We’ll All Float On Okay
Last week one of my co-worker’s sisters died. She died of pneumonia after being in the hospital for two weeks. I am not one to speculate, but when people die of pneumonia in Africa, it is often the result of AIDS. Regardless of the cause of my co-workers loss, it was really sad. She was only 27. When we heard about the death we went to visit my co-worker and her family which is the custom in Africa. Everyone, including family, friends, neighbors, and basically the entire community visit the family to give condolences. From what I have experienced, Africans are more vocal with their grieving. Women were wailing in the streets and the mother had her own room set up for people to sit with her and grieve. After two days of this, the body was buried in a crowded cemetery with a brief but very well done sermon. My co-worker’s brother had to be carried away because he was so heartbroken.
My co-worker’s sister didn’t have health insurance. I was told it was over $2,000 a day just for the hospital room, which didn’t include the treatments or medication. My co-worker was one of the few members in the family with a “decent” paying job. Still, her family had to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt. When I asked how they would pay back a lifetime of debt, I was told that the family and community would come together to help them. You see, family in the US is usually limited to the immediate family, grandparents, and sometimes aunts, uncles, and first cousins. In Angola, the family is a term used to describe EVERYONE of relation and often close friends and neighbors. This is compounded by the fact that families in Africa are often large with many siblings. My friend told me that the heads of each branch of the family would come together and make a decision about how much to contribute to pay off the loans. Everything should be okay, thanks in no small part to the Angolan concept of sharing the burden and knowing that “family” does not just include those of direct blood relation.
