Richer in Death than in Life

I led a group to Las Delicias again today. When we got there, the people greeted us in a somber mood. In a couple moments, I found out why. A village representative for Project FIAT came running up to me to let me know that last night, one of the old women of the village had "died of fright" during the thunderstorm. The only family she had was her 65-year-old daughter with whom she had lived in a small shack. Luis--the representative--then asked me if members of our group would like to go to the dwelling to attend the wake. I translated for the group, and most of them wanted to go. I decided to stay with the people who had chosen not to.

I soon found out why we had been asked to go. Luis wanted me to ask the members of our group to pitch in and purchase a $22 coffin for the deceased woman as she had left her daughter with no money. Knowing village politics and that if we gave them money for this, the requests would never stop, I asked to be taken to the president of the village committee so we could discuss the matter. I ended up having a brief meeting with the president and the secretary who tried multiple routs of soliciting money from us. In the end, it was decided that they would take the normal route and ask the villagers to pitch in and together, they would buy a coffin and pay for the funeral.

As I watched and listened to this discussion, it struck me that the $22 coffin wasn't much money to us gringos, even for me. But for the president and the other members of the village committee, it was a struggle to come up with the money. The second thing that struck me was that the deceased woman, through the generosity of her neighbors, was suddenly rich in death the way she had never been in life. She was laid to rest under a white, satiny shroud in a beautiful, child-sized coffin in which she fit perfectly.