Carrying the wreaths...

Well, today was a public holiday here and so I thought a lie in and a bit of a rest after yesterday! Around 10am I decided to go for a wander and saw a lot of people at the church. When I asked what was going on I was informed that a former boss of mine had passed away while I was in SA. He was heading up the whole church organisation that I work for.

So, there was going to be a service in the church at 10am. I changed my plans because in Africa if you live in the village you must go to the funeral (whether you know the person or not), but I wanted to go and pay my respects to the family! I went to the church which was packed full of people wearing black and white. In Africa in most churches the women's guild wear uniforms, in our case black and white. There is also a men's guild and they also wear black and white (so practical with the African dust but somehow they always look sparkling white).

Sat in the church waiting for the coffin to be brought from the mortuary. While we wait we sing in Africa - so there was some lively music. However, around 12 noon someone came and told us there was a problem that the coffin was too small and that we should go and come back after 1pm. A new coffin was going to be made!

Note: we have coffin workshops here who make coffins on demand and to size, so the wrong size must have been ordered in this case!

After 1pm I went back to the church and we sang more hymns and chorus's - soon it was 3pm and then 4pm and I decided to go out and see what was going on. I was told the funeral is coming now from the mortuary - we waited until after 5pm before it came. I have to admit I left shortly after the arrival of the coffin or I might still be there yet.

After the service the body will be taken to Karonga for burial tomorrow morning - mourners will sit all night with the body at the village and sing.......

Anyway, to the picture now - these are some of the ladies in their uniforms following behind the coffin which has already gone into the church. They are fresh flowers just picked from the bushes around!

Its not a great picture but its the best I could do today! There is a lot more I could tell you both about the uniforms and the funerals but hopefully there will be more blips to share that info on :-)