Sonya has a few Zulus come to work in her home and they have become like family. The Zulus call Sonya and her husband and kids their "white family" and after Tia's last trip, she brought home a picture of this beautiful smiling Zulu little boy, the son of one of Sonya's house workers.. His skin shined eboy and his teeth sparkled white. He was wearing a red tshirt and the background was green with jungle. He is one of those kids that you can see his heart through his eyes. They call him "Little John" because his Zulu name is so hard to pronounce. Tia talked about him often and about how sweet he was. She has his picture framed in her kitchen.
Tia called me on New Years Day to tell me that on New Years Eve, when Little John was back in his village, his father came home obscenely drunk and beat him to death. It must of lasted for hours, and the next day his father had no recollection of it. Even though I never met him, it still broke my heart. He was only 8.
Sonya called Tia this afternoon to tell her about the funeral. Its very rare for a white person to be invited to a Zulu funeral, so to make sure everything was ok, Sonya went to the funeral director the day before. She walked in his office, and there was Little John's body on the floor. She said he was so badly beaten you could hardly recognize his face. Sonya knew that his family couldn't see him this way. But it is Zulu custom to always have an empty casket, so she prayed that God would find a way to have this casket closed.
Here is the rest of the story in an email to my sister. It's so touching that I had to share it here.
words are very insufficient for this moment
we have just returned from Little John's funeral
i have to say that it was one of the most deeply moving, profound experiences of my life
and if i had to find a single word to describe this day it would be
beautiful
this seems a very strange word to use after such a day but no other words seems to fit more appropriately
the day began with us leaving our home with the zulu women
we went as far was we could in the car
we played zulu music all the way
then when we got out of the car the ladies showed us the way through the hills and bush to where Little John was to be buried
the day was filled with song, if i could have just captured the song to share with you all you would know why i use the word beautiful.
These precious people sang and sang and sang, the entire day
no wailing, no anger, but rather, deep, deep heart song like i have never, ever known
when we arrived i went and sat down on the floor, as is the custom, next to Thobi and held her hand
everyone was singing all the time
so very, very beautifully
then the minister saw Greg and I and asked us to please stand and talk to the people because he acknowledges that we are the 'family of John' - his way of putting it.
I stood with Thanda, she interpreted while i shared about the life, the light and the smiling face we will always remember. I had not prepared anything and had not expected this to happen at all. Then God gave me words to comfort these people. I said "Little John was such a happy happy boy and had such a happy life. He may have suffered in his last hours, but the rest of his life was filled with such joy. Think of all the children that suffer all their lives. I'm thankful that his days here with us were so blessed. We were blessed to know him."
I asked if i could show the photo of John's smiling face that you took. I had printed it on a full size piece of paper and laminated it.
I was unsure if this would interfere with the customs. The minister said i must please show it, i held it up, in front of soooo many people and they all began to weep and clap their hands and smile and lift their hands and break into song which has moved my soul and spirit in a way i cannot describe.
The custom is to have the coffin open for the people to walk past. I was so nervous of this because i knew that John's body had been badly damaged. We prayed so hard that, this time, they would not allow people to see such a hurt little body and God answered that prayer, they had the coffin open but covered the whole coffin with a blanket and placed the beautiful photo at the top, ontop of the blanket.
When the people walked passed they sang thanks to God for John, they sang these words over and over again
God has called you home little one
you are in the place where there is no more dying for you
you are smiling now just as you are in this picture in front of us
smiling forever
no more crying for you little one
we will come and see your smiling face again when He calls us
come, come, come home now.
the place which is your home now little one
The Africans just make up a simple song with their own words and then they turn it into something so very beautiful. They sang this song over and over in Zulu, and then Thanda began to lead them in English, the same song, and they all followed her lead and sang it many times in English for our sake, just copying her, it was incredible.
The minister thanked us a number of times for coming and they invited Greg to take a spade and fill the grave, which is only kept for the immediate families members who are men. This too was an honour.
now i send you just a few photos
unfortunately you cannot hear the singing but i know that this day was filled with peace because so, so, so many people prayed for peace and love.
In fact Johns grandfather said at the very end that he hoped that we could all love each other and show peace towards one another even though it was his own son who did this, he is burying his grandson and his son because of what has happened.
he asked for the other side of the family to please come to him if anyone had any questions so that they could talk about things in peace and then he asked if we would all please pray for these two families and he asked that the white people too would pray for them and he thanked us for coming
Greg and i were the only two white people there
we estimate there to have been about 200 people, but i am sure a lot more.
so we say thank you to every one who has held this day in prayer
we shall continue to remember John for the love that he gave and that beautiful smiling face."