Death...

I typed this October 28, 2010
Hello followers, a lot of stuff has been happening these days in the village. Where to begin? I brought my computer to the village so I could keep up on my blogging a bit better, I felt that lately I’ve been pretty bad at keeping you all updated on my life here. So here I am, but it is a good thing I type fast because I am always trying to preserve my laptop battery. There is no power in the village, but within my two years here I have luckily picked out the people that have solar and can help me keep my laptop charged.
Let’s see, today I wanted to blog about DEATH. What an awful topic you all think huh? It is awful, but it’s a reality and it is something that I have seen and heard quite a bit of lately. Yesterday my counterpart and I had planned a long day of traveling, our time was overdue to go and check upon the Junior Achievement youth and see how their businesses were performing. (If you guys remember last time I told you about these small business development enterprises that I helped create by giving out loans with CCF…. Well anyway their loans are due in December) because their loans are coming to a close we thought it was wise to go and check up on their businesses. I had my books and records in hand, ready to catch a bush car to take me to these other villages along with Sam (my counterpart). He asked me if I wouldn’t mind to stop off at his grandparent’s compound, he explained to me that his grandfather had just passed away that morning and they were going to do the burial after the 2pm prayers. The stop was to be on our way to one of the villages we had to see. Of course I told him it wasn’t a problem (thinking this would take 30minutes tops). Little did I know that I was going to be sitting under a mango tree for the next 3 hours while my counterpart went with all the men in the village to take his grandfather to the burial grounds and placed him in the ground.
Now I am reasonable…. If my grandfather died (which I hope that NEVER happens-I LOVE YOU G-PA) I would want more than 30 minutes to grieve and spend time with my family. … but one of the crazy things were that he just left me as soon as we arrived. I sat under this tree for a long time without seeing him, hearing from him… everything. I could hear people crying in the distance, many people passed me on their way to the funeral… but I felt because I wasn’t addressed in the formal attire, my place was to just stay under the mango tree. I just sat there under the tree thinking that Sam was to arrive any moment but he didn’t until 3 hours later. I missed lunch-very wrong! Who leaves someone to go hungry for 3 hours under a tree?
So during my time of sitting yesterday… I thought I would blog about death. Let me just add that once he finally I arrived I did not complain, I didn’t say anything… I just said I was ready when he asked if I was ready to go.
So I said I have seen a lot of death lately… let me explain. Well first off the most recent, this old grandpa of my counterparts. 2. I saw a goat that had just given birth but its baby was dragged off by wild dogs—that made me really sad. 3. My friend Pabi had a wild parrot that he kept as a pet and it died ---go figure. And 4. I smash cockroaches about everyday… along with any other bug that tries to scary me.
When it comes to humans, maybe this is just a HUGE cultural difference, but it’s interesting to me how Gambians grieve when they lose someone. In the case of a couple funerals that I had attended it usually is that the men and women wear nice clothes, they sit in opposite sides of the persons compound…. Ok wait, let me back up. For example say grandpa Lamin dies in the morning… all of his children will call and inform the family members and friends that same day. Some of the young men will go to the grave site to dig a hole for the body before hand, then they will contact the man in the village that keeps the coffin box-they will keep the body wrapped in a white sheet inside the box until it is time for burial. Once every one is ready, they all go to grandpa Lamins house and sit around… the men on one side, the women on the other. Depending on the wealth status of the family, someone will be passing around kola nuts (typically eaten by elders and is very bitter) along with pounded rice (which taste nice). People will be sitting around going into the house to see the coffin, consoled the family and so forth, the women are mostly keeping silent or are crying. Then once it is time… they bring out the coffin box all the men gather behind it and pray while the Imam (religious leader) leads them. Once the prayer is finished the men only take the box to the burial grounds to place the man out of the box and into the ground in his sheet. (Now I have actually never seen this because women are not allowed to go to the burial grounds but this is what I hear happens there). Once the men leave the compound with the coffin AUTOMATICALLY the women start whaling and crying uncontrollably. Sometimes you see even women roll around screaming… like they are about to die too or something? They do this until the men come back… it usually takes about 15 minutes. Then it is finished. Everyone goes home…. You don’t hear mention of it again and people just except that that person has died. The End. Different huh? When small babies die, whether it is at birth or they are a couple months old, most of the time people just pretend it never happened… they bury the babies in their own compounds and depending on the families is whether or not they do a ceremony or not.
As far as the animals… the goat with her baby, my friend and his bird, the cockroaches in my backyard that come out of my toilet… there isn’t much people do here for that. Death is something that happens here a lot in some weird way it is just a part of life.