such a sad day

i am so sorry to say that today i attended my first mozambiquan funeral. virginia, innocence's sister, died early yesterday morning from aids. innocence lived with her from the age of 15 until he got married, so she was his closest sibling, and it has been so sad to stand with him in his grief. i have never seen so many people at a funeral, everyone walks along the street following a truck or two carrying the coffin. i was coping ok until i saw two brothers who i have come to love dearly over this past month, bury their sister. i cannot imagine the pain for my family if my brothers are young enough to be the strong men putting my coffin into the ground.
so it has been a mad end to my time here, i've just tried to be helpful and supportive but i am sure this is not the best time to have a visitor from england around. it did mean i got to spend a whole last day with hannah yesterday as i took her off for the morning and the afternoon to keep us out of the way whilst everything was organised. she is a complete treasure, the sadness i now feel at leaving is huge. so not only do i join with the grief of the family but i have also spent the time saying my goodbyes as i leave in less than 2 hours for malawi. the pain i feel at leaving is great, but at least this time, unlike my previous visits, i feel so much more sure i will be coming back one day for another visit. it is a place that i love too much not to return, and i now feel i belong to a family here - auntie hannah or 'tia' as hannah calls me (portuguese for auntie).
i will write again when things look brighter. sorry for no photos yet as promised, it has just been too hectic but they do now exist on cd so i will post them here soon. if you pray please pray for innocence and his family in their sorrow and please pray that my heart mends quickly from the sorrow at leaving!