By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug. 6 (232News) – Wonders shall never end in this last days of our Lord. The attention of TRACE Joenal has been drawn over the attention of the state of Freetown cemeteries in recent years. In some case attention was paid by authority and well-meaningful citizens by through fencing and cleaning.
With an intention of sympathizing with love once, family and friends TRACE Joenal joined a friend who lost her grandmother. After the funeral service, TRACE Joenal decided to join them for the burial.
We marched through the streets of Freetown west for an hour to the Kingtom cemetery just to pay our last respect to a loving grandmother.
At the Kingtom cemetery, TRACE Joenal was contemplating whether to stop at the entrance or to enter the graveside. Suddenly my friend tapped me on my left shoulder reminding TRACE Joenal to join others at the graveside.
The distance from the entrance of the cemetery to the graveside was about 5 minutes.
It was a moment of reflection for those of us that saw the corpse being lowered into grave. As we are reflecting and praying for perpetual light to shine upon the dead, TRACE Joenal was tapped again this time on the right shoulder drawing his attention to a number of used and unused condoms in the cemetery. The first thing that jumped to mind was the dead had used the condoms bur after close attention it dawned on us that that those that are doing such act usually call themselves friends of the dead.
Kingtom cemetery is one of few cemeteries in Freetown that is fenced and gated at both ends. The cemetery is divided into two, the left hand side is linked to the Bommeh dumping site while the right hand side which TRACE Joenal went shared fence with St. Edwards School and the electricity house.
For used and unused condoms to be seen came as a surprise to many including TRACE Joenal. Imagine how dark the cemeteries are in Sierra Leone but there are others who see it as an opportunity to use it as their brothel.
The graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred which implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the dead but for the living to use it for other purpose is something that should be put to a stop.
Some years back, the same friends of the dead terrorized the dead. They went on the rampage by uprooting corpses for ritual purposes while some looted caskets.
The question comes up again asking what the Freetown City Council which is charged with the responsibility of taking care of these cemetery is doing. The cemeteries are unkempt but somebody is seating quietly collecting money from people that want to bury their love on and some are paying for a space at the cemetery as their family grave.
If the process of Transforming Freetown fails to touch the heart of the cemeteries, then we will question the transformation process.
The Circular Road cemetery has been left unattended and the community is now using it as their dumping ground.
If it was not for the timely intervention of Tumac almost all the cemeteries in Freetown should have been without fence but his generosity brought some serenity to the dead. I guess some of the dead are thanking him for protecting them as they rest in the Lord’s bosom.
TRACE Joenal is a regular column brought to you by Ibrahim Joenal Sesay, Senior Staff Writer of SALONE TIMES NEWSPAPER, Best Human Right Reporting award winner and Advocate for Change in Sierra Leone. You can follow him on www.232news.com, E-mail salonesij@gmail.comTwitter &Facebook @tracejoenal
