Funeral

The Assistant Pastor of the local Sudanese Evangelical Covenant Church was killed last week standing on the Daniel Webster Highway next to his car which had broken down.  A woman unused to drinking who had had a few drinks at a wedding struck him. His wife and three children were in the car. From the bulletin at the memorial service:

Osman Mahmoud Komi Konda was born on January 1, 1966 and died tragically on the night of October 19, 2019 in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Born in Senar, Sudan, Osman's family was forced to flee Sudan to Egypt in an effort to escape the civil conflict that continues to plague both Sudan and South Sudan today. As Osman grew into adulthood, he converted to Christianity and eventually became ordained in the African Inland Church in Cairo, Egypt.

Osman pastored Mansheyet-al-sadr Evangelical Church located in Cairo, Egypt from 2005 until he was given refugee status in 2015 by the United Nations at which time he, his wife and their children were resettled in Nashua, New Hampshire - USA. Osman quickly assimilated in Nashua, began working and was invited to serve as co-pastor of the Sudanese Evangelical Covenant Church in Manchester, New Hampshire where he served until his death. Osman worked full-time at the DiaCom Corporation in Amherst, NH as a machine operator where he was loved and admired by his co-workers. Pastor Osman was well-known across the world as a uniquely humble person who worked tirelessly towards peace and lived boldly for uniting people to Jesus. Osman's humble impact wherever he lived and served will be reflected throughout all eternity.

Osman leaves behind his loving wife, Feebi Saee Kabba, their three beautiful children Christine (13), Christopher (10), and Christian (2), three brothers in Cairo and multitudes of friends and admirers around the world who are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of their loving husband, father, brother, leader and friend. He was predeceased in death by his parents.

We went to the calling hours and the service, because we were involved in that church at its founding and have kept some contact since. Both women and men wept openly at various points, though the women more loudly, and longer.  I don't recall being surrounded by weeping people before, and it is very easy to weep oneself in that circumstance.  Perhaps we are wired that way, in the same way that we tend to laugh when others are laughing, even when we have not heard the joke. They are right to weep, I think, and we chilly New Englanders are wrong to hold back. It was not that long ago that other ethnic groups in America wept at funerals as well.

It highlighted again how difficult ministry to refugees is.  Many Sudanese could not make it to the calling hours because they did not have rides.  Feebi is less able than most to find work to support herself and her children. I know that money is being gathered for funeral expenses, but all of that is not fully organised at present. I think Pastor Osman is being buried in the last of the plots in the old Swedish section of the cemetery, purchased over a century ago by our congregation. As the Covenanters in America were very involved in international missions, such as New England Seafarers, I think the old Swedes he lies next to would have been pleased how things worked out.