Unfortunately it had been rather a bad night – the rats were very active, Meshaki had many coughing fits, Bruce was restless and my pillow seemed lumpier than ever – in the end I gave up on it and put it off the bed. Like the mattress, it was just filled with straw. As the head of the mattress was quite raised, I didn’t miss it very much at all and just put my head on my dressing gown.
It was a day that started with bright sunshine, but some clouds came over quite fast. We were glad that all our washing got dry apart from our underwear, which of course was languishing indoors!
We had a very interesting breakfast – passion fruit, the guavas, cold rice and eggs. Yum.
At about 10 am, we walked down to the stream then up the hill the other side to Fideli’s. There were so many people there and still more on the way, from every part of the island as well as perhaps some of the smaller ones off-shore. The men congregated outside near a large fire, and the women sat inside in the vestibule on the dried grass and mats.
Mama and I sat indoors with the women for quite some time before going outside. But first we had to go into a tiny room to greet Fideli and a strange mama (I think she was a pastor from a neighbouring church). The old lady’s body was lying wrapped up on a mat on one side. I tried to encourage Fideli, who had been weeping, by assuring him that his mother was now with the Lord and was rejoicing in heaven, free from her weak, sick body at last. She had been a keen Christian for several years.
The ladies were all quietly chatting, some looking after small children or breastfeeding babies. Small groups of people came in, greeted us all round, then filed into the little room to view the body and comfort Fideli. The mamas were very surprised that I would choose to sit with them, so mama mchungaji explained that I was her friend. They talked a little about mama Christine, the American doctor, and how much they liked her, she was always so hospitable and friendly.
The men outside took turns to dig the grave and to help make the coffin. Bruce spent some time with them with pastor and another man who knew a little English.
Eventually mama decided it was time to return home for lunch, which was ready at 1.30. We had been told that the funeral would start around 2, so we ate in haste – sweet potato, rice and fish. I was surprised just how much rice Danieli and pastor ate! They didn’t leave anything behind this time!
We were very happy to meet an old friend from previous visits, Amin. He lives in a small village at the end of the island past the AIM church and clinic. He and his wife now have 2 children, I think.
Mama had to walk up the hill carrying a bundle of dry grass – all the women had been asked to make a contribution. At first I’d assumed she meant that they each had to take some food or tealeaves – but it appears it was dried grass for the funeral. Other people did take food with them because many would be staying with the family for at least the next night or two.
When we arrived back at Fideli’s, we sat outside on a log under a silk bush which had just started flowering – very pretty. We chatted with some children who told us that the funeral wouldn’t start till about 4 pm. It looked like there were at least 60 people gathered on grass and wooden slabs on the ground outside. The sun had got really hot and I felt like I was getting quite burnt – ouch! It was quite hard to stay in the shade as the sun kept moving round.
At around 3.30 people started gathering outside the house, and many of the men went indoors. The mama’s body was brought out from the little room and placed in the coffin. The broody hen we had noted a few days earlier made a grand entrance during the singing of a hymn, and everyone had to leave her a path to walk through. As there was not enough room inside for everyone to gather, some of us stayed outside whilst several songs were sung and some prayers made. Then everyone trooped outside again and sat down near the grave. I’d been asked to take many photos as a reminder of the occasion, but unfortunately, the camera decided to go on strike, and I was not feeling very comfortable with photographing such an event. As Bruce had been asked to speak, he was standing at the head of the grave with pastor M and another pastor, and I was asked to join them – but had to stand behind them as there was no room – it was not a good position for taking photos!
The coffin was placed in the grave straight away, then we sang some songs and a prayer was made before Bruce gave an encouraging message, with Pastor M translating. He did get stuck a couple of times and occasionally rather garbled the message but I didn’t try correcting him, not wanting to do anything that might be misconstrued. Overall he was quite accurate!
Pastor was the first to throw some clods of earth on the grave, then all the men took turns tossing a few shovelfuls of earth on it. One young man got rather carried away, and tossed the earth so hard that people close by got spattered. Once the grave was filled in, the mamas brought bundles of cut grass and laid them around it, then some of them gave flowering plants to the little children who planted them on the grave.We were a bit surprised when the island chairman stood up at the end of the service and gave a formal notice about a collection of money for the local schools. It caused quite a bit of dissension amongst those present. He told them it was a government edict, not his own idea – and that it would mean that the school would be theirs, not the government’s. It kind of seemed a bit odd to us to have such an announcement at the end of a funeral, but as pastor noted, it was a good occasion as the whole village was present.
We went back past the Mugaruras’, continuing up the hill to the very top to see a site that they’d like to purchase and use as a life-skills training centre for the locals. Bruce thinks they could run a school to train people in various skills such as starting and running a small business, using better agricultural practices, Bible teaching, etc etc. They would really love it if we would return and teach there. They say I could teach English to all ages and would get students from all over the island! The cost of a few hectares of land would be at most a few hundred dollars. They would be prepared to make the bricks and start building, and to plant a shelter belt around the outside. They reckoned it was an ideal spot, being fertile land – although it was pretty rocky so I was doubtful about the depth of topsoil present. There certainly were plenty of rocks to use for foundations! The biggest problem would be water. If you had to go all the way down the hill to the stream below the Mugaruras’, it would be a huge task, and it didn’t look like there was a closer stream on the other side of the hill. It would increase the cost of building hugely to put on an iron roof and put up some kind of water tank. Transporting one up there would be difficult so you might have to build one out of the stones and make sure it was water-tight with a good concrete lining. Lots of things to think about, but certainly not a project we could do in a hurry. We’d need to try to get backing from a missionary organisation, partly for our own protection and support, as well as do a heap of research re what might be feasible. One possibility could be to see whether AIM would help us as they already have missionaries on the island and perhaps such a project could complement their medical work. Life is hard for those who are not fishermen, and good sources of income hard to get. Even the fishermen might find life rather tough shortly, as the government wants to put a 3-month moratorium on fishing in Lake Victoria to try to build up fish stocks again. It is becoming harder and harder to find the large fish needed for export, and the fishermen are catching and selling far too many small fish on the local trade.
Before a fairly late tea at 8.30 of ugali and beans, i had an opportunity to speak with Julietta on the phone. At first, I spoke with her uncle, who speaks good English, but unfortunately the battery went flat after a while so I couldn’t say much to Julietta. She would have loved to have been able to travel to Kemondo to meet us off the boat, but unfortunately she couldn’t afford the bus fare. She has learnt how to use a sewing machine so is helping with the family finances. Her little baby, Christina (named after me!), is doing well.
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