Life and death in Africa

Limited came this morning to say that his brother had died. He had just had a call. I did not like to ask more in the circumstances. We asked where his village was and he said halfway between Lilongwe and Blantyre so we asked how much he needed for the bus fare? He said 1500K each way so we gave him 5,500K so he could get to the funeral and also buy something for his family.

It is the norm here to help people get back for funerals simply because, as it is for anyone who lives on low wages, such unexpected events are often a financial burden.

I asked Andrew (Mbwe, when I asked, said he would prefer to be known by his Christian name) later how old Limited’s brother was and he said 25. I asked how he had died and he said, as we expected, that he had been sick for a year and a half. 

LEFT: Coffin makers.

Aids is the big killer here but no-one in Africa admits to Aids. And it is not polite to ask as there is too much stigma associated with this disease. Aids sufferers are the new ‘lepers’ of much of the Third World.

It is thought that around 14 percent of the adult population aged between 15 and 49 are living with HIV/Aids in Malawi. This is one of the highest adult prevalence rates in the world.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the stigma of the disease is handed down to children orphaned by Aids. Malawi has more than half a million such children and they represent nearly 60 percent of all orphans in the country.

It is no wonder that the orphanages are crammed to overflowing and one of the biggest business in Malawi is coffin-making. Perhaps that is another reason why the forests are so denuded even though cutting down trees and selling firewood or coal are banned.

LEFT: What many Malawi forests do not look like.

In that way of life, in every curse there is a gift, at least in this case for coffin-makers. Although, in recent years, because of Government incentives, the HIV/Aids death rates have fallen and some of the coffin makers are moving into alternative trades such as furniture making. Creating for life, not death.

However, there are still too many like Limited’s brother in a country where 60 percent of the people live on less than $1 a day and where too few are lucky enough to live past forty.

We have been in Lilongwe just over four weeks and this is the second funeral for Limited. I suspect it is something of an ongoing average.

No doubt, living so closely with death, people take a more pragmatic view. Then again, this is a very religious country, like so many in Africa so perhaps they find their consolation in other ways as this sign in front of a coffin-makers shop indicates below.

By comparison, power cuts fade into insignificance! Not that we had any yesterday and none so far today although it is not yet midday. We were however without the phone and internet for most of yesterday so it all balances out in the end.

The wind has just come up. I have not noticed it for a few days. The humidity has been increasing as the wet season approaches. There's an irritability to this wind as there so often is even though it is not constant nor particularly powerful. 

I hope the wind does not blow for the funeral of Limited's brother. Somehow, such things are easier if the day is mild and the sun is shining. Then again, given the death rates in Africa it is probably a good thing that the sun shines for most of the time.

Or perhaps the wind means something positive here; a disseminating of the spirit of the one who has died? A blessing from the ancestors? The wind in many parts of Africa is believed to come out of the earth; from the underworld, the place of the dead. One African belief says that our life force comes from the wind. It is the equivalent of pneuma or 'breath.'

In this place of wind, in the face of death and of life the ordinary holds hands with the extra-ordinary; the expected with the unexpected; the known with the unknown. I am not sure when Limited will return but I imagine it will take a few days for him to do what needs to be done.

In Africa, doing the right thing by the dead means they will be a friend not foe in the next life. African religions do not believe that life ends at death but that it continues in another realm. No doubt this has been woven into Christian belief for an acceptable if not necessarily neat fit.

Illness and death are generally believed to come from outside, evil forces. Death does not end a life or personality but merely changes its condition. The 'ancestors'- the dead, are believed to continue to live in their communities and to communicate with their families.

The African view of death is that it brings a deeper relationship with all of creation and is a 'part' of life not an end of life. It is very important that the dead be given a correct funeral. Failure to do so can leave them wandering like a 'ghost' or as the ancient Greeks would have said, a 'shade,' unable to live properly in the world beyond this one and a potential danger to those who remain alive.

There is some similarity with this and the Catholic concept of limbo although Christianity does not teach that the dead are a source of evil. Nor does it teach, as African religions do, that the dead have power over the living.

Not that the African belief is unusual. Australian Aborigines, at least those who still live traditionally, cannot live in a house where someone has died. Like much of African religion and probably many traditional religions there is an association of magic with death and the dead. And there is a lot of superstition and fear.

Reading about the German missionaries in Malawi in the 19th and 20th centuries I was caused to ponder that despite the flaws and failings of christianity, when it was compared to the levels of fear and superstition taught by traditional Malawi religion, it was a great improvement. If you want to live in a state of almost permanent fear and dread of the unknown, evil spirits, nasty forces and constant danger then take up one of the traditional African religions.

One African practice and I don't know if it applies to Malawi was that of removing a dead body through a hole cut in the wall of a house instead of taking it through the door. There's a logic to it.  I think. The hole in the wall can be closed which means the dead cannot re-enter as they would be able to do if taken out through the door???? Another practice was to remove the corpse feet first, aiming it away from the house.

Paths to the burial site would be done on a zig-zag, no doubt to confuse the corpse or thorns would be spread along the way or some sort of barrier put up at the grave to 'keep them in.'

No doubt such practices reflect a fear of the dead and the view that they are pretty stupid and can be easily fooled. Others take different approaches seeing the dead as a source of strength to the living and making sure they can easily find their way home; the easiest way being to bury them under the floor.

One thing is certain, the approach to death, like all things in this world is many and varied. But one thing is common; an acceptance that life goes on and we move from the natural to the supernatural in an instant.

Which is why, after much pondering on life and death in Africa I decided  head to the kitchen for more practical pastimess.  I have just taken a coconut slice out of the oven. The smell of hot jam and coconut and butter is delicious.

It is another quick and easy recipe which does not take long and which, unlike a cake, would not be ruined by a power cut.  Slices are probably a safe bet in the circumstances and I shall have to see what else I can find on the net.