Confronting Death

My post today is brought about by the death a couple days ago of both a friend of the children’s home and he was the next door neighbor.

Death in the village does not have the calming and soothing accoutrements found in the USA.

Elson Jamora was feeling bad and he thought it was his blood pressure going very high again.   He was asking around the village Monday morning, asking if anyone had blood pressure medicine that he could get.

By evening he was dead.  The wake was scheduled and the funeral was to be soon, but when I last talked to Inday, she didn’t know exactly when.

It is not soft music in beautifully decorated rooms staffed with people knowing the right words to say to comfort the grieving.   It is right there in the village, in their house or a relative’s house that might have more room.

A year ago, one of the boys from the children’s home was helping his grandparents at their farm a couple towns away.  Jun, short for Junior, scraped his leg while moving some brush.  It became infected and feverish.

Both of his parents work overseas.   His father on board ship, and his mother works as a maid in Abu Dhabi.   His grandparents used some traditional ways to treat infections but they didn’t work.   They did not have a phone and none of the people in their village had any load on their phone.   By the time they were able to call to see if we could help, it was too late.   He died shortly after the call was made.

Neither of his parents were able to return before he was buried.   The family had almost no money so an expensive funeral and burial was out of the question.

With such limited resources and options, death is always seemingly peeking around the corner waiting to pounce.

I have a couple pictures that are not related to the above stories, but show a little insight into the end of life.

The procession down the street was when I was in Sindangan last April.  I was in a little rice store and heard and saw it go past.

The picture of the mausoleum is when Inday’s grandfather passed away.   The family could not afford the bus fare so they pooled their resources and sent her father to represent them at the burial.