There is a West African proverb I love that goes something like this:

A dead man has no time to cover his genitals.

What this basically means is that a dead man feels no shame. But his relatives most certainly do. And that is precisely the premise of this tale. Ivan Ssemwanga, a man who lived life on the fast lane; spent money fast and loud went to be with his maker.

And as will happen to everyone of us alive right now, his relatives and friends are preparing to return him to the earth; the dust from whence he came is the same dust from whence he returns.

But questions abound in many a mind but few tongues are willing to ask. Mine however is feeling limber. And the question I want to ask right now is why his ancestral home, the same that he is to be laid to rest with his ancestors is so neglected.

Understandably, this might have been the case because most of his living relations are living in crushing poverty BUT one could still argue that he could atleast have renovated HIS. Photos of the decrepit house have surfaced as have images of his relatives struggling to fix it in time for his funeral if only to avoiding shaming their wealthy son.

I wonder where I shall be building my own house on that note. Shinyalu is closer than Enugu though.