October 18, 2012

• Death in Africa

  Two families in the village have had deaths in the family in the past 2 days.  Both of the deaths were in the capital city of Bissau, but the funerals and the mourning were held here in Catel. Both houses were only a few houses away from us, so we got to hear the full crying and mourning that goes on.  They bury the person the first day, usually without a casket.  They dig up the veranda that surrounds each house to keep out the rains and water, and that is where they put them.  It is easy to tell when someone dies, because of the unearthly sing song wailing that begins.  It is almost like a song, but think of a song with notes impossibly high, at times, and then other times a lower voice.  I think this is almost exclusively the women who do this, but it goes on for hours, so much so that you wonder how much the human voice can take.  The whole community gathers in respect at the house, but there it is mostly everyone just gathered around in solemn grief, around the house.   

  I stood, silent, in the hot African sun, as sweat poured down the small of my back and the front of my shirt, and thought about that death, whether in Africa, or elsewhere, is triste, or sad.  And the funerals in Africa must be a lot more similar to the funerals of the Bible than ours.  I just thought about the time that Jesus stepped into a funeral procession like that and healed the dead person.   And the way everyone gathers, I realized that Jesus msissing the funeral of Lazarus in the Bible was a rather significant event..a lot more significant than we think in our culture.  Because, here, everyone stops whatever they were planning to do, and it will be stopped for a couple of days or even longer until normalcy is resumed.  

   Yesterdays funeral was for a 26 year old man who is a brother to one of the younger leaders in the church.  So even though I did not know him, I felt that I should go there.  Today, they will probably kill a cow, and feed everyone, and more or less have a celebration, but the main event was yesterday.  But I was awakened this am at 6 by the crying, and sing song voice.  Did it go on all night=–I donºt know, but it was there this am.

  As far as how things are going in general? I am enjoying myself.  I have gotten into the routine, and now feel comfortable treating a patient without an interpreter.  However, sometimes in spite of my excellent –ahem–Kiriol, it seems like I have a difficult time getting my point across.  And so then, I have to call for help.  Sometimes, the same words said by someone who speaks Kiriol really well seem to carry more weight.  And then there was the day 2 days ago.  Tenigs wife had her baby, so he wasnºt working, and Terriann left the clinic to check on the baby, so I was there by myself.  Then, as sometimes happens, another person shows up at the clinic, Domingus, who felt called upon to translate for me.  However, his translation did not do much good, as he was only repeating the same words in Kiriol that they had just said.  I understood most of them anyway, but with him translating, it did slow down the process.  He is a bit slower, one the special persons that God puts in our path.  I could add a lot more to that, but I think that I have said enough.  I think all of us have them, and they are truly one of the least of these, so let us not shove them aside.

  • 8:53 am
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