Latima Bupe

Some of you may already know, but our dear friend and brother died very suddenly on Sunday morning (17th Feb). He was taken ill at the weekend and died on Sunday morning.  Latima died of complications relating to another malaria attack.

If you don't know of Latima and our community's link with him, please click the Joy Community button to find out more.

Such a shock for us all and as you can imagine, his family are devastated.  The funeral was held on February 19th. Please pray for them, especially Vera, such a wonderful Christian lady and wife who supported Latima in all He did.  He used to say that she was his strength and his encourager. Having made all the bricks for the school but not having money and not knowing where the money would come from to buy cement and move the building on, he was so discouraged that he wanted to sell some of the bricks.  It was Vera who said, "No, don't sell the bricks." And then God bought us into their lives and we saw the making of a miracle.  Their love for each other was so evident and they had so many little jokes together.

Please pray for the future of the school as the implications of Latima's death are huge, not only for his family but the school and the wider community too.

Some things are very difficult to understand but we are told in Proverbs 3 v 5:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on our own understanding...' . We do know that God is over this and amongst the sadness, there will be great celebrations today for the life of a wonderful, Godly man who has touched many lives and is now with His Lord and Saviour - having a great time.  God gave him a dream and he ran with it  - at great cost to himself and his family.  A real testimony to the depth and strength of one man's faith and the power of God.

Ben, a friend of Peter, Liz Kingfisher's brother-in-law, has been with the family. He and Peter visited Latima and JCS last year (they too support the school).   Ben was near Ndola, visiting another project and had arranged to see Latima to spend 4 days with them. God's timing!!!  As you can imagine he will be a great support whilst he is there and will also meet with the school board/trustees before he returns to England.  This is very encouraging for us. Please pray for Ben.

From Ben: “It truly was very shocking to hear about Latima's passing just as we were about to visit them all. The family is devastated and are grieving and in deep sorrow. also concerned about their future, but I have told them we will continue to support them. The funeral service was beautiful with Chola's choir singing so well, mostly in bemba but also some in english, one song was very moving, 'all is well with my soul'.  I have never seen so many people come to a funeral, many couldn't get in the church, also many people very emotional and fainting as well as getting dragged away from the coffin, which by the way was beautiful. The burial took place afterwards but I could not get even close to the graveside as there were so many people, some climbing in trees to get a good view. I tried to be there for the family but they are so distraught and spaced out and in shock too. Could hardly get into the house and yard as so many people were camping out. It is good for me to be here though as it seems to give them some comfort and reassurrance. I have told them you are sending all your love and people in the UK are praying for them.  Also been to the farm and now with Emmanuel looking at some of his projects here, so much to do here, but  I am doing good and meeting lots of very fine people. Electricity goes out a lot of the time so I am glad to get this out to you. Much love to all and greetings, Ben.