Florence R.I.P.

Greetings to all.
 On Thursday evening last week, Florence passed away aged 17months old. She had sickle cell anemia and her wee life was full of pain with several trips to hospital and on Thursday it was all too much and God has called her home. We met with the children on Thursday night to celebrate her life at Noah's Ark and to give them a chance to grieve for her passing. An uncle from Kampala came to take the body for a post mortem and it was agreed to take her back to her village for the burial. Florence came to us when her mother died in giving birth to her and her father was unable to care for her so she had spent all her life at NACMU but it was felt best that she return to be laid to rest beside her mother (who also had the same condition). So on Friday morning I left with four of the aunties who had cared for her, Stephen the driver, Florence's aunt and uncle, together with wee Florence's body, to represent Noah's Ark at the burial. It took 5 hours driving to get to the village in a place called Pallisa, the last hour and a half on real Ugandan potholed roads which at times became almost like a cycle track but thanks to Stephen we arrived at about 4:30pm. There were about 150 people waiting for us when we arrived and they took charge of the body. We were given food and then set about greeting the people before we went to another house to sleep. The burial service was held at 11am on Saturday morning with even more people in attendance, at least 250. The speakers all gave thanks to Noah's Ark for the love and care bestowed on Florence, it was quite humbling to be among so many who had so little. In the villages they are not as used to seeing Muzungus so Aunty Tamar and I were quite a novelty, with many babies and young children scared of us, but we tried to put them at ease. Florence was laid beside her mother which felt right.
We left by 2pm after being fed again and the trip back was a little quicker so we arrived home about 6:30pm.
This was a new experience for me but it was good to see the way people in the remote villages live their lives and to be reminded of their generous hospitality. The region is more sparsely populated than where we are and I would like to visit that region again sometime hopefully in better circumstances. There are many crops grown, maize, rice, cassava, millet to name a few.
Marilyn did not accompany us this time as on Saturday she had a final practice for church as the guitar group were leading our worship today and they really did a marvellous job. It was great to see such joy in the worship so we don't think it will be the last time they do this. The kids themselves felt good about it too.
Well that's all for now. On Wednesday we will have been here for five years. Five of the most challenging and most rewarding years of our lives. God is good!!
Till next time, God Bless