African Anecdotes Revisited - Death

Death remains a very common topic here in Tanzania because it is so frequent and common, which does not make the grief any less of course. After seven years of living here, we are still amazed at how often we hear of people dying, including children and babies. Malaria takes a big toll among adults and children alike.

10/27/04 - Death in this culture

Although many things have changed in these parts, some traditions remain and differ by tribe.  For instance, men are buried lying on their right sides, women on their left sides; everyone is buried with their heads to the West.  The right hand in Swahili is called the “hand of man” and the left is called the “hand of woman.”  There is good death (dying from disease, natural causes) and bad death (dying from murder or accident).  Men are mourned for 4 days because they are or can be the head of the family, and women for 3 days. 

In some tribes family members of the deceased shave their heads entirely.  When the hair regrows, the family members can stop thinking of their loss.  People deemed crazy are not mourned.  If a baby is born as a stillborn, there is no mourning period, and no one, including the mother, is allowed to cry because it may bring bad luck, and she can have another child.  If her husband dies, a woman is encouraged to remarry after the 4 days but these days everyone is wary of AIDS so she isn’t required to marry again.  The cemeteries are divided into about 6 spaces for people to be buried according to religion.
 
In the past, when a person died, he/she was wrapped in a fresh cow skin, and the mourners ate the meat from the cow.  Now he/she is wrapped in white cloth and put in a coffin.  Muslims are not buried in coffins, but their bodies cannot touch dirt, so they are covered with leaves, etc before the dirt covers them.  In the past, if a chief died, they would bury a live servant with him because he still would need someone to serve him; the family of the servant would be financially reimbursed (or paid in cows, etc.).  When twins or breech babies were born, they would be “thrown out” because they brought bad luck.  Also, if a child’s top teeth grew in before the bottom teeth, they would be thrown out too for the same reasons.  Most of these traditions ceased when understanding grew.

Dusty was just saying today that we hear of a lot more death here.  Someone was hit on their motorcycle in town on Sunday and was decapitated.  2 of our teachers have had neighbors die since we have been here.  And we heard lamenting wailing from the village through our windows when someone died there.  Community life is so much stronger here that everyone still knows everyone else’s business.  The average lifespan is much shorter here too.  If a person gets cancer, chemo and radiation are not really choices because of the lack of money and health care.  And of course AIDS is claiming so many.  We haven’t seen anyone with visible AIDS yet, but we know many people who have lost family members that way.