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| The wards of St. Claire, Ococia |
During my morning round with Els, a friend (who is a neurologist) and my advisor for difficult medical problems, we passed James. James was a 14 years old boy who appeared very ill. He had a big belly and his skin was yellowish with a severely damaged mouth. His father told us that they had visited many hospitals but none could say what was wrong with the boy. Now they had come to Ococia. We realized quickly the incurable condition James was in. After a blood transfusion his hemoglobin level fell within a few days. Because of his mouth, he couldn't eat any more. We thought that we could give him perhaps something very soft to eat. Els had brought marshmallows to Uganda and Ugandan are crazy about sugar - unbelievable kilos are consumed! We gave James a marshmallow and I will never forget the smile on his face. So for his last days, he ate marshmallows with a big smile on his face.
He died one week later and his father asked me if I could bring James back home. In Uganda a funeral hearse is only possible in Kampala but in the villages any form of transport is used - in the beginning I was shocked by the use of bicycles. That's why I got my rav4 (toyota 4WD) ready by putting the front seat down. A mattress went in with James but I hadn't taken the rest of the family into consideration. At the end I had 7 family members and James in my car.
Singing and praying we took James home. Deep in the bush the ways were narrow, more similar to cycle paths. It was sweaty and emotional because it was so special to take a dead boy home.
The whole village were involved and had a hut made of fresh grass and they had put up a tent. A funeral is usually the same day or the day after the death. The whole village is invited and if you don't attend it is taken very seriously. There is food and a money collection because funerals cost a lot of money. I find the tradition that you return to the place where you were born very special. If you have no land, it can be very complicated to be buried. There are no churches in the villages and the burials are at home next to the house. The most impressive thing I recognized, was how close the dead persons are to the community and the people.