Mabige walked nearer to his brother who was now ashen faced and very frail and could hardly speak and placed the baby on his chest as he was lying flat on the bed with his head propped up. He said, “Brother, meet my son!” The baby cried and Papa Haga opened his eyes and looked at the baby for a long time and forced a cracked smile on his face and told his brother with a faint voice, “Well done, my brother, this is a great gift from God, cherish it and look after it. I knew it will be a boy.” As soon as he said those words, he took a deep breath and he died.
Mama Haga wept uncontrollably slumped besides him. Mabige went over to her and took her by the hand and encouraged her and comforted her. When they heard Mama Haga cry, Mama Mondo ran across to the Haga’s household and realised what had happened. She took Mama Haga by the hand and gave her a warm embrace and did not say a word and the women just wept and wept until they were tired.
Mabige went across to his house and told Beko of what had happened and she also wept as she was really fond of Papa Haga. They decided to name the baby after Papa Haga in honour of him. His name was Doma. Mabige thought it would be a good thing to remember his brother in that way. He gave the baby to Beko and went out to tell the neighbours about what had just happened and soon the whole compound was full of the villagers who had come to mourn their friend and neighbour.
Mabige went into the room where his brother lay and covered him over with a blanket and sat people in the living room adjacent to the room where the body was in the bedroom and made plans for the funeral and burial tomorrow.
It was very difficult for people to congratulate him on the birth of his son and at the same time pay their condolences for the death of his brother. It was a difficult time for everyone concerned. They sang songs all night and prayed and shared old stories and all the things that Papa Haga used to say and do. This cheered them up a bit as sometimes they would roar with laughter at one of his jokes or his characteristics.
Mama Haga was totally broken and cried most of the night to the point where she had to lie down as she could not contain her grief. Mama Mondo made sure not to leave her side and had to follow her every time she got up to go out of the room for one reason or the other. She was too grief-stricken to be left alone at any given time. They were worried that she might collapse or hurt herself if left unsupervised as she was also disoriented due to the shock she was under.
In the morning as the gravediggers were busy digging the grave for Papa Haga, Mabige sent one of the young men to the weaver who weaved everything from baskets, to bags and rugs. He sent them to buy a big reed mat in which the body would be wrapped and tied in for burial.
The male village elders washed Papa Haga’s body, dressed him in his best clothes and wrapped him up in a blanket and then rolled him up in the reed mat before tying him in it with long strings of tree bark ready for burial. Because the burial ground was close to the house, they did a small service for him in his house and walked in a long procession to the graveyard. People sang songs as they walked down to lay him to rest. Mama Haga was walking in front of the procession with Mama Mondo, they were dressed in all black. They were still weeping, but this time quietly. Beko had not gone to the grave because her baby was too young to leave the house or to be exposed to the public just yet and she was still not strong enough herself.
A few people said a few words at the graveside and said a prayer before Papa Haga was laid in the ground and family and friends took turns to throw dirt on the body, before the grave diggers shovelled soil onto the body until the grave was completely covered. Mama Haga collapsed in front of everyone as she could not bear the idea of never going to see her soul mate again in this life. They carried her home and put her straight to bed to rest. After this, they all went back home to their various houses, but those who were close to the Hagas stayed to keep an eye on Mama Haga.
Mama Haga was to wear black clothes for the whole year to mark her husband’s death. Mama Mondo decided to stay for a whole month to assist her daughter and to teach her about motherhood. She also felt she needed to be there for Mama Haga who was taking her husband’s passing very hard. She felt it was a blessing in disguise that she intended to stay that long anyway.
Otherwise if she stayed because of Mama Haga, her husband would have been worried that maybe something had befallen her in the woods as he would not know of Papa Haga’s death. Mama Mondo made it her duty to nurse Mama Haga back to her normal self, which she knew was a tough job to accomplish given the state she was in. She would not eat for weeping and could not sleep at night. The close members of the family and some of the villagers who had stayed behind to comfort her had shared all of Papa Haga’s clothes among themselves as was their custom in honour of the dead.
Mama Haga had insisted on them giving
