I was born a Hindu in a small town in South Africa. I went to the local Roman Catholic School run by the King William’s Town Dominican Sisters. The school, St Joseph’s, was truly Catholic in that the sisters welcomed children of all faiths and none.

It was during the apartheid years, so this was a school for those classified as “coloured”. There were a handful who, like me, were “South African Indian”. We Hindus believed in communal prayer and worship, so were happy to attend regular “services” in the Catholic Church.