News / International
Boyfriend blocks deceased Zim woman's family from entering her house in Belfast
29 Dec 2014 at 15:18hrs | Views
Editor
An incident which happened over Christmas holiday has shocked Zimbabweans living in Belfast
A family which has travelled from Zimbabwe to bury their sister has been shocked by the way they were treated by her boyfriend.
After travelling all the way from Zimbabwe they were denied access into their sister's house and even seeing the children only to be sheltered by well wishers.
A The reason given by the boyfriend is that they came here without his permission. He was so angry with the family so much so that he behaved as though they required his permission to bury their sister.
The body of their relative was taken straight from the funeral directors to the cemetery because the boyfriend denied the body to enter into the house.
According to Zimbabwean culture, 'the deceased must spend a night in his/her house before burial'.
However, this was denied by the boyfriend, who is also Zimbabwean.
The family ended up using the church service as a platform to iron out differences because they were not given the chance to air out their views and feelings on how they were treated.
This further shocked the community which was gathered for the service as they expected the family to have been talking to each other.
According to the family the boyfriend was not married to the deceased. She was buried on Wednesday; no one knows where the family of the deceased is staying currently.
This incident has left many people from Zimbabwe who lives in Belfast shocked such that they do not know whether this man is aware of the trauma he has brought on the community. The family found this behaviour shocking that some Zimbabweans disregard tradition when they are in the Diaspora.
An incident which happened over Christmas holiday has shocked Zimbabweans living in Belfast
A family which has travelled from Zimbabwe to bury their sister has been shocked by the way they were treated by her boyfriend.
After travelling all the way from Zimbabwe they were denied access into their sister's house and even seeing the children only to be sheltered by well wishers.
A The reason given by the boyfriend is that they came here without his permission. He was so angry with the family so much so that he behaved as though they required his permission to bury their sister.
The body of their relative was taken straight from the funeral directors to the cemetery because the boyfriend denied the body to enter into the house.
According to Zimbabwean culture, 'the deceased must spend a night in his/her house before burial'.
However, this was denied by the boyfriend, who is also Zimbabwean.
The family ended up using the church service as a platform to iron out differences because they were not given the chance to air out their views and feelings on how they were treated.
This further shocked the community which was gathered for the service as they expected the family to have been talking to each other.
According to the family the boyfriend was not married to the deceased. She was buried on Wednesday; no one knows where the family of the deceased is staying currently.
This incident has left many people from Zimbabwe who lives in Belfast shocked such that they do not know whether this man is aware of the trauma he has brought on the community. The family found this behaviour shocking that some Zimbabweans disregard tradition when they are in the Diaspora.
Source - Concerned Diasporan
