Loss, faith and consolation

As many of readers of this blog may know by now, Ziggy Chodzko-Zajko died two weeks ago on 6 August while walking on was to be his 34th pilgrimage from Warsaw to the Jasna Góra monastery in Częstochowa. He was 60. I heard the shocking news the day after his death from his widow Ela, who broke the news as we flew back from London to Warsaw. I was surprised by her composure given the unexpected nature of Ziggy's death; he'd been supping back a few ales with us Warsaw London boys just three weeks earlier.

I was also surprised by the massive turnout for Ziggy's funeral in Góra Kalwaria - it was a most beautiful mass; maybe three hundred mourners, a good number of whom had flown or driven over from London. Ziggy and Ela were a deeply religious couple, and I had a sudden insight today into just how powerful shared belief in God and being part of a spiritual community can be at a time of grief. This was a well-liked man, whose passing became an occasion for coming together to celebrate his life.

At the wake there was an excellent audiovisual summary of Ziggy's 60 years among us - I was particularly impressed by the recollections of his time spent with Ela as lay missionaries in the Philippines. Here they helped build a community centre on the island of Mindanao, at a time when massacres of civilians and kidnapping for ransom were commonplace. Ziggy's willingness to help others was legendary; this came out time and again in the eulogies spoken at the funeral mass and wake.

Ziggy was a member of Błękitna Trójka, the 3rd London Polish scout troop back in the 1970s which is where I first met him, he later went on the Montserrat holidays to Poland which resulted in more than a few of us deciding to move to our fatherland after the fall of communism. I counted eleven Błękitna Trójka old boys at the funeral (three of whom appear in this photo from 50 year ago). Some familiar faces I'd not seen for over 40 years!

Here's an interview with Ziggy (in English) for Poland In about his pilgrimage, just days before setting off. Incidentally, the 243km between Warsaw and Częstochowa takes 10 days (around 30,000 paces a day, sleeping in tents every night). Physically challenging.



Reading Prof Richard Swinburne's excellent Are We Bodies or Souls the other week has given me a fresh perspective on how Christian belief in the Afterlife can square with science and be explained by logic. Although my own convictions on the Afterlife are more eastern (and quantum-physics based) in nature than Christian, one way or another I too am certain that Ziggy's spirit lives on, eternally.

Ziggy played guitar [May 2007]

This time two years ago:
Summer's wasting away

This time three years ago:
Warsaw remembers the PASTa building capture

This time four years ago:
Drought. It was a dry summer.

This time six years ago:
Warsaw's ski slope at Szczęśliwice

This time seven years ago:
On the road from Dobra, again

This time eight years ago:
August storm, ul. Targowa

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw Central's secret underground kebab factory

This time ten years ago:
Cheap holidays in other people's misery

This time 11 years ago:
Steam welcomes us to Dobra

This time 12 years ago:
New houses appear in the fields by Zgorzała