When we first said that we were going to do six months in South Africa, we were made aware that priests seemed to spend most of their Saturday mornings taking funerals. We have been surprised therefore to have been involved with only two funerals so far. The first was that of a still born baby almost as soon as we got here and then last week we had the funeral of the grandmother of my colleague, Fr. Joseph, at one of our outstations, St. Barnabas, Britstown. I am not sure why we have had so few funerals but perhaps this is further evidence of the way South Africa has at last got to grips with the Aids virus. From the UNAIDS Global report for 2010 comes the fact that South Africa has reduced rates of new HIV infections by more than 25%. It may also indicate the type of community the Anglican church here in De Aar is, as for the most part it is a middle class coloured congregation who can afford preventative medicines. Clergy here only take the funerals of members of their own church, unlike in the UK.
But let me tell you about the funeral of Ouma Hugo (pronounced "Youwho").It was a wonderful example of the African way of death. She was known as Ouma Girlie and had lived in Britstown all her life. She was 95 when she died and obviously had been the matriarch of the town for many years. My colleague Joseph was one of her many grandchildren and like so many African families Ouma Girlie had been literally mother to them all. They all were devoted to her and so was the whole church of St. Barnabas so there was a wonderful mixture of thanksgiving and sorrow that permeated both the Friday evening Requiem Mass and the Saturday morning funeral.
She was a remarkable lady. Emma and I met her once when we first arrived here and she could hardly walk but tenaciously made the 100 yards from her house to the church on two sticks. She was a member of the MU for over 60 years, had worked in the kitchen and as a cleaner in the local hotel for 40 years (the same hotel that some years ago while on our Newbury Deanery pilgrimage to K and K we had a lovely lunch in the courtyard). Although incredibly frail she would sing the hymns at the top of her voice and of course knew them all by heart.
I was asked to do the Requiem Mass on the Friday evening which was quite a privilege. This was mainly for family and the local congregation and I was grateful for all those times I had preached at funerals and could feel assured that nobody had heard my "funeral" sermon before. The next morning's ceremonies started with "the viewing" at the house from 7.30am and then the funeral procession to the church. Huge numbers began arriving from all over the diocese and further afield including several priests. People had driven up from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in the south and from Upington in the west and Jo'burg in the north. The Mothers' Union members hardly stopped singing; they were quiet for the tributes but as soon as there was a slight pause in proceedings they would start up again. They do not do silence very well here!
The service itself was orderly but chaotic. So many people packed into the church that chairs had to be brought in and nobody seemed to mind that this was happening during the service causing a certain amount of commotion. Even at 8.30am in the morning it was hot and the service went on for some two hours.This was followed by another procession to the cemetery which was a few hundred yards away. Again members of the MU kept up a cacophony of songs until the time caBlog 15 : January 20th
When we first said that we were going to do six months in South Africa, we were made aware that priests seemed to spend most of their Saturday mornings taking funerals. We have been surprised therefore to have been involved with only two funerals so far. The first was that of a still born baby almost as soon as we got here and then last week we had the funeral of the grandmother of my colleague, Fr. Joseph, at one of our outstations, St. Barnabas, Britstown. I am not sure why we have had so few funerals but perhaps this is further evidence of the way South Africa has at last got to grips with the Aids virus. From the UNAIDS Global report for 2010 comes the fact that South Africa has reduced rates of new HIV infections by more than 25%. It may also indicate the type of community the Anglican church here in De Aar is, as for the most part it is a middle class coloured congregation who can afford preventative medicines. Clergy here only take the funerals of members of their own church, unlike in the UK.
But let me tell you about the funeral of Ouma Hugo (pronounced "Youwho").It was a wonderful example of the African way of death. She was known as Ouma Girlie and had lived in Britstown all her life. She was 95 when she died and obviously had been the matriarch of the town for many years. My colleague Joseph was one of her many grandchildren and like so many African families Ouma Girlie had been literally mother to them all. They all were devoted to her and so was the whole church of St. Barnabas so there was a wonderful mixture of thanksgiving and sorrow that permeated both the Friday evening Requiem Mass and the Saturday morning funeral.
She was a remarkable lady. Emma and I met her once when we first arrived here and she could hardly walk but tenaciously made the 100 yards from her house to the church on two sticks. She was a member of the MU for over 60 years, had worked in the kitchen and as a cleaner in the local hotel for 40 years (the same hotel that some years ago while on our Newbury Deanery pilgrimage to K and K we had a lovely lunch in the courtyard). Although incredibly frail she would sing the hymns at the top of her voice and of course knew them all by heart.
