A Zimbabwean mother living in the Diaspora lost her son a few days ago. This was a particularly difficult time for her because her husband is still in Zimbabwe putting together the necessary documentation to allow him to join his family. This lady does not have a very strong support network where she resides which means, she has no-one of significance to turn to and has to wait for her husband to make the two to three day journey to be by her side.
One fact of life that all of us will one-day face is our death. For some, that day comes after a long and hopefully prosperous life. For others, it comes at an unexpected time such as the example above where parents are burying their child.
Many Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora say they would eventually want to return home at some point to live out the rest of their lives. This for some also holds true in death; some people explicitly state that in the event of their death, they want to be laid to rest at home in African soil.
Left with such wishes, family members and/or close friends of the deceased pull together to fulfil the wishes of the deceased. Making the wish a reality presents a number of challenges with the main ones being the logistics of repatriating the body and the associated costs. CNN Marketplace Africa recently aired a piece where Robyn Curnow covered what some Zimbabweans living in South Africa go through in the event of a death. It also covers the services a Zimbabwean entrepreneur is providing to try and ease the cost of burying a love one. Its gets you thinking about how prepared you are for such situations.
Would you rather be buried at home or in the Diaspora?
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