FUNERALS IN CAMEROON.

As a kid living in the village, I could count the number of times I heard that someone had passed away and it was always an elderly man or woman. I remember going to a funeral for the first time and seeing the corpse dressed in African wear, lying on a mat on a bamboo bed. The service was for an elderly man who was known as Pa Fondze. I remember stealing my way in because kids were not allowed to see corpse for the reason that they will see dead people at night in their dreams. If a man died in the morning, that person was buried that same day before sun set, and to this day, no burial takes place close to noon. I have never known the reason why, but it is a practice that all tribes in Cameroon follow and respect.

When I was 7 years old, my auntie’s husband, with whom I was living in Bamenda, was transferred to Douala to work as a Police officer. That is where my knowledge of death ceremonies was strongly affected. In Douala funerals are more of a rendez-vous area for meeting friends, drinking, dancing and being introduced to new people. The deceased is kept in the mortuary which is like a deep refrigerator for days depending on how much money the family intends to spend on the burial. In cases where some family members live abroad and have to come home, it can even take up to a month before the service and burial. A day at the mortuary is about $10, but only the rich can afford to keep people for longer than two weeks. In some traditions, when a youth dies when his parents are still alive, the burial is done as soon as possible, because it is considered ill luck to lose a child.



The night before the burial, there is a lot of gospel music playing even if that person has never set his foot on a church ground. Food and drinks, including alcohol, are given to people who have come to condole with the family. One of the family members makes a speech, welcoming those that have come to mourn with them and share in their pain. He or she talks about the deceased person and always ends by wishing the person “a safe journey back home.” Depending on the decision of the family, the well dressed corpse can be in the premises. The family prepares an area with flowers and with clothes and the remains are in a casket and mounted on a raised platform, such as a table. Family members can easily be identified, as they will be wearing African style clothing, made from the same materials and patterns. While others are outside drinking and sharing memories of the deceased, others may go in and pay their last respect. Cremation is not practiced where I come from, so it is common for the physical body of the deceased to be kept among the living throughout the ceremonies, until the time of burial.

Late at night, dancing begins, and will usually continue until close to sunrise the next morning. Each member of the family has to dance in a circle as a sign of saying good bye and singing songs about how much they will miss the deceased. In Cameroon, people are permitted to bury their family members on the family’s private lands, although some people chose to lay their family members to rest at the church yard or government burial ground. Most people prefer their private property because it is free, but also because the land may have been in the family for several generations, and will likely not be sold any time in the foreseeable future. For church and government land, large sums of money need to be paid. Sadly, in the past few decades, it has become all too common for people to pass away at very young ages. Diseases like HIV-AIDS, malaria, typhoid and cancer are on the rise, especially among the younger people, and it is very common for families to be made up of young children being raised by their grandparents, because the middle generation, people in their 20’s and 30’s, have died.

  In the more remote areas, and for the majority of people who are struggling financially, there is usually no access to health insurance or government financial assistance. Those in this situation simply cannot afford to see a medical doctor, because treatment of most illnesses is very expensive. Aid organizations try to help, and the Cameroon government looks for the support of wealthier countries. Unfortunately, this dependency is all there is to give hope that future generations are not comprised only of kids and their grandparent and memories from funerals are very paintful and hard to forget.