My neighbours bury their dead in a simple grave in their yards, usually within a day of a person's death. For the first days and sometimes weeks after the death, the family decorates the grave with a colourful cloth, blanket or mat. Over time, as the body decomposes and the earth settles, the mound gets lower and lower and finally evens out with the earth around it.
The mound of light brown earth to the left of the chairs in the picture above is the grave of a young woman of 15 who died ten days ago. (There is usually a mat on the grave but I took this picture first thing in the morning and it had not yet been put on after the night.)
This is a closer view of the grave. The young woman was married and died soon after giving birth to her first child. She gave birth at home, as do most women here, to a healthy baby, and then bled to death. Her relatives did finally end up getting her to a maternity unit several kilometres away, but by then it was too late. So tragic. Just one example of why South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
This is the grave of a one-year-old girl who died four days ago. She had a bad case of thrush in her mouth, making it very painful for her to eat or drink. Her mother took her to the government hospital an hour's drive south of here, but they had no medicine to give her. Despite the efforts of her mother and grandmother to get her to eat or at least drink, she ended up dying, I believe from dehydration. Her family didn't have the means to do anything else to help her. So sad.
The mound of light brown earth to the left of the chairs in the picture above is the grave of a young woman of 15 who died ten days ago. (There is usually a mat on the grave but I took this picture first thing in the morning and it had not yet been put on after the night.)
This is a closer view of the grave. The young woman was married and died soon after giving birth to her first child. She gave birth at home, as do most women here, to a healthy baby, and then bled to death. Her relatives did finally end up getting her to a maternity unit several kilometres away, but by then it was too late. So tragic. Just one example of why South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
This is the grave of a one-year-old girl who died four days ago. She had a bad case of thrush in her mouth, making it very painful for her to eat or drink. Her mother took her to the government hospital an hour's drive south of here, but they had no medicine to give her. Despite the efforts of her mother and grandmother to get her to eat or at least drink, she ended up dying, I believe from dehydration. Her family didn't have the means to do anything else to help her. So sad.
Interestingly, the blog entry I just posted talks about a funeral we had here in the church, but the lady who died was 85 years old and had spent the past nearly six months in the hospital where she received excellent care. What a world of difference! Your post really touched my heart. I pray for your neighbors who are grieving, and for you as you share your life with them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your prayers, Patricia.
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