What we owe them

MATHEWS NAMBANDI

In most families, dignity isn’t something anyone really teaches you. It’s there while you’re growing up, and you pick it up along the way without even realising it.

You see it in how people speak to elders, and in the small things that get done without anyone needing to say anything. It shows up in habits more than in words. It’s just understood that certain things matter, even if no one explains why.

You probably don’t think about it much at the time. It only really becomes clear how important it is when someone passes away. Because then a funeral isn’t just another event to organise. It becomes something more than that. It’s about showing respect, properly, one last time.