A Hard & Fast Rule for Managing One's Mortality for a Ghanaian Funeral

There I was at a funeral of a relative over the weekend when I experienced an epiphany: I discovered a hard-and-fast rule for managing one's mortality in Ghana.


Before I reveal it to a crowd of claps, let me just say this.

In this country, attending a funeral is a matter of course--and not because the relatives who have been handling and managing it for many funerals of relatives say so.

The assumption is that by attending the funerals of relatives (often a three-day affair comprising: wake-keeping; burial; and service on Sunday), you earn a reputation for being seen at them, therefore increasing your ability of having other relatives attend in the unfortunate event that it befalls you.

This can result in a young man or woman attending many funerals of the relatives of cousins/uncles/grand-you name it. This, so that you gain moral points for having ticked off the funeral box of relatives.

Well, I got me a solution to all that.

In the event you decide to become a rebel and not attend any funerals of any relatives, here's what you do:

1. Become a Muslim. This is because in the event your earthly time is up, you can simply avoid the ignominy of a no-show from all whose funerals you missed...by getting buried the following day!

My Unwitting Foray into Ghana's "Funeral Tourism" (of a Domestic Kind)

Given Ghanaian's penchant for attending funerals, it was only a matter of time before a term be coined to describe all the kinds of activities
associated with what I would call "funeral activism". I rarely write about them here--and not because I don't attend them, but largely because it's not my style to pour gloom on my beloved followers. When I did first write--that was in 2005--I attempted to bring some humour to it. I called it
"77 Degrees of Separation and a Funeral
".

To be specific about "funeral tourism", I had the unfortunate "priviledge" of attending the funeral of a colleague's Dad in Akosombo last Saturday. Now Akosombo is no stranger to the organisation as it is a place that has played host to a many of our institutional year-end "retreats" long before I came.

Being there again reminded me not just of the greatness of Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah-- whose planning of Akosombo, where the world's largest man-made lake remains in the Akosombo dam is--but also of how endearing the serenity and order of the place remains.

Despite the humidity, it is a place I would not mind visiting evey weekend; it's a world apart from the chaos of Accra, and so verdant you won't believe it's only some 90 minutes drive from the bustling capital.

All this praise for the place does not take away from the "funeral tourism"; it only brought it home yesterday when a colleague referred to it. Given the number of funerals that take place every weekend, and how "sympathizers" are always welcome, you are most likely going to find people with more time than sense feeling like travelling across the country to a part of Ghana they have never seen before -- just for a funeral. Naturally, in the process, seeing a bit of town they would not normally have seen.

If ever this called for a way forward, then it would be in the government communicating, promoting, advocating domestic tourism. A website-- like that of the Ghana Tourist Board on http://www.touringghana.com is great, but it needs to go beyond the electronic and spread to radio and television: Ghanaians need not a funeral before they decide to enjoy the country that is so green and blessed with beaches and beautiful sights all round!

Several Mosquitoes and a Funeral Wake in Cape Coast

It's 20h14 and the folks n i are sitting outside on the yard of a house on top of a hill. We have been subjected 2 loud, gospel music, and are one of many groups keeping wake 4 a relative's elderly daughter who passed on a few weeks ago. But we r also, despite our long-sleeves, being viciously bitten by mosquitoes on this rather-humid nite in Cape Coast.

To say it's not easy is an understatement; no funeral or wake-keeping is! As it turns 20h40, u can certainly bet ur bottom-dollar that by the time this is received thru mtn 2 my ogo device 4



posting onto ths blog, our mosquitoe foes would not have bitten off more than they can chew! --------------------------------------------------------
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