Befitting Funeral or Befitting Life? Celebrating the dead over the living

By Innocent Chia: Courtesy Dunia Magazine - Print Issue 6

At almost every funeral that I can remember attending, there has been at least one person whose eulogy has been a reminder that “we are here to celebrate the life of …” I know I said it at my mother’s passing in December 2000.

But this statement, which evokes fond memories of our loved one, has also not prohibited me from wondering ever so often whether those of us from the developing world, particularly Africa, are not exaggeratedly misplacing priorities by how much is spent and sacrificed for the dead over the living. I am wondering how much we are spending when our loved one is sick and dying on a hospital bed or at home? Is that cost more than or less than the funeral costs?

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Comments

[Napthalin Atanga]

Hi Mr Chia Innocent,
Happy New Year. I read your article titled
"Befitting Funeral or Befitting Life? Celebrating the dead over the living." I know you are living in the West. I also know you had worked with CRTV. Your argument in this article makes me think that you have been influenced by your stay in the west. Do you know that those in the west actually spend more of death matters than us? When the pay life insurance for all their working career as well as retirement, who spends more? They are even greedy because they don't give people to eat. They give insurance companies to eat.
Do you know that our life insurance is the contribution people make when someone dies? As long as people live in the west, there is a one to one correspondence between their activities and what happens in Africa. They may give it another name, but it boils down to the same thing. The idea is the same. Most often we think these guys out there are different sets of human being. They are the same like Africans and think in the same way. Burying the dead the way we do it is part of us. That's our tradition. That's what make us different. We can't be like them. There are other aspects of your article I do agree with but we should not be westernized simply because we are in the west. We are different.
If you have noticed western countries are not perfect. In their imperfection, they have fought internally and their societies are improving. Yet, we abandon our nations in the name of persecution. Many of us Cameroonians are out there. Who then will improve and change the nation to what we want. Let's make our own contributions to move that beautiful nation forward.
Thanks