Passing grandmother Dora

What to do if your grandmother suddenly dies.

On Friday, March 29th , Dora's grandmother passed away. Grandmother took care of Dora. Dora lived in her house. On this Friday, Dora comes home and sees Grandmother asleep in her chair. Nothing strange about it, because that happened more often. Dora can take care of herself, so she wasn't too worried.

But when her friend David came to visit, there was a problem. It looked like grandmother had urinated. There was wetness under her chair and it didn't smell very good either. But David and Dora soon had the solution. Together they would wash grandma and mop and clean the room. No sooner said than done.

I don't know how it finally became clear that grandma had died. (It was around 45 degrees Celsius outside.) What I do know is that Dora and David took very good care of Grandma, while the adults, living around Grandmother and Dora, didn’t do anything at all. I'm proud of these two champions!

But there is a different opinion about that in Ghanaian culture. They hadn't been allowed to touch Grandmother anymore, so the children had to undergo a ritual cleansing. This means that a tunnel is dug at a lakeside through which the boy is pulled 3 times naked and the girl 4 times. (Women always have it harder!) Then they can start washing themselves. It also includes having the head shaved.

Now I don't know who was terribly angry with the children, but it is clear that they were adults. Dora and David both live in a culture where you are not allowed to ask questions as a child. So what did they do: they acted in a way that they thought was right: Grandma had urinated in her sleep, so she needs to be washed and the floor mopped!