[Warning: This account include some graphic details.]
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” (Isa 10:1-2 NIV)
The committee arranging for the funeral of Baba Rebecca came by the centre today to see if we could assist them. They shared with us what had happened. On Friday Baba Rebecca informed his wife that he was returning home from Murang'a. But he never arrived. The following day a few men went out from Njabini, a small farming community on the foothills of the Aberdare mountain range, to see if they could find him.
They finally found his body on Sunday morning. It appears he had unexpectedly come across an elephant and had tried to run away. The elephant caught up with him and trampled him to death. After the police were informed, the body was transferred to the morgue here in Naivasha.
The Aberdares - Elephant Country
As we were discussing the plans made to transport the body back to Murang'a for burial, I was shocked to discover that the hospital had informed the family that a post-mortem needed to be carried out. Why?! What did they think killed Baba Rebecca? The cause was plain. After all, it's hard to miss an elephant, especially when he stops to trample and crush a human body! Surely a post-mortem was superfluous.
When Teacher Josephine died last year so unexpectedly at the age of 36, a post-mortem would have made sense. But the family had decided not to have one done. Finding out what killed her would not have brought her back. Besides, 6,000/ Ksh is much more than a month's salary for many here! It is a great expense for people who have so little.
Yet in this case, the family is being told they must pay for the procedure. They feel powerless and therefore have given the authorities 1,500/ Ksh already to cover the expenses. Another 4,500/ Ksh are still outstanding. That is much more than this family makes in a month! Yet the authorities insist it must be done so the family has no recourse. If they refuse, the hospital would not allow the release of the body for burial and daily expenses would be incurred as long as the body remained in the morgue.
Some of the people in the planning committee suggested the money would never actually be used to perform a post-mortem. Instead, they would probably just return the intestines back into the body and clean up a bit of the damage done by the elephant, then claim the procedure had been completed.
What can be done about such corruption? If they refuse to pay they will be left without the body of their loved one. And eventually they would have to pay. So they have no option.
The story reminds me of the situation which existed during the clashes following the elections at the beginning of last year (2008). There were too many bodies for the morgue refrigerators. But family members - desperate to have their loved ones preserved until the violence settled down enough to allow for a burial - paid for their family member's body to be kept cold. The money was taken, allegedly 1,000/ Ksh, and a body was removed from the refrigerated unit to make room for the new occupant. Then when someone else came along able to pay for their loved one, the process was repeated.
Whether or not you paid for a refrigerated unit was irrelevant. If someone came after you and also paid, you had no guarantee that your loved one wouldn't be taken out to make room for someone else.
It's no wonder that the bodies began to decompose in the heat despite having spent some time in the refrigeration. When we went to the mortuary to look for Bwana Ndege, the man who had lost his whole family after his house was deliberately set on fire, the smell of death around the place was too much to bear. It took all our will power not to run from the place, retching.
How is such a thing possible? People in authority who demand money from others suffering from grief and pain - that must be corruption at its worst!
When Teacher Josephine died last year so unexpectedly at the age of 36, a post-mortem would have made sense. But the family had decided not to have one done. Finding out what killed her would not have brought her back. Besides, 6,000/ Ksh is much more than a month's salary for many here! It is a great expense for people who have so little.
Yet in this case, the family is being told they must pay for the procedure. They feel powerless and therefore have given the authorities 1,500/ Ksh already to cover the expenses. Another 4,500/ Ksh are still outstanding. That is much more than this family makes in a month! Yet the authorities insist it must be done so the family has no recourse. If they refuse, the hospital would not allow the release of the body for burial and daily expenses would be incurred as long as the body remained in the morgue.
Some of the people in the planning committee suggested the money would never actually be used to perform a post-mortem. Instead, they would probably just return the intestines back into the body and clean up a bit of the damage done by the elephant, then claim the procedure had been completed.
What can be done about such corruption? If they refuse to pay they will be left without the body of their loved one. And eventually they would have to pay. So they have no option.
The story reminds me of the situation which existed during the clashes following the elections at the beginning of last year (2008). There were too many bodies for the morgue refrigerators. But family members - desperate to have their loved ones preserved until the violence settled down enough to allow for a burial - paid for their family member's body to be kept cold. The money was taken, allegedly 1,000/ Ksh, and a body was removed from the refrigerated unit to make room for the new occupant. Then when someone else came along able to pay for their loved one, the process was repeated.
Whether or not you paid for a refrigerated unit was irrelevant. If someone came after you and also paid, you had no guarantee that your loved one wouldn't be taken out to make room for someone else.
It's no wonder that the bodies began to decompose in the heat despite having spent some time in the refrigeration. When we went to the mortuary to look for Bwana Ndege, the man who had lost his whole family after his house was deliberately set on fire, the smell of death around the place was too much to bear. It took all our will power not to run from the place, retching.
How is such a thing possible? People in authority who demand money from others suffering from grief and pain - that must be corruption at its worst!
“A poor man’s field may produce abundant food,
but injustice sweeps it away.” (Pr 13:23 NIV)
but injustice sweeps it away.” (Pr 13:23 NIV)
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