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It Was Like Holocaust'
Updated: 04:46, Tuesday April 03, 2007
Gete Taddese is 27, and has been attending the church since 2004. She has already lost her two year old child to HIV.
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Whether or not such devotion has any positive effect, it is likely to cost some people their lives. "We don't allow patients to take medication if they want to receive holy water", he told me. That means they must stop taking the antiretrovirals which prevent the disease taking hold, and prolong the life of those who carry the HIV virus.
At Addis Adaba's leading hospital, Dr Amone Wodoson understands why Orthodox Christians may seek help from their church, but is angry at the suggestion that they must choose between religion and science.
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There is a long list of rules on who is allowed access to St Mary's Church. Among those banned -- women with wigs because "demons possess such women". Women who are menstruating are also forbidden, along with anyone who has had sex recently. Anyone owning up to such behaviour must wait on a nearby hillside, where priests will come to them and douse them with water.
Here too we found men chained together. Some are forced to submit to the ritual by their friends or relatives. But the vast majority attend willingly. The desperate and the devout, risking their lives in the hope of a miracle.
More:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1258763,00.html