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Zambia: Shortage of Burial Sites - How About Cremation?

3 April 2010-Times of Zambia

By Doreen Nawa

ALTHOUGH cremation has been a subject of intense debate among Zambia's Christian communities, it is now being touted as the best possible answer to the shortage of burial sites in most parts of the country.

Notably, local authorities in Lusaka and Chipata particularly say they have now run out of land for burial sites and this is prompting some people from certain circles of society to start considering cremation.

According to Wikipedia, the online global encyclopedia, cremation is the process of reducing dead human bodies to basic chemical compounds in the form of gases and bone fragments.

This process is accomplished through high temperatures and evaporisation.

But contrary to popular belief, the cremated remains are not ashes in the usual sense, but rather dried bone fragments that have been pulverised, typically in a device called an electric cremated remains processor (known as a cremulator or pulverisation may be done by hand).

It leaves the bone in a fine sand-like texture and colour, able to be scattered without need for mixing with any foreign matter.

The weight can be anything from appoximately 1.8kg for adult females and 2.7kg for adult males.

In Zambia, which has traditionally been burying its dead from time immemorial, the shortage of land for burial sites has become a public issue of concern.

The capital city Lusaka has now seen the opening up of two new private cemeteries, Mutumbi Cemetery and Remembrance Park and Leopards Hill Memorial Park respectively, where people can bury their dead at a fee.

But majority Zambians are failing to afford burying their deceased at such sites because of the huge costs involved.

For one to bury their dead at Mutumbi Cemetery, for instance, one has to pay between K1.5 million and K5.5 million.

Leopards Hill charges K2.5 million for a single graveyard and K5.5 to K10 million for a family plot.

Lusaka City Council (LCC) public relations manager, Chanda Makanta confirms that the city has run out of land for public burial sites, adding that the rate at which people are dying in Lusaka and countrywide is worrying.

Cremation maybe the only solution, she says.

But the concept of cremation has been received with mixed feelings from some Zambians, who argue that the practice is not anywhere near the Christian religion to which Zambia subscribes.

Ms Makanta said: "People should accept that a dead body has no feelings and it is as good as dead.

It will not feel any pain if cremated.

This issue (argument) of Zambia being a Christian nation will not help us because there is no land and not everyone can afford burying at private cemeteries because of the charges.

"Which district can accept that you take ifitumbi (dead bodies) there instead of development?

I do not think Chibombo District, our nearest here, can accept that we bury people there.

Of course, all the districts are in a hurry to develop and they cannot accept that you take graves there instead of buildings.

"I do not want to say that we have failed but the fact is we are trying our best to find an alternative land.

"We have had offers from people that we should buy their land like in Ng'ombe but we have to inspect and get satisfied," she said.

And Chipata Municipal Council says it has run out of burial sites because the two burial sites, St Anne's and Mchini, have run out of space.

Town Clerk Golden Banda confirmed that the local authority was waiting for the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) to gazette another possible land as a burial site.

"Yes, we have run out of space at our two cemeteries. It is a sad situation because people have now gone beyond the boundary burying their loved ones. At the moment, we are still waiting for ECZ to give us alternative land," Mr Banda confirmed.

Again, cremation was his preferred solution as an alternative.

But will Zambians accept it considering that theirs is a Christian nation?

"The reason Christians have always been careful to practise burial is because we believe in a bodily resurrection. Though the buried body will decompose in time and sometimes there are occasions in which Christians die in ways which render burial impossible like in the sinking of ships, in house fires or being eaten by a lion when at all possible we bury because it is our sure hope that the same individual will be raised in the same body, only changed because we shall have no sin," explains the Bishop.

In the Bible, the physical body is regarded as the corruptible seed for the resurrection of the incorruptible body in the same manner that when planted, a seed first decomposes before the new plant comes forth.

Throughout the Bible, the destruction of a human body or of an object by fire is used as a sign of divine wrath.

Examples abound in the Bible like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis19 verse 24, the story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 verses. 1-2 and some examples of men who rebelled with God's people like Korah in Numbers 16 verses 35 and in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 12.

"God made you a three-part being, these include body, soul, and spirit. Mind you, God created all three parts for Himself. Every part of your existence, including your body, should be dedicated to His glory. You have no right to use any part of God's creation as you wish. He is the Creator. He has the full rights to dictate how His creations are treated. Let the local authorities find new burial sites because we shall not accept cremation here in Zambia," says Bishop Ndhlobvu.

But the sad reality is that while until recently burial prevailed almost universally as the common method for disposal of the dead in most Christian nations, cremation which in the past was looked upon as something practiced only by those totally ignorant of the Bible, trends are now changing.

And the debate is still raging: "While the weight of Christian tradition clearly favours burial, the Bible nowhere explicitly condemns cremation. Since 1963, the Roman Catholic Church has permitted cremation while 'earnestly recommending' burial as the preferred mode of disposal," says Peter Chikwanda, a professed Catholic Christian.

Mr Chikwanda notes that cremation cannot in any way prevent the sovereign God from calling forth the dead at the end of time, adding that the Bible should not be used as a proof text either for the necessity of burial or for cremation.

"The real question for Christians is not whether one is buried or cremated but how we live as in living a life that pleases God. Because at the end of it all and when all is said and done what will matter is one being faithful to God. On that Day of Judgment, we will all stand before God, those who will be alive by then and the dead, cremated or buried," believes Mr Chikwanda.

And several other people feel that cremation is more environmentally-friendly than embalming (preparations for burial) practices used.

It is also believed that many chemicals used in embalming are known toxins.

However, there is some evidence that crematoriums, where bodies are cremated, produce their own pollutants, which might be a health hazard.

Financially, cremating a body is far more cost-effective than burial.

Burial requires the purchase of a burial plot, a coffin, and huge amounts of money to buy food for feeding the mourners, among others.

Yet, cremation can mean simplifying funeral arrangements for family members, something many people say could be ideal considering that grieving family members need not to be overwhelmed after a loss!