There has been a lot of groom throughout the world following the outbreak of the
highly contagious Covid- 19 sickness. As I write this numbers are up and the Ministry of Health reported a rise by 9 cases bringing the total confirmed to 59. The number of contagions or those who have come into contact with the sick is also high standing at over 1000. These contagions have in turn interacted with a larger number and it is a matter of time before infections climb. The Cabinet Secretary has continuously provided information on steps the government is taking to stem the spread.
Of the steps the government has taken, the one that has stood out for me is burying our dead fast and also ensuring the attendance is limited to family. We
Love attending burials and we will move in large convoys from Nyeri to Nakuru or from Nairobi to Nanyuki. Everything is meticulously planned with video recording of the convoy and stop overs along the way. The amounts used are colossal and time is even more as friends and families real and imagined leave their daily duties. Businesses are closed down and people gather to mourn the departed.
But all this changed with the outbreak of the disease. Communities which have never imagined mourning for less than two weeks have now seen it is possible.
We should keep our fingers closed so that we don’t go Italy and Spain way because we will be burying the following day. All in all we should rethink the prolonged period of mourning even after Covid outbreak. We should also re think about the large number of mourners and the convoys. Do they add value to our mourning? Only last week, I lost my cousin to colon cancer and I was pained because he was buried after three days and we were discouraged from attending the burial. To avoid flocking of relatives and families, the immediate family members removed the deceased from the mortuary very early and by 8. Am he was buried. Painful as it maybe the dead is gone and there is no need of shouldering such heavy burden using millions which would otherwise be used to cater for the family later needs such as school fees and in some cases to buy necessities such as food. In some communities the mourners camp in the home of the deceased and consume everything on their way including livestock such as cows and goats. Let us adopt the habit of fast burials and with limited number of mourners even after covid 19 has long gone.