It’s a Matter of Life and Death
on Anthony Lovat in Bolgatanga (Ghana), 16/Sep/2010 21:26, 34 days ago
We knew that there was a problem as soon as we saw the look in Josephine’s eyes. Despite it being a public holiday (end of Ramadan), she was sat on the step outside her office. Josephine is the veterinary technician that Laura works with in Bolga. She is a few years away from retirement but is still committed to her work – one of the few civil servants who arrive ontime in the morning and stay for the afternoon. She is very kind to Laura, bringing in banku for breakfast and making matching dresses from ‘Ministry for Food and Agriculture’ cloth for example. This morning, her eyes were red and she appeared flustered. Laura immediately asked if everything was alright.Josephine, who is a widow, has had a sad personal history of early deaths in her family– as with almost everyone we meet here. Dying young is such a more common occurrence in this area of Ghana.Just last term, two teachers, both of whom I have met several times, died in Bolga unexpectedly. Both developed headaches, were taken to hospital and given some drugs. Both died within 24 hours of entering the hospital. Lessons stopped for over a week in both schools due to funeral arrangements.Josephine shook her head. Everything was not alright. Her brother’s daughter died the previous day. She was nineteen years old and about to attend university.If you ask a British person how someone died, they will undoubtedly give the physical cause of death– cancer or accident or old age. A Ghanaian’s understanding of ‘how’ someone died appears to be quite different. There must be a reason for the death – a purpose or a will. This can come from God, of course, or, more sinisterly, from bad spirits, Satan or witches.“I don’t know how she died,” Josephine responded to our question. “She was such a good girl but it must be God’s will. Everybody she met liked her. Maybe we will never know.”Laura rephrased the question to discover that Josephine’s niece, like those teachers, developed a headache and a sickness. She went to the hospital where they gave her oxygen but she died soon after. If Josephine’s niece had taken ill in Britain, she would probably still be alive.You might think that with early death being so much more common, maybe loved ones can cope more easily than in Britain. Not so. After she heard the news yesterday, Josephine was so shocked that, when trying to get home, she drove her car into an open drain. This news comes almost exactly one year after her sister died of cancer– a loss that she is still struggling to come to terms with.I have written about Ghanaian funerals before. The wailing, the partying, the noise and the expense all give the impression that death is treated differently in Ghana. Funeral traditions, however, are just cultural dressing. The way people struggle to understand and come to terms with death is not so different.To die is natural but it is expected that a younger generation will outlive an older generation. It is always tragic to hear news of a parent burying their child. My friend Kwesi from the band has recently just finished the final funeral rites of his daughter who died several years ago when she was just one year old. His new daughter was born several months ago and has been given the same name as the deceased daughter.Culture has an adorable one-year-old son called Gaddafi. Like most fathers, he has aspirations for his son. I am guessing that if he were English, Culture might hope for his son to grow up happy, well-educated and well balanced. If he were a snob, as many English people are, he might be secretly hoping his son will be a doctor, a professor or a lawyer. I was sat in Culture’s house several weeks ago watching Gaddafi playing, toddling and generally getting into mischief. I commented to Culture on how fine his son was.“Yes,” Culture replied, looking lovingly at his son playing with a chicken. “I hope he survives.”Like hot running water, reliable electricity and an annual holiday, having a child that‘survives’ is yet another thing we take for granted in Britain but is considered a privilege in Ghana.