We arrived in Bwindi and planned to do the "batwa experience" (more on that later) but when we talked to some of the people, we found out that one of the batwa had passed away the day before and they were all planning to attend her funeral that day.
Then, they invited us to attend.
At first I didn't really want to go-- I didn't want to intrude on their family during a sensitive time. But, they more or less insisted and we felt like it would be a good way to get to know some of them a little better. So we all loaded up in the van and drove two hours into the middle of the forest to their village, where Alice's funeral took place.
When we drove down their dirt road, all of them turned to stare at our car and the little kids started chasing our van. We parked. Everyone kept staring. And stopped talking.
Awkward.
We walked towards them.
Still silent. Still staring.
The reverend who invited us to the funeral was with us and pulled up some benches front and center of where the funeral would take place. She took her time but eventually explained to the Batwa that we are researchers from the US who had come, but once we found out about Alice's death we just wanted to come and pay our respects. (or so she says... this is all in their language and I am trusting that's really what went down, ha) but after she explained they started clapping-- this is what they do to say "welcome" to visitors.
After that, things got less awkward and everyone started talking again.
It was taking forever for the funeral to start since we were waiting on another reverend to arrive, and so i went back to the van to play with these little kids who were all standing around the van, gawking. Our driver (who stayed in the van, his name is Alfred and he is tight. as an aside, he speaks 14 languages) said that the kids were all talking about how they had never seen a car before. So they were touching it all over, especially the tires.
I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures of them and then showing them on the screen. They were cracking up laughing and talking really excitedly. Alfred said that they had never seen their own picture before. They would look down at their clothes and then look at the screen and giggle.
The funeral finally started and they again, made us sit front and center which i felt awkward about since I didn't know her. In the end, I was really grateful they let us sit there so we could hear their singing. I literally felt like I was sitting in Avatar land (you know the scene, with the shakey hand thing going on). It was beautiful.
They proceeded with the funeral, none of which we understood and then pointed to us to say something. Since all eyes were on us, Danny took one for the team and stood up and offered his condolences. They clapped. Way to go Dandy.
After Danny and the other people who spoke were done, the reverend informed us that she had forgotten to call Alice's (lady who died) son and tell him that his mom had died. So she called him, and we waited til he got there (he was away at another village at school). Everyone stayed sitting where they were and watched as this tortured boy (he was about 15-16) dealt with the death of his mother. They un-nailed the coffin for him so he could see her body. He saw it, and went into one of their huts and remained there.
Then, while he was still in the hut, the reverend told us that they would bury her body now. She made it sound like we would be walking a ways to get to where they would put her body, but it was really just in their backyard. Maybe like 25 ft from where the huts were.
Watching them bury her was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I included a video of it at the end of this post. The men would shovel the dirt onto her coffin, and after a couple of strokes, another man would take over, and then another, and another. Like this real sense of community or like it was a privilege to be able to bury her body. And it really took like 5 minutes for them to bury her.
Also, the reason we have so many pictures from the funeral, is not because we are insensitive Americans, but because the reverend's camera battery died and she asked us to take pictures for her.
Twa lady looking at Alice's body inside the coffin.
The grave-- note the proximity of the hut in the background.
taking turns shoveling
Probably 5 minutes after the funeral was over, the whole village was in commotion. Several of the Batwa were shouting at the reverend and were red in the face (and these pygmy folks are already a little red skinned. and feisty). It was apparently some dispute over a new hut that was supposed to be constructed but was costing more than they had thought.
While we were waiting for the funeral to start, we conducted several interviews with many of the older Batwa people who had grown up living in the forest hunter gatherer style. Weird juxtaposition of work, plus funeral, plus village dispute all rolled into just a few quick hours.
The funeral has been one of my favorite parts of Africa because it was a genuine cultural experience. I was really touched by their music and how welcoming they were to us mzungus. We are going to miss it here!
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