Etchings

One of the days we were in Chipepo we went to the funeral of a young boy. Memories from this day will forever be etched in my brain. I wish there was a way to play my memories like a movie real for you.

Funerals in Zambia typically go on for days. Think 4-7. People from all over come and sit at the funerals all day. There is a lot of wailing, literally, which is part of their culture.

When we got there we were split into two groups, men and women. We were next to the room where the grandmother was sitting and singing with the coffin of her grandson. There were many other women in there singing with her. One of the ladies told us while we were in there that they were singing a song about the Lord.

After we came out we were chatting with the older ladies who are called nay-nays. (I may not have spelled that right!) The picture etched in my brain is of all these ladies smoking their tobacco in these huge pipes.

Next, a team went next door to pray with the mother. She wasn’t at the funeral. Apparently, she had been really ill since her son died and they didn’t want her to get worse. As a human being I had love for this woman who lost her child, but as a mother it just takes it to another level. Only Jesus makes that better.

Once we got back, we sat down and not long after that all the men stood up. Then all the women stand up. Men, we would call them pallbearers, came to move the body out of the house for viewing with the casket open before burial. I wanted to look away as we past by, yet found I couldn’t. It’s not something easily forgotten to see a child in a casket.

At the burial site, which was dug that morning by anyone and everyone, Overland Mission’s Leader in Africa, Jake, preached a simple Gospel message to the crowd, this is very different than burial messages in America.

Jesus is the focus of all that we are doing, we express Him in so many different ways, but LOVE being the motivating factor. God loves all people just where they are, He wants all to become part of His family, we don’t push anything on them, we just live like Jesus and share His love.

In His Love,

The Hennis Family