July 4, 2010
Happy We Get To Live In The Greatest Country Ever Day, American friends. :) Now go read a copy of the Constitution and remember why!
Our neighbor died last night. We didn't know him; he had been ill for some time. Apparently, most of Dar es Salaam did know him though. Large trucks carrying tents, tables and chairs woke us up throughout the night, unloading and building a small grandstand between our wall and theirs (they live across the street from us).
We live about a half mile down a dirt road, at a T-intersection with a smaller dirt road. One side of the T is now jammed with chairs, tents for shade, and cars. In fact, throughout the day, cars jammed almost every road in our neighborhood. We were fortunate to get out for church before the bigger crowd showed up; we tried to get home three times in the day but had to park far away and walk in the gate to put a purchased chicken in the refrigerator. They had laid the casket out right in front of our gate, with rows and rows of chairs backed right up to the gate...I had to ask people to get up just to access the pedestrian gate. Felt really bad about that. It would have been nice if they had asked before they blocked us out, but hey, they were having a much worse day than us.
I was so, so sad for this family who lost someone so obviously important in their lives. Even through the cultural fog, that is obvious. A parade of people dressed in fine clothes brought gifts for days. I put on a long skirt and sleeved shirt and carried a card over. I hope they received it in the spirit it was given. Barnabas helped me with the wording...he advised me not to go in their gate, or I would be exposing myself to many strangers asking for money or favors. I trusted him on this one. Even at the local church one Sunday, two people asked me for a job during worship...not cool, but a reminder of how desperately people here need work.
So, this man's body lay at our door for the entire Independence Day, and we finally got in the gate well after dark when they moved him in a hearse. Another sign he was someone of high standing: hearses are very uncommon here; it is the first one I have seen.
Thank God for friends we could spend the day with. We ordered pizza and felt very American for one insulated day at another friend's house.
I love your heart, friend! Thanks for being willing to share your stories. I was just thinking of you as we are heading to my parents for the day (to be in their A/C) to escape the humidity and the heat...and knowing there is so so so much more heat where you are! And would you believe that Erkinesh is the one that complains the most about the heat?! She was just standing here saying she wants snow.
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