Maisha continued

I went to a funeral for one of the elders in the church here (November 12). He lost his 26 year old daughter. It was never clarified what the cause of death was. But someone told me it was caused by HIV. I went with Rebecca and some other women and we wrapped ourselves up in some kangas. We entered the house of mourning where women were gathered and wailing, and Mzee Masinga was waiving a fan over the face of his daughter as people walked by. His face was so solemn. When I went to greet him he smiled and told me to visit again. But there was pain there. Pain that can’t even be expressed in a cry of emotion. Its just there like an invisible weight. We got on a bus and went to the burial. People were singing songs on the way. Chants and songs expressing passing on to new life. There were so many people gathered around....it was a dusty and hot day.

That same day I went back to the church and got on my bike (Pink Beauty--a truly mean pink mountain bike) to get to Mchungaji’s house where we were having a goat feast to celebrate the return of Esther from her studies in Zambia. She will be the coordinator of the HIV/AIDS program and I will be under her, although it will be a while before she can resign and start working here full time. It was a great feast and celebration. But it was strange to go from a funeral to a celebration in the same day. Mannesseh the other pastor was absolutely insane that night-hilarious—reminded me of my Dad the way he was singing and shouting I was laughing so hard. I love the people here. There was lots of singing, dancing, eating, speeches, and laughing...we were also welcoming two newlywed couples who just returned to the church... Heres a picture of Mannesseh before slaughtering a goat--but I took this picture during the second goat feast we had for the LAHASH visitors (Dan Holcomb's group--ngo) www.lahash.com on December 3...