We never fail to bury our dead.

I have never heard of an African burial that failed because of poverty. So our dead always get buried by all means. What I am saying here is, there is no such thing like a failed burial. If anything, it may either be befitting or just normal. The thing is, all what is necessary for the burial is somehow made available, and not necessarily by close relatives.

The African burial is literally a communal responsibility and in such moments many give selflessly. Most relevant people find time and means to be present as we leave everything else and focus on the burial. This means, the goal is shared, approved and supported by everybody. More importantly, everyone understands what needs to be achieved, and nothing less is expected or allowed to happen.

 

Sometimes burials lead to piling up debts, but we unanimously agree to balance the books only after we have buried the dead. And when the close family has no money to accomplish it, the money gets fund raised somehow. All I know is, come rain or shine, our dead are laid to rest as tradition demands.

Somehow, all huddles are crossed until the goal is achieved. Africans like all other societies have been successfully playing this role since time immemorial. And even with the coming of insurance schemes, we still bear the cost of burying our dead collectively. Regardless of whether it is fear or other emotions that drive this spirit,…. the important point is, we always  achieve the goal.

So my question is, if we can unanimously ensure all our dead are buried, even without crying to the World Bank, DFID, USAID, NORAD and the like, then why can’t we feed our hungry? Why can’t we settle our youths into decent jobs? Why can’t we protect our children from human traffickers? Why can’t we resolve our own conflicts and avoid landing into xenophobia, massacre, genocide, etc? Why can’t we discipline our own leaders? Why do we stand corrupt and irresponsible governments while we wouldn’t stand any nonsense person coming in between our goal to bury our dead?

Why is the spirit of a successful burial not applied in these other matters? Instead, we end up rushing to the Hague, or UN, Paris, or to WFP, etc. at every problem encountered, be it big or small? My word is, we are just playing zombies!… and that has got to stop!

We need to evoke the spirit of ‘seriousness’ and stop playing games when we shouldn’t. What I mean here is, when planning and executing a burial, no one gets clouded by ‘excitement’ and ‘pleasures’. No body goes about absent-minded carrying burial tasks cunningly. Nobody participates with a hidden agenda of making the burial fail. And even at that, the overwhelming power will be to make it a success. In fact, throughout the process, we are humbled and serious. This means to everybody, everything concerning the burial ‘is a serious matter’! You don’t joke with it!…

For example, when you are in charge of providing a coffin, you don’t come back with any excuse!… You bring the coffin. And if you promise to dig the grave, you will dig it….! Because no one shall stand stories or excuses of not having the grave ready when it should! And that’s the spirit I want us to evoke, find it’s origin and understand how to amplify it; and entrench it in our daily conduct.

Now imagine, all gathered for a burial and the grave team arrives with excuses. That the hoe broke, or the spade got stolen, and the grave is not ready.. then shamelessly  promise to have it ready early next day. Will this be accepted?… Of course not! And wouldn’t there be mechanisms to check progress and solve problems before it is any late? Then why do we stand flimsy excuses given regarding education, health, infrastructure, etc.? Are we saying delaying burying the dead is worse than our children getting substandard education? Or having poor Heath facilities, etc? Then what is in burying the dead which is so important than in getting proper health services or education?….

To be honest, the things that Africans tolerate from the leadership are incomprehensible. In fact, there is so much nonsense being normalized to the extent that we lose sight of what is right. For example, how can you explain the high illiteracy levels in countries like Burkina Faso (78.2%), Chad (74.3%), Niger (71.3%), Guinea (71.5%), Benin (65.3%), etc. in this age of enlightenment? That out of 52 African state it is only Zimbabwe with illiteracy level below 3%? That it is the only country in Africa with more than 90% of the population knowing how to read and write? How can we explain that? For God’s sake, why do we allow an African child to be illiterate in these modern times? What will an illiterate human being do in this world of today?….  if not become Boko Haram ot Al-Shabaab and the like?

And how come we can commit to bury the dead but fail to ensure all the living can at least read and write? Or get decent health services, and perhaps postpone the burial?

Often, we blame it on the West and the colonial history. But c’mon, we need to get rid of this old excuse and do something intelligible. Because the colonial ship left our shores more than five decades ago. And if we still feel the colonial presence in our lives, then it is either a hangover, or we have willfully chosen to be colonized again. And in both cases, we have the power to change the situation. The worse of the two is the ‘hang-over’.

Honestly, if we can’t have a village school up and running, push the system until we have reliable sources of water, or ensure all of us have access to quality health services  right from our villages, but successfully manage to handle at least a burial a week, then death will have many reasons to befall us. After all, we handle its aftermath well.

VeraFM