William's Funeral

On Sunday afternoon I found out that my friend William passed away. It was a combination of Liver cancer and Hep B and C that took his 49 year old life. I went to his house on Sunday evening and sat for a few hours with many of my Fida friends, to mourn the loss of a man who loved God. There was not a lot of talking happening at the house, unless it was to announce the funeral arrangements and budget for the following day.

On Monday morning fifteen of us from the Fida office gathered together to collect money and help the family bring friends and family to the village of Akeriau. We left Soroti just after 10 am and drove about an hour and a half. At first I thought we were going to the village, but it ended up being the bush. We did some serious off-roading to get to the family farm of William.

Crowds of people were already there, sitting around the coffin and listening to a preacher. Throughout the day people kept walking to the homestead from every direction while the speeches continued. Occasionally a packed vehicle would arrive, and two lory trucks loaded with people also filled the continuously expanding tent.
Lawrence did some of the translating for me, since 3/4 of the day was spoken in Ateso. Some of the speeches were a struggle for me... and not because of the language but because of what was said. The family stated that he died of a white man's disease and the crowds looked my direction as they spoke of Hepititas. Also, the aunts and uncles were having a dispute over the land divisions because William also has two illigitimate siblings and they wanted to figure out how to care for the children. So sad.
Mourners would come in, and whenever the crying became too intense, the crowds would begin to sing about how this life is just temporary and our real home is in heaven.

Women came in throughout the afternoon, either carrying grass for people to sit on, or water jugs on their heads so that people could drink or cook.

Here is one of the daughters having a hard time saying good-bye. William had 6 school aged children, and now they are praying that another family will step up and look after these young ones. (No one was allowed to touch the body, because it was believed to still be contageous.)

My friend Dennis is in the middle of the stirring committee. A huge pot of posho is being made to serve the crowds. Posho is a white corn meal.

Brown beans and beef would decorate the posho.

I helped to barbeque some corn for a few hungry people. I thought maybe it was the five loaves ready to feed the five thousand. :)

Here is a glimpse of the crowd. I would say that this was only half of all who attended.

At 5 o'clock I said my final good-bye to William and we headed back to Soroti.