Mourning

When Terrie gave us our first tour of the hospital she made a special note to tell us that when a patient dies in the hospital Malawian tradition is for a large group of family and friends to roll that body on a bed through the halls of the hospital. She told us that if we see a large group if people walking down the halls the polite thing to do is to stop walking and stand off to the side until they pass. Literally an hour after she explained this to us she was giving us a tour of the hospital and we heard this amazing sound and saw a large group walking toward us. The leader of the group seemed to be a nurse wheeling the body, and behind her was a HUGE group of people. One person in the group would sing a line of a song and then the rest of the people would echo that line. The song they were singing seemed to be in Chichewa (the language spoken here), so we didn't understand what they were saying, but it didn't matter it, it sounded so beautiful. It was so powerful that it brought tears to most of our eyes. Standing there, watching and listening you could almost feel the spirit of the body passing by. Terrie said that someone usually dies everyday, so I am sure that we will see this ceremony often. There is so much more to write about, but I don't have time now. We are about to take off to the hospital!

Have a good day

Niamh