Passing

When I arrived home after Katie and Michael’s trip I received news that Dona Joana, a woman who worked at my school and had been teaching me Changana, passed away on Sunday morning. She’d been sick in the hospital for about a week, but I’m not sure what she had. The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow, but today I went with two other women from my school, Dona Alda and Dona Augusta, to Dona Joana’s house to pay our respects. Although I have seen many of these gatherings, I’ve never participated. It was quite an experience. When we arrived it sat in complete silence for about 45 minutes. All the women were sitting on straw mats on the ground on one side of the yard and all the men were in chairs on the other side of the yard. After awhile, women started to sing. It was all in Changana but I did catch some words. Dona Joana’s daughters, whom I know, and several other women were laying down in the middle of the group. At one point a woman started crying and wailing and screaming. A bit later, an older woman, started to sob right next to me. It broke my heart- I believe it was her mother. A few minutes later all the daughters started to cry and started yelling “Mama! Mama!” Everyone started cry then. It was so hard to sit there and listen to these women’s pain. After I was there for about 2 ½ hours I excused myself and came home. I was very happy to be there, to experience it and to show my support, but my heart was breaking. Apparently just after I left her body was brought to the house to be cleaned and prepared for tomorrow. I don’t know if I was ready for that. Also, as strange as this may sound, I was somewhat relieved (reassured?) to see so many women showing emotions in public. After the death of my student, when I saw not one tear or bit of emotion, I was a bit befuddled.
Another bit of unsettling news I learned on Sunday, Christine, Eloite and Rafito’s mom also my empregada, is sick in the hospital in Chokwe. She’s been there for over a week now, and I don’t know much about her condition, except she’s not coming home anytime soon. I go over to her house and visit the women that are there taking care of her children and I’m planning on going to Chokwe as soon as I can to try and visit her. At this moment, I can admit that I’m honestly scared that she won’t make it through, but I’m channeling all my good and healthy thoughts her way.