Sibylla...

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It has been so short a time, but also an eternity ago that we heard the disasterous news that Sibylla passed away while practicing medicine in Bolivia. Since then both Rick and I have been so dissapointed with ourselves that we had not done this trip earlier. Now it is our pilgramage to Sibylla's parents that was such a hard, but very important thing for us to do.

We were with Irina, and we were warmly welcomed into their house in St. Gallen for lunch. As we approached the house, I felt nervous and felt something twinging in my heart. We met Sibylla's mother, her father, her brother and her, two sisters, and two of her friends. It was absolutely astounding to see where Sibylla had grown up, and you could see that in such a loving and supportive family how she turned out as she did. We also had the chance to cuddle and hold Felicitas's baby (Anik)who Sibylla was named God mother of just months before her death. In my opion Anik holds a big part for the family to recover from this dreadful situation, some hope when there seems to be none, and laugher when there are only tears.

We laughed, we cried, we were informed about the details of her death and the mammoth struggle to get her back to Switzerland for the funeral. Many photos, and the one that stood out the most for me was of the phone booth where Sibylla suffered her heart attack while talking on the phone. They made us feel like family, and we were very comfortable there. It was so amazing to see bits and pieces of Sibylla in each of her siblings. Her oldest sister looked exactly like Sibylla, her other sister had Sibylla's boyant personality and sense of humour, while her brother had the kindness and love of music that Sibylla had.

We visited the grave of Sibylla, which was very colourful and had a candle burning constantly. When we arrived, all of us stood for 15 minutes without saying a word, just simply crying and remembering our amazing friend Sibylla. The graveyard was beautiful, with a lake in the middle, and very open plan, a beautiful resting place for a beautiful person.

During our time there we expalined that we were carrying a message from so many New Zealanders whose lives were lucky enough to be touched with Sibylla's soul. We said our goodbyes for all of you, and left with such emotional fatigue.

We miss you Sibylla and you will be loved forever...