Communities of Senior Chief Kabudula in Lilongwe had to run away from attending to a dignified burial of a COVID-19 death in the area as it was reported to be the first case and burial in the area.
The communities received a message that someone from the area and was living in the urban centres in Lilongwe has died of COVID-19 at Kamuzu Central Hospital and was to be buried at one of the graveyards of the area.
The communities had to do everything waiting to receive the dead body for burial and as soon as the dead body came by an ambulance, the communities had to run away leaving the health officials alone to conduct dignified burial out of their presence.
Speaking during presentation of COVID-19 buckets to be distributed in the schools of the area under Senior Chief Kabudula by TAMA Farmers Trust, Ukwe Health Centre’s Assistant Environmental Health Officer (AEHO), Fabiano Mangani, called on the communities to be with the Health officials during dignified burial of a COVID-19 death.
Mangani said COVID-19 measures are now allowing the communities to be present during dignified burial following all the precautionary preventive measures such as washing hands with soap and wearing face masks.
He said burying a dead body is not a one man job, it requires all to come together saying there is no reason for men to run away as the job demand them to do by themselves while women seated down in accordance with the Malawi culture.
“It was very unfortunate to see all men running away instead of helping us to bury one of their people, the job was hard for us because we were not expecting to meet such a community,’” said Mangani.
In his remarks, Demelo ward councilor, Witness Chadika, thanked TAMA Farmers Trust for complementing Government efforts that school learners prevent themselves from contracting the virus through washing hands.
Chadika assured TAMA Farmers Trust that the materials will be well looked after by the schools teachers, urging teachers to train the learners on the best use of the materials to last long.
Speaking earlier, Group Village headman Chinyama, thanked TAMA Farmers Trust for considering implementing Farmer Based COVID-19 response project in the area out of many chiefs in Lilongwe, assuring the company officials that the communities of the area are always encouraged to wear masks and washing hands before and after attending funeral services.
On his part, Kalonga zone Education coordinator, Olex Chiphwanya, assured TAMA Farmers Trust that schools will make use of the Covid -19 materials to their best use, appealing to the company to provide more buckets to reach out to all schools in the area.
