I remember the first moment I saw the river – a chocolate brown wide river from the bridge in the hotest journey of my life to date!

Seeing it in June is different to the fullness it would show in September when my Uncle was here. Yet it is hard to deny the vastness and greatnees it beholds.

On the journey we saw Hippos and lots of birds and fish!

After we finished our boat ride we walked back along the shoreline. Earlier on, I wrote a tribute to my uncle remembering who he was mixed with the sights and smells I experienced in the last land he knew. It was a priviledge to be here for this moment. I mourned his death. I honoured his life.

Opportunity arose and I shared this tribute and this moment with the whole team:

A tribute to My Uncle Cpl Ian MacLeod

Mud shacks, horses, donkeys. Bare feet and gleeming grins. White shawls, smartly dressed, a dignity proudly revealled. Joy amidst turmoil peace overcoming trials, A people who live with nothing, yet have true inner peace and joy. A soldier, a man of great courage. A warrior, unashamed and unafraid.

An adventure, a land yet unconquered. A river, so vast and yet unknown. A team, the best of the best, ready to face death and danger. Few had tried and were met with the spear, many hours of exploring ahead. Encountering people of breathtaking beauty. Farmers, shepherds working the fields. They work the ground by hand and oxen still, travelling by foot a common sight. He was a man’s man – one of the strongest on the team. Reports state he rescued three men from the dangers of the river. Respected by all the team members and renowed as strong and capable is how he was seen.

It was September in 1968, the Great Abiai Expedition began here at Lake Tana, the mouth of the Nile. Their mission – to sucessfully navigate and map out the Blue Nile. No easy feat as others had tried only to be met with death from the tribes around. All eyes were on the team as the reporter sent back updates. A point was reached for a rope to be sent across. A man chosen, to face the unknown. My uncle told the man, you have a wife and chilren, let me go in your place as I have none. The man agreed knowing the danger and I imagine, praying for his safety. It was here at this moment a transaction took place. My uncle died, the line to his life was cut as the forces of the water held his body under. His body was never recovered as it could not be drawn back. You see, my uncle gave what he could not keep – His life, to gain what he could not lose, an etenal benefit. There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for a friend. Without hesitation, my uncle did this willingly not knowing the consequences.

A selfless act, an act of love beyond measure.

Here lies and inheritance unspoken

Redemption for my family

Tears yet to be released

For a man I never knew or met

Yet whose life and death has impacted me to strongly.

A lifeline today is to be reconnected

Both in the physical as I mourn and in the spiritual as I collect this lost inheritance, redeeming it for my family.

In the natural my uncle was creative – he made guitars, he was skillful – he was in the elite army SAS, he was well respected and showed great loyality. He was raised right to respect others and love beyond self.

In the spiritual, he knew God as well as many in my family in those days. He had not experienced Holy Spirit like we do, yet he tapped into a deep spiritual truth and ran with it. His act of selflessness came from a deep place in Holy Spirit.

He was a warrior – fearless, selfless, guided, he led and he followed, a true disciple.

Through his death is an inheritance now spoken:

A violent act, demanding a response,

Love beyond self – something you can only do when you’ve experienced it yourself

May I live from this place in my own life.

No fear of abandomnent, rejection,

In it’s place, may I trust in His guidance and loving selflessly like he did.

At the end of this time, I buried a note on the banks of Lake Tana, where the team on The Great Abia Expedition set off from.