I was asked to do the Requiem Mass on the Friday evening which was quite a privilege. This was mainly for family and the local congregation and I was grateful for all those times I had preached at funerals and could feel assured that nobody had heard my "funeral" sermon before. The next morning's ceremonies started with "the viewing" at the house from 7.30am and then the funeral procession to the church escorted by Mothers' Union members dressed in their black and white uniforms.
Huge numbers began arriving from all over the diocese and further afield including several priests. People had driven up from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in the south and from Upington in the west and Jo'burg in the north. The Mothers' Union members hardly stopped singing; they were quiet for the tributes but as soon as there was a slight pause in proceedings they would start up again. They do not do silence very well here!
In church the MU stood with candles around the coffin throughout the long service. At times different members or friends from the AWF (Anglican Women's Fellowship) quietly pushed their way forward through the throng to take their place at the coffin while others dropped back, glad no doubt to sit down.
The service itself was orderly but chaotic. So many people packed into the church that chairs had to be brought in and nobody seemed to mind that this was happening during the service causing a certain amount of commotion. Even at 8.30am in the morning it was hot and the service went on for some two hours.This was followed by another procession to the cemetery which was a few hundred yards away. Again members of the MU kept up a cacophony of songs until the time came for the coffin to be lowered into the ground. As many of you will know the hole has to be filled in by male members of family and friends before the funeral is considered finished so we had to endure quite a time in the midday sun with the MU continuing with their repertoire.
All of us then returned to either the church or the house where we were served lunch. It was the usual Karoon style lunch with rice and some cold vegetables and lumps of mutton. Somebody said that 500 people had been fed.
So we retreated back to De Aar after a memorable service during which Fr. Joseph thanked his "new dear, beloved friend Fr. Tom" for doing the requiem mass. I am sure it was genuine but I hardly deserved such a description. But it was great for Emma and I to represent the wider church/MU and the old lady certainly deserved all the recognition she got from all over the diocese. It felt good to be part of it all.
Two things have happened that have been minor disasters. The first that during a shopping trip into De Aar I left Alastair and Emma looking for shoes and nipped into a hairdressers. It was not a good choice. The black hairdresser seemed to understand my need for a trim but then with his electric shaver preceeded to cut off most of my lovely locks! I came away looking like a startled hedgehog and for the first time in my life have joined what used to be called the crew-cut gang. The hairdresser seemed very pleased with his achievement and I had to forlornly leave my fair hair on his floor!! Schoolboy error I guess.
The other minor disaster is that this week we have all been suffering from what is obviously a nasty
gastric flu bug. Emma went down with it last Sunday and we immediately suspected the mutton at the funeral. But it was more than that and we all have had runny tummies, high temperatures and tired limps so I guess there is a pernicious virus around. This meant we had to cancel our trip last Monday to the Gariep Dam, near Colesberg on the River Orange. There has been so much rainfall in the east of the country that the dams cannot contain the water and the sight of it cascading over the dam is sensational. The rains keep falling so we will not miss out.
However as you would expect we have not been idle and have attacked the many boxes lying around the vestry with old records in them. These are records that in England would be carefully looked after and desposited in the local records office. But not here. We have found fascinating correspondence, cheques, minute books, letters from as early as the 1880s especially from one of our outstations in Richmond. This all started with the idea of writing a history of the church in De Aar that Emma had in discussion with an old member of the congregation. We set Alastair on the job of tracking down any history at the local municpal offices and library and he returned with the information that the Anglican church was the first christian community in the town. During my incapacity he and Emma have gone through the records, put them in order and gleaned a little information about the church's history. It has been a good exercise when you do not want to be far from the loo!
The temperature at the beginning of the week was stifling – mostly in the mid 30s – and having a temperature on top of feeling very hot made being ill rather grim. But things are slowly looking up. The rain clouds have returned and the temperatures have dropped so it is feeling much more pleasant and it was easier to sleep last night. The amount of rain we have had this summer has been exceptional and although in other parts of the country it has caused severe flooding and widespread damage to crops here the usually dry Karoo it is looking positively green and the farmers must be smiling.
So we are hoping the illnesses are behind us and we can look forward to better days where we can get on with the work here. We are kept on our toes either shooing away children stealing from the grapevine by the house or now encouraging them to ask politely and cutting the more or less ripened fruit down for them to prevent the frame from collapsing. The grapes are small and seeded and not what we need to be eating just now. We hope they enjoy them. We think some of the local kids have been joined by street children who we have seen beating up smaller boys. The schools have just returned and things are getting back to normal. Already we have meetings in Prieska (180kms) and Kimberley (300 kms) to go to on the next two week-ends. At the last church council meeting on Tuesday we laid down some plans for the next few weeks so I hope I can report soon that we have been earning our keep.
