Sad times: You don’t speak much English, do you?

We had not been in Guatemala long when one of my team members, Dianne learnt that her daughter in law, Rhiannon had gone missing off the coast of Costa Rica where she had been swimming with her six year old son, Julian.  It was agreed by all, especially Dianne that I accompany her to Costa Rica to help with the journey and offer support.  Dianne and I were at the same missions school in Mozambique in 2011 and in the same activity group so we had got to know each other quite well.

Having had an early start and with the help of God, angels, Lonely Planet and a fast taxi driver (!) we were able to make the  journey from the north of Guatemala to the west of Costa Rica in about 16 hours.  When we got there, Dianne’s son sadly told Dianne that Rhiannon’s body had been found having been caught in a rip tide.  Amazingly enough she had been able to push Julian to safety.  Truly tragic and what a loss to her husband Norman and their two boys Giannni and Julian.

In the middle of such tragedy, I was made to feel very welcome by the family.  I spent time playing with the boys, especially in the sea and helping Dianne with arrangements.  Julian and Gianni definitely have a very special place in my heart and made me smile and cry a lot.   They found my English accent very amusing and did not always understand what I said.  Julian said at one point ‘you don’t speak much English, do you?’ much to the amusement of his family! 

Rhiannon’s memorial service was held on the beach at sunset where she had died – it was stunningly beautiful and had been decorated with lilies and candles.  The family were so pleased to meet Johan, a local teenager who had been out surfing and had managed to rescue Julian as Rhiannon had pushed him up out of the water.  Dianne returned to be with her family in the States whilst I journeyed back to join the rest of the team…via a cannabis smoking youth hostel and overnight bus from Guatemala city complete with an armed guard at the station!

During the whole time I found myself profoundly grateful for my social work experience and the whole time was truly one of the biggest privileges of my life.  I continue to pray for the family and was very blessed when I was reunited with the team as I got taken out for breakfast by ‘my girls’ (Liz, Rose and Caitlin) who also paid for a hotel room for us that night as a treat.  Hurrah!