them die: parents refuse medical help for children in the name of Christ.” Guardian, 13 April 2016. [🔗]

questions

  1. Do you think the government is justified in imposing its initiatives on the village? Should the village be more open to progress? Should the government be more responsive to cultural sensitivities? Or maybe both sides are being too inflexible and they should strive to find a compromise?

  2. The UNESCO 2001 Declaration on Cultural Diversity states: “No one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor limit their scope.” The protagonist in the story admits that due to the isolation of the village, they have “no experience of hospitals … when in serious trouble we go to the doum-tree.” One could invoke the Declaration to argue that we should choose for a steamer service (which will presumably provide access to hospitals and secure the human right to health care) and this should take priority over respecting local beliefs about the healing power of the Doum-tree. Would this be the right stand?

  3. Also in the West, religious practices often clash with the demands of modernity. Read The Guardian article “Letting them die: parents refuse medical help for children in the name of Christ.”  Do you think that parents should be entitled to preserve their religious practices in dealing with their children’s health situation or should the state protect the interests of the children? What about parents who prefer to treat their children with alternative medicine?