Death

Death in Ghana is inevitable, expected, often premature, unexplained for the most part, and although respected most vigorously, not a shock for it is in fact part of everyday life here for the most Ghanaians.  Pretty much every weekend they travel for a funeral through the dry season

The second night in Zebilla on my last visit we went to ‘Container’ for food.  Ali had often spoken about the infamous Z Town ‘Container’.  I have to say it was much more than I imagined for some reason.  We were escorted by Ibrahim, a nine year old neighbour of Emma’s who just came along for the ride (and probably the uneaten food!) Unfortunately there was obviously something terrible going on as we headed home as there was a fire truck in the dirt track.  The fire man told us that they had word that a child had fallen down a well.  We had to find what had happened…  One, Emma was concerned it was one of the many children she supports in the neighbourhood and two, if the child needed help we could do something practical.  After a long walk headed up by Ibrahim who knew the way to the compound the wailing from the women was a clear indication of what had happened.  Little Bashira had died in the well.  She was about two.  We were too close to the compound to turn around and run, we had to greet the family and pay our condolences.  We were told we were free to see the child… the body.  It’s what they do here… stand vigil over the body all night.  They bury bodies the next day but we couldn’t.

Funerals can follow months after the burial, years even.  They are a big and lavish affair that the family saves up for which for the immediate family can last up to one week.  A friend recently went to his Uncles funeral that had died last year in a moto accident with a truck in the early hours of the morning after leaving the local night club. The first day the funeral started around 7pm.  All the elders attend this part of the funeral where all the traditions are upheld and certain rituals are performed in the early hours of the morning, most people remain all night, drumming, drinking pito (a local alcoholic brew), not stopping until dawn.  The funeral continued for two more full days, with music, food and drink for everyone.  It will last for so many days to allow family and friends to travel to the family home and pay their respects; a consequence of this is the immediate family need to be there to receive their guests who could have travelled for miles to pay their respects…

Only recently the daughter of a woman I’ve worked with died.  She’d been sick for some time.  I’d spent some time with her.  Drank in the local spot with her, held her baby who is still under a year.  Despite travelling to Tamale hospital they still couldn’t pinpoint the problem.  This was so shocking for me, I was devastated.  Not just because I knew of her but because I know how much effort her mother had gone to trying to make her better.. but to no avail.  The more I get to know people here the more likely it is that this could happen to someone I really know well.

Death of pregnant mothers, babies and infants is far too high here... and begs the question why? The stories I’ve heard that relate to hospital negligence in these cases is shocking.  For most, if you are educated, you can push for more, question diagnosis and raise expectations of the hospital staff, but most people here in the north are illiterate and uneducated and bamboozled by the very educated doctors.  They are too frightened and unsure of how or what to ask. So they don’t , with tragic consequences.

It has upset me that death is so expected here and yet not questioned.  It’s always ‘gods will’.  Only the rich can afford autopsies.  Sometimes it is widely thought that a person died because they had been cursed or poisoned according to the traditional beliefs because of some wrong doing, or someone else wronging them. Complicated, but when I think more about it, if I lived here for longer, I believe I would start to believe it is ‘gods will’; much easier to digest than the truth, (hospital negligence being high on that list of truths) for those truths might just send you a little crazy…