Mbam's Funeral

Here is a neat excerpt from the Limbe Wildlife Center Blog. The blog tells the story of a chimpanzee named Mbam who died from a respiratory illness, and the service held to mark his passing. This story illustrates beautifully the importance of ritual, no matter who has died, or what the religious tradition happens to be. The funeral service serves to help the survivors to acknowledge their loss as a community, to mark the passing, to pray for their safe passage to whatever awaits them, to share the sadness, and to move forward back into life.

http://limbewildlifecentre.wildlifedirect.org/2010/01/20/mbams-funeral/

Yesterday we buried Mbam and, as we always do when an animal dies, we did a tradional ceremony for him. Stephen, a son of the soil, offered some whiskey to the fore-fathers and asked them to take good care of Mbam on his way to the other world.

It feels good to do a ceremony like this with the keepers. Just as it feels really good to know that you are all there and thinking about us. It is great to have friends like you. As we say in Cameroon: we are together!