Cavmont Capital bank staff in Mpulungu have buried the remains of a dead homeless man, whose body had been lying unclaimed in the district hospital’s mortuary for over a month.
The named mentally disturbed tramp, believed to be in his late sixties, died several weeks ago but no relative came forward to claim the body.
In an interview with ZANIS today, the Bank’s branch supervisor Harrison Banda said his staff decided to take up the charity work after learning from council and the district hospital authorities that the body of the named man had remained unclaimed in the small mortuary, which has a capacity to accommodate only three bodies.
Mr Banda said he was, together with his members of staff touched by the news of the dead tramp’s unclaimed body and that it was then agreed that the Bank should help in a small way as part of its community response.
” We then proceeded to buy a coffin worth K300,000, a blanket at K25,000 and fuel for the ‘keep Mpulungu clean ‘ truck which we used to ferry the body to the cemetery for burial,” he said.
He said cavmont capital staff in conjunction with some council workers then retrieved the body from the mortuary and buried it at Musende cemetery in Mpulungu.
Banda called upon relatives not to abandon their dead saying all people are equal in God’s eyes regardless of their status in society and are entitled to a dignified burial.
He pledged his company’s commitment to help whenever they can, adding that such a service is one way of ploughing back into the community.
Born Byron Macreod Kasonde, the tramp popularly known as Nalume kasonde died under mysterious circumstances several weeks ago.
He was known for carrying excess baggage on his back and muttering a barrage of deep Bemba proverbs whenever spoken to. He was also believed to have roamed the streets of Mpulungu since the 1970s.
ZANIS
Thats a commendable job. Human beings whatever their status in society should be given a decent burial coz we shall all go back to the soil. I wish this could be done in urban arears where bodies remain unclaimed for months and councils simply put them in platistics and burry them in mass graves. What a society.
We have lost our culture this can not be allowed where a person can die and his body is not claimed for a month it is because he is mentally ill?
Have the mandamandas not been dispatched yet?
I Know this Man. Even though he was mentally ill, he was a very popular, hardworking and able to feed himself. whoever has been to mpulungu knows the man. I remember during UBZ time even if you dont have enough money to pay people to assist you in loading the bags of kapenta, Nalume kasonde will do the job.He deserved a dignified burial. MHSRIP.
They- (Cavemont) should have called for new hearse, from Mr. T!
I have been very unpopular for supporting the buying of hearses on this blog but to this day I would say the government did a good job on that. As you can see that mans body was carried in a gabbage truck. Thats what happens to the poor people in Zed. At least this man even went in a truck some bodies are carried on shoulders all the way to the cemetry. All in all good job Cavmont workers!
The Hearses are already in the country, so why use garbage truck? Next, hearses will be ferrying cadres to the airport!!
I can’t believe the media is referring to the deceased as a TRAMP..Surely there are better terms to use such as mentally challenged?
Those are the values of Ubunthu that we should all try to keep alive. my brother is your brother and my child is your child.
Tramp??? demeaning word. Can’t they use a better word? they can start with “homeless”
Mr. or Mrs Profiler- you are very polite! You want to called a tramp or homeless, vagrant, hobo, etc when a tramp is a long term homeless person who travels from place to place as an itinerant vagrant, walking or hiking all year round! Why not call him a ‘gentlemen of the road!’
So it be MHSRIP.
11 – Mark Brown,
‘Gentleman on the road’ works for me. Being a Government work for many years and working for the health sector, we have evloved as to the terms used in referring to disavantaged persons because some terms are demeaning and insulting but I guess that is what it is. However, I would expect professional media to be more suited for terms used in addressing individauls or groups; mentally challenged, impaired vision, hard to hear, drug dependent,. Other itinerant or homeless people or terms for this condition
Beggar
Derelict
Forgotten man
Freight train hoppers
Hoboes
Internally displaced persons
Itinerants
Mendicants
Rough sleepers
Schnorrer
Street children
Tramps
Vagabond
Vagrancy
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