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We Scattered John's Ashes in the Indian Ocean
FrontLines - July 2009
Stephanie Funk, Pamela Fessenden, Teresa McGhie, and Faisal Sultan were close friends and colleagues of John Granville, who was killed in Sudan along with coworker Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama on Jan. 1, 2008. The following is adapted from a note about a trip to Zanzibar that Funk sent on behalf of this group to the Granville family. John’s mother had requested that John’s ashes be spread in Zanzibar in honor of a memorable trip he had taken there with his aunt and uncle.
Zanzibar, Tanzania—
We all—Faisal, Pam, Teresa, and I—want you to know what a beautiful ceremony we had for John on Sunday morning, May 24 [2009].
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Teresa McGhie pours her friend’s ashes into the ocean.
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On this Memorial Day weekend we sailed out into the Indian Ocean in a dhow, an Arab sailboat of ancient design, and placed John’s ashes in the most crystal clear blue-green water we have ever seen.
For almost two hours we sailed, smiled, cried, and remembered John.
There were a number of coincidences that made us believe that John was with us.
First, it had been rainy and overcast for the previous
three days, but when we woke up on Sunday morning
the sky was blue and welcoming. It was almost as if John was telling us he was ready and inviting us to move forward.
Second, Faisal made it to Zanzibar the night before the ceremony despite numerous
obstacles while flying from Sudan to Kenya and then Zanzibar, with a vehicle breakdown and an unscheduled
landing in Kilimanjaro in-between. After all of that, who could doubt he was meant to be there?
Finally, the predator crows which had invaded the resort for the previous three days disappeared on Sunday in an interesting twist.
On that morning we took the box with John’s ashes and headed to the sea.
While on the dhow, we asked our guide if we could go out past the reef, but there was a language barrier
and we weren’t getting an answer. After a lot of confusion
someone asked, “Where are we going?” And the funniest
moment of the whole day came when the response to our question was “Sailing!”
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Left to right: Stephanie Funk, Teresa McGhie, Faisal Sultan, and Pamela Fessenden set sail to scatter John Granville’s ashes into the Indian Ocean.
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We all broke out laughing and then glided into remembering
our favorite funny stories about John. It was amazing how we remembered so many things that were said about him at the funeral ... the story about him clapping his hands while riding his bicycle out of respect for the chief he was passing on the road and then promptly flying over the handlebars; the story about him commenting to one of his high school friends when sitting
in the back of his pickup truck how great it was to be in a pickup and not have chickens pooping on his head or babies crying on his lap; and other stories of how he always made us laugh and smile.
It was then time to raise our glasses and toast our friend John and his mother Jane for sharing him with us and begin the process of scattering his ashes.
One by one we poured his ashes into the beautiful, crystal clear water and just as we finished we turned to see a flock of seagulls rise up off a dhow into the sky. It was an incredible moment because for the past few days we had commented on the fact that there were only crows, and no seagulls, on the beach.
But there they were, spreading
their white wings and lifting
off into the sky. The timing and symbolism seemed to speak for itself.
Peaceful, beautiful, tranquil, heaven bound.
In the end, John did what he always did best. He brought us together in a beautiful place and held us there in a meaningful way.
“Where are we going?”
Sailing … sailing through life richer for having
known him.
We can’t thank you enough for sharing him with us.
★
On June 24, 2009, five men were convicted in a Sudanese court for the murder of John Granville and Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama.
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