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Ebola in Butembo: These practices of the response agents which disturb the culture and the tradition
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 11:16
Since the declaration, ten months ago, of the first Ebola Virus outbreak in the North-North (Beni, Butembo and Lubero) of North Kivu province, the response teams are carrying out acts that offend the culture and tradition of the Yira community (majority people in this part of North Kivu).
Even though communities do not dare to be publicly outraged, they are still surprised and worried about what "Ebola brings to them".
Digging graves before the death of the sick
Among the Yira, including the Nande, it is not customary to dig the grave before the death of the patient, "even if it is in agony".
"Moreover, before the death of the patient, one even hesitates to speculate on the place of his burial. Unless it's the patient himself, feeling his impending death, which indicates where he wants to be buried, "Rachel Vanzwa, 30, told ACTUALITE.CD.
But with the arrival of the Ebola virus disease in Butembo (Nande reference city, Ed), communities are surprised to see the response team against the epidemic suddenly prepare "almost five graves (Bureau for example, even before the death of patients admitted to care in Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs).
"They seem to know that our loved ones are going to die," said a participant at the Social Symposium held May 30 to June 1, in Butembo, by religious denominations.
"To dig a grave before the death of the patient is like wishing him a misfortune. In principle, we dig a grave for a specific person, that is to say we must know upstream who must be buried. Also, one only digs when the patient is dead. And we must not leave a grave without relatives watching over it. And if you want to bury the person somewhere else, you have to do some rituals of "moving the grave", and in the hole dug at the beginning, you have to plant a banana tree, to say that you did not dig for nothing ", explained to ACTUALITE.CD the journalist-anthropologist Christian Kahindo Muke, author of the book "The Yira Nation".
However, Mr. Nzuva Kihanda Jean Bosco, head of the urban registry office and the population at the Butembo mayor's office, said that the response teams digging the tombs in advance, is to prevent they are overwhelmed.
"There are times when the teams responsible for decent and secure burial (DHS) have about ten bodies to bury in the day. They are overwhelmed. This is how they prevent, digging ahead. Also, it is to shorten the time to bury a victim to avoid being attacked by protesters against the riposte, "he says.
Employ women in funeral activities
Sunday, May 12, 2019. Matanda Hospital. 11:00'. When Ms. Kasivika Sabina's relatives wanted to remove from the morgue of this hospital the remains of this former local civil society activist, presumed dead of Ebola, for her burial, they are "surprised to see the coffin containing the body of the deceased. 'illustrious gone to be carried by young girls'.
"They were 17-year-old girls, members of their dignified and safe burial team who brought us the body of our mother. It surprised us because growing up, we know that a woman can not carry a body. It's not because it's a job that you have to violate culture, "says Ms. Micheline Kalipi, who witnessed the event.
A member of the response team, who spoke to ACTUALITE.CD on condition of anonymity, reports that it is true that women are also employed in safe and dignified burial teams (DHS).
"But with the comments of the civil society and the anthropologists of the response, the question has stopped in the health zone of Katwa, but in that of Butembo, the girls continue to be employed in the teams of EDS, notably as hygienists in mortuaries, "he reveals.
"Among the Yira, a woman does not bury and can not, therefore, be used in the transport of remains. Because they are considered as easy gateways for spirits. We must move them away from the dead, "warns Christian Kahindo Muke.
Bury pregnant women with their children
It also happens to the response teams to bury pregnant women with the child. According to a member of the response team, "It is forbidden to manipulate the bodies of people who died of Ebola. Not easy, therefore, to separate them.
Specific cases reported at ACTUALITE.CD, are those recorded in December 2018 in the health zones of Kalunguta and Vuhovi, where pregnant women were buried with their children.
"It's not just about culture or tradition, but it's a general rule that you can not bury two people in the same grave, it's like putting them in a mass grave," says anthropologist Christian Kahindo Muke.
"A pregnant woman carries two people in herself: herself and the child. Each of them has ancestor protection. To bury them together is to violate ancestral taboos. This can sometimes be considered a source of misfortune in the family. In certain circumstances, this woman may not be welcomed in the village of the ancestors, "said Mr. Edgard Mateso, member of the Asbl Kyaghanda Yira.
Regarding the coordination of the response, the source replies that their "socio-anthropologists have conducted research that attest that there are rituals that are performed before these kinds of burials."
Bury "family and customary leaders" in public cemeteries
Response teams are able to bury some Ebola patients in public cemeteries while among them there are "great family and customary leaders" who should only be buried on their ancestral lands (amahero) .
"It's about distance, security and trust. This often happens for distant distances. When a family says they want to go and bury their relative who died of Ebola, for example, in Kipese, it is difficult to accept, because first of all, Kipese is far from Butembo (more than 60 km), so we have to cross insecure villages where militiamen are active. Which is dangerous for EDS teams. In addition, we can not deliver the body, because we fear that relatives can go handle it, which is a great public danger. In such a situation, the deceased is placed in a nearby public cemetery, "says Mbusa Kambalo Olivier, a former employee of the riposte.
It disturbs the culture because, according to Kahindo Muke Christian, among the Yira, to bury someone on his ancestral land, is to confirm its origin. "For example, in the event of land conflicts in our country, we ask each of the parties to prove that their ancestors were buried on this conflict land, so that we can recognize the origin, even the right of inheritance."
"But burying people in public cemeteries, while they still have their ancestral lands, is like decreeing their exclusion and creating for their offspring the difficulty of proving their right of inheritance", he explains to NEWS .CD.
Claude Sengenya
https://actualite.cd/2019/06/14/ebo...nts-de-riposte-qui-derangent-la-culture-et-la
