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The day of the funeral began in Luanda at 9 in the morning in the church of São Joaquim, Praia do Bispo, in Luanda, and all the seats were filled (with the due social distance due to Covid-19), in a ceremony much simpler than the one in Kinshasa. It had a male quartet (not always very harmonious) in the hymns and the emotional testimony of a Sindika relative.
The first mass was in Luanda, in the São Joaquim church, in Praia do Bispo
But before and until the broadcast went to Congo, Zap, who also wanted to pay tribute to the founder and administrator, had an Angolan singer, Sandra Cordeiro, who sang from La Voce di Maria in Italian, to Girassol in Portuguese Brazil.
Sandra Cordeiro performed several songs at Zap’s studio in Luanda
The Kinshasa ceremony was more exuberant and longer, despite the rain: it took place in the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, in addition to the mass, featured many testimonies, speeches and much music, from a choral group even a soloist and one of Sindika Dokolo’s favorite singers, Lokua Kanza.
Tribute moment to Sindika in Kinshasa
The most solemn moment took place in the sobriety and silence of Westminster Cathedral in London, from where the body of Sindika Dokolo left for the cemetery. Lavishly decorated with giant floral arrangements in the same tones as those in Luanda and Kinshasa, the church was the one with the least presence, some thirty people, due to Covid, said the priest, “but it was attended by many people from Angola , Congo, Mozambique and Portugal and around the world ”via YouTube.
Moment of the ceremony in which the daughter of Sindika and Isabel intervenes
It fell to the eldest daughter of the couple, whose name in Kigongo means Greatness, as said by a friend of the father (the other names of the children mean Joy – Sindika’s son from a previous relationship with Isabel – Independence, Guide and Protected and Surrounded love) read an important message. The young woman, who, unlike her mother, was not wearing a mask or visor, read the words that the brothers wrote about their father in perfect English and that of a friend in impeccable French. The youngest son said he missed his father: “I miss you dad, I wish I could play with you again. I wanted to laugh with you. Happy Halloween”.
Sindika and Isabel’s eldest daughter read what she and each of the brothers wanted to say about the father
In addition to this daughter and sister of Sindika (she made the first reading of the Bible), Isabel dos Santos, visibly moved, also participated, saying the prayer of the faithful: she prayed for Sindika, for the family and friends of Sindika, for Africa: “Because we have the strength to face challenges and that it can grow to its potential and that we are prepared to help.”
The coffin left the cathedral for the cemetery in a hearse, accompanied by half a dozen cars. Once there, Isabel and her children walked behind the coffin while Zap skipped messages from public figures, such as Naomi Campbell, cutting the images of the graves with that of her friend Lokua Kanza, who in Kinshasa played Wapi Yo – a. impressive sung lament.
