Village Funerals

I've been to four funerals in the last two months. It's probably the hardest thing I've done. It's heartbreaking to watch a family mourn the loss of a loved one. The way that they mourn here is different than the way we do in the States.

When someone dies they don't embalm the body. They bury the body within 3 days and sometimes even within the first day. They don't use a coffin, but simply put the body into the ground. I don't know all of the customs, but I do know that they lay the body facing Mecca and I'm not sure why.

This picture is of the cemetery behind the mosque in our village where several burials have happened recently.

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Easter Party

In the past few years we have had an Easter party  for our Arab friends. This year we were excited to do it again! Every party is different and this one definitely took some unexpected turns. My friends in the village suggested that we have it somewhere other than my house so that more people could come. The search for a different place was a headache, to say the least. In the end, we decided to have it in one of the vacant houses in our compound and it turned out to be a good choice!

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Mother's Day 2014

This year Mother's Day was really special! Tim had a fun idea to go make some pottery together. We got to help a potter make cups on the spinning wheel. It's a fun memory!

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Swimming Fun

We have had a few different swimming experiences lately that have been fun!

May 1st was Labor Day here and Tim was off of work! We decided to take a boat out to an island for some beach time. It's funny to think that we went from one island to another island for beach time, but there's not great beaches for swimming on the main island.

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