These women were stood on the back of a flatbed truck in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre singing the most beautiful music.
The grounds of the hospital are busy – large groups of ‘guardians’ are crowded together on every spare grassy area there is in the hospital grounds – sleeping, eating, washing and cooking on the verges. Patients rely on their guardians to wash, feed and care for them as this level of care isn’t ordinarily provided by hospital staff. Can’t be provided by hospital staff – there just isn’t the manpower or resources for this type of care.
And death is so desperately prevalent that each time one of the wards dies, the