Funeral Service of Jerry Pedro

07/01/2026

Ek verlang vandag erg…

… I asked my father about those events, he didn’t offer long explanations or emotional speeches. He never did. Daddy’s faith was quiet, steady, almost unshakeable. He simply said, “We always knew that God can do what God wants to do… you must always trust God even when He doesn’t seem trustworthy.”

That sentence has taken me decades to fully understand. It was not a statement of blind optimism or sarcasm; it was the reflection of a man who had lived long enough to know that God does not always behave according to our expectations and yet remains faithful.

Some stories begin with drama. Others begin quietly. Mine began with a frail, determined woman who dared to ask God for something impossibly...

19/05/2025

It would have been my father’s birthday today - the first one without him (since his death in February).

I wrote this poem a few years ago. I find comfort in the fact that he heard me recite it.

I love you, Joseph Jerry Pedro. Happy birthday Daddy. And I always will.

(For my hero, my dad)

Daddy
Postmasburg se klonkie
Vroeg reeds oor grense
Soos die Emmanuel kind
Op soek na veilige hawe

Gedwonge, donker onbekende
Van Apartheid weg forseer
Om plek te maak vir wittes
Al swerwend soekend na beter

Bahnhof ontvang die baba kind
Swartkop van Willem en Sophie
Dromend oor ‘n blinker môre
Altyd reg vir sports, dié laaitie

Een hele dag as ambagsman
Nee wat Sophie, die sagte hande
Is seker om te skryf
Hy moet leiding gjee vir andere

Poskantoor se jonge teller
Later Pos se meestertjie
Sy storie vol van planne maak
Want wie nie werk’ie kannie eet’ie

Jonge Pop se tiener liefde
So kort op mekaar die eerste drie
Toe die versoenende verrassing
Van een vegtende suikerklontjie

Val was daar sommer baie van
Beter lewe vir sy kinders
Daarom nooit het hy gaan lê
Altyd beurend, opwaarts

Ridder van die grootpad
Vorentoe gedruk deur lewenswind
Dit moét net beter wees
Saam met die Emmanuel kind

Droom innie dannas
Geloof innie hart
Oop palm virrie vreem’ling
Familie aan die hand

Dissie mooie waardes
Nie net geleer van jou
Gebind om onse hart
Maar ook gesien in jou

Jou vegtersgees onverbiddelik
Jou vergifnis hart oneindig groot
Jou mosterdsaad geloof
Die is ons kompas virrie pad

Of ons dan grense oor
Of swarigheid moet face
Ons kyk na jou vir moed
As onsekere donkerte ons baklei

Dankie Gearbox
Dankie Pop se Liefie
WiIlem en Sophie se Jerry
Dankie Broertjie

Dankie Daddy.

DaddyPostmasburg se klonkieVroeg reeds oor grenseSoos die Emmanuel kindOp soek na veilige haweGedwonge, donker onbekendeVan Apartheid weg forseerOm plek te...

04/04/2025

2 Months today❤️

The Lilly Magnolia Tree that we planted in Daddy’s Memory is flowering. So beautiful.

04/04/2025

Hello friends

I am trying to create a Memory Box (File) of my Late Mum and Dad. If you perhaps have any photos, videos, voice notes, written notes or any other memories that you have of them, can you please share them with me .

I have created a OneDrive shared folder. If you want to send photos, etc, it may be best to let me know and I can send you the link. You can also try WhatsApp or email. If you want to post or deliver something, let me know and I can send you an address).

Including memories of their childhood or teenage years.

Romeo

28/03/2025

Some of my friends have asked for a YouTube link to our dad’s funeral. Well, here it is.

Several of my non-Namibian friends have also asked me about our funeral traditions.

And I probably have to start with the fact that death and grief is much more communal here than in Europe - funerals are community affairs.

When someone dies, the practice is to have a service at the home of the deceased on the first night after their death. It is then followed by services throughout the week. The funeral is then traditionally on the Saturday following the death.

At all of these services, community members turn up in great numbers and pay tribute by comforting the family through spontaneous messages and lots of harmonious singing. There is always food shared at these occasions.

On the last night before the funeral the community gathers again at the house of the deceased. In the past this used to be an all-night wake (with the body of the deceased present for viewing).

The next morning a short service takes place at the house and the procession then moves to church. This service is usually attended by hundreds of people and is never shorter than 90 minutes. Everyone then moves to the graveyard for the commital. The community sings while everyone takes turns to fill the grave.

There is also a practice called “voorsê”. The elders read a line of a hymn and the people sing it back. This, I think emanates from a time when people couldn’t read or write.

Everyone then returns to the house of the deceased to give thanks and to eat together. Sometimes there is also the “washing of the hands” at the entrance gate of the house. This symbolises the washing off of death (a kind of finality ritual).

It may sound tiring to the European ear, but there is such great comfort in the support that one receives from the community at your time of loss and bereavement. The love you feel is so tangible.

“I am because we are” is felt in such a practical way as we grieve the death of our beloved father.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BNv6w17p1/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Funeral Service of Joseph (Jerry) Pedro
19/05/1950 - 04/02/2025

26/03/2025

While grief will always be part of me, it doesn’t define me. It shapes me — sometimes painfully, but also beautifully.

grief ministry fatherhood pastor and grief

15/02/2025

Thank you Elvis for these beautiful photos of the funeral yesterday.

15/02/2025

Thank you Elvis Jansen for these beautiful photos.

15/02/2025

14/02/2025