On Monday morning at 8am, Margaret's mother passed away. 5 days before, Margaret had fallen while helping to turn her mother and broken her ankle. So they put Margaret in a temporary cast so that she could go home for the funeral. A Zambian funeral typically lasts up to a week. Visitors come to the funeral house (the house of the deceased), enter on their knees, and greet everyone in the family while the people are wailing. They then sit and visit for awhile, or stay and sleep there for days at a time. The women sit on the floor inside and the men sit under shelters outside for the week. When the body is brought from the hospital, they will then have a burial which is similar to our graveside services.
The atmosphere at Margaret's mother's funeral was different. There wasn't the typical wailing and crying--perhaps because she was older and had been sick a long time, or perhaps because 7 Americans showed up at once to attend the funeral!
I found it ironic that one of our volunteer teams was here when this woman burned her witchcraft items, and another volunteer team was here for her funeral.
It will be interesting to see what God has for Margaret in the future...possibly a future at New Day.....
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