Shock as mourners carries own plate,spoon to funeral

Mourner carries own cutlery  Residents of Moulem Estate in Kisumu were recently left in stitches when  a woman who had come for a funeral unashamedly whipped out of her  handbag a plate, cup and a spoon after the said cutlery ran out during  meal time.   As it is the custom in Nyanza, meals must be served at funerals, as a  way of celebrating the departed soul. Thus, this particular one was not  any different. A relatively well known man had passed on. And this  called for an elaborate and dignified sendoff that saw locals throng his  homestead a couple of days before his burial.   As usual, meals had been prepared in plenty. Locals witnessed quite a  number of strange behaviors. First, there were those who, probably from  distant places, arrived and immediately they were done wailing, wiped  their tears and headed straight to the tent where food was being served.  In one particular incident, a mourner made a grand entrance; she  uncontrollably wailed, rolled on the ground, dirtying herself as she  eulogised the departed man.  She praised him, expressing her grief and how the locality will miss his  kindness and generosity. Soon after wards, she dusted herself and made a  bee line for the improvised kitchen under a tent, where meals were  being served. Minutes late, she emerged with a mountain of nyoyo  (mixture of beans and maize), and a cup of tea.  Mourners salivate  On the final day, the bereaved had hired services of an out service  catering company. They had prepared sumptuous nyoyo, tea and ugali seved  with beef for special visitors, whose aroma made most of the mourners  salivate, completely ignoring the eulogies read.

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What shocked the  residents was the gusto with which one particular whipped out a plate  and other cutlery, when she was told all the plates available had run  out. “Apenjou jowadwa, tinde ji Biro e liel nyaka gi plate, e liel yawa?  (Let me ask you brethren, nowadays people come to funerals with  plates?” wondered a shocked mourner.  “The world could be coming to an end my friends, if people can carry  such things to a funeral. It seems some people only come to funerals to  eat?” asked another mourner.  “Osiepna, thurwa kae, jii nyaka chiem ee liel. mang’a duong kothoo,nyaka  gweno, dhiang’ gi diek nyaka yang’ mar jomaobiro ee liel. (My friend,  around here, people believe in eating in funeral).  And when a ‘big’ person dies, you would always hear of plans to  slaughter bulls, chickens, goats and sheep in order to sustain the  expected big number of mourners that would grace the burial.)” answered  the other mourner.  He added: “The bigger the name the bigger the budget of food. So much is  the emphasis that is put on food that in some instances, we have a  committee that ensures food is in plenty, even if it means doing a  fundraiser, otherwise people will forever gossip the bereaved, claiming  he/she starved them!”