A Funeral in Kenya

Last Friday we received the sad news of the passing of the 20-year-old daughter of one of our ATS Adjunct Faculty, Rev. John Kiboi. Faith Kiboi had sickened and died after a very short bout of pneumonia. Yesterday Kathy and I attended the funeral services. Funerals in Kenya are very personal - the family must retrieve the body of their loved one, prepare it for burial and entomb it on family land. There are cemeteries in Kenya, but most people would prefer to be buried on family land.

The first part of the ceremony was held at our church, St. Lukes. About two hundred people attended, some coming from as far away as Nairobi (a contingent of faculty members from Carlyle University where John is the Academic Dean). The service, scheduled for 10am, began when the coffin and family arrived from their home in Kibomet (a housing area in Kitale). Many people spoke, parents, siblings, extended family, friends and guests. The service lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Then we loaded into cars and caravaned out to the family property. There were no policemen on motorcycles shepherding us on the way, but people and drivers, for the most part, recognized what was happening and made way with grace.

As we stood with the large crowd in the Kiboi's front yard (our group from the church was swelled by neighbors), we watched as the coffin was taken from a table where it lay for a viewing by those who were not at the church, and laid in a grave that had been dug on the side. It is a sobering thing to see the dirt scraped back into the hole and the simple wooden cross set in place. Following this, the family served a meal to all the attenders, and then, around 4pm we dispersed.

Faith would have turned 21 tomorrow (Saturday). One of the speakers suggested that we might honor her life by taking a moment to remember her and her family in prayer. I think that is a good idea.