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These are not ordinary times. In the middle of COVID-19 that has devastated every corner of the world, Ethiopian society and the nation are getting used to changing their habits to help stop the spread of the virus.
Fight it when even wealthy and prosperous nations cannot and continue to become vulnerable to it, within a local healthcare system that is too weak to accommodate victims if the virus spreads as it has in places like the United States, Europe and others. Ethiopia seems to do a lot with little resources by hand, but through conventional wisdom.
Nowhere is it true that the restriction imposed on the free assembly of a population accustomed to living side by side and whose milestones are celebrated with hundreds of people in assistancelike weddings and funerals that have brought the virus closer than home, not just what Ethiopians seen from afar not long ago.
Ethiopian Ministry of Health, under a authority delivered under Ethiopia’s new State of Emergency directive which restricts funerals to family members of up to 50 people, Has it forced many families to take the risk and continue to organize large gatherings while others keep it. This is what many are overwhelmed by losses if the norm of life changed instantly
Earlier this year, before the start of the pandemic for example, the 91-year-old children and grandchildren returned to the capital of the Untied States and various European nations to care for a sick grandmother. That was before travel restrictions were imposed, forcing some to stay in Ethiopia. The woman had not been well for A while and they hoped this was the last time they would see her.
its longevity for nearly a century it had produced many friends, family, and others. When he died last Friday in the midst of a changed society affected by a virus that was little known when they arrived, but forced him to become everyone’s reality.
With little regard for the new way of life, embracing what is generally the norm, some two hundred people showed up at the elderly funeral. That was not what the family had planned, but they seemed foresee since women had long life Many people of his generation.
“We were aware from the fact that we are now in an era where we are supposed to be careful with a virus, but all these people showed up uninvited, but again, nobody invites anyone to funeral in Ethiopia People just show up to show respect and love to a deceased, “said her daughter, Almaz Bekele. “Many of we were distressed and we didn’t have the knowledge to restrain people and we were nervous when the police just showed up and started restricting some to attend the entire ceremony. “
Among the restrictions imposed on Ethiopia in the country’s five-month state of emergency are meetings of more than four, whether political or religious.
They did not have to. Police It was hopes to prevent people from actually attending the church procession, but were forced to break up the crowd that had gathered hard like them warned the pandemic It is expected to grow and affect most people. For them and for others, such a meeting is a real source of their growth and for many, despite the warnings and wisdom of others, they were unable to do so. Brake tradition and norm does not matter the thousands who have died abroad and the more than 100 people who have been affected at home and the few that died.
This is the new reality for the world and Ethiopia is no exception, there are many who are not as fortunate as those being buried in Ethiopia who are dying all the time, buried by the state in unmarked graves in the middle of the night. .
In the United Kingdom, where the virus has affected thousands of people, including its controversial Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it has now placed one of the strictest adversaries for funeral arrangements.
It only asks for professional funeral arrangers, a person’s household members and family members to attend and strictly supervises social distancing. Italy, hit by the pandemic as the worst in the world, has completely restricted funerals, denying the dignity of the deceased, forcing them to be buried by the state and devastating loved ones.
“We take full responsibility for them,” an Italian nurse told the BBC. “We send loved ones a photo of the coffin to be used, then we pick up the body from the hospital and bury or incinerate it. They have no choice but to trust us.”
“We can’t dress them, we can’t brush their hair (and) we can’t put makeup on them. We can’t make them look nice and peaceful. It’s very sad.” she added
Almaz said the Reporter, how She appreciated the people who came to respect her mother, risking being arrested and mistreated by the authorities. She said, her modest mother would have appreciated everything that came in fool ways, perhaps showing some humanity amidst a loss and a pandemicHe said, he would have cooked for all of them.
“My mother was a kind woman. She cooked for everything neighborhood and attended everyone’s milestones, be it a birthday, graduation, or wedding. She had a lot stories and it is more special when others tell us. It is a pity that many are Be unable for him pandemic“He concluded by hugging a photo of his mother from his younger days closer.
“I wish I could live her age and be surrounded by so many people and be loved like her It was”she said, imagining the people who would have surrounded her inside the mothers’ place of residence that was empty a few days after a funeral as she sat alone with only her brothers and her children.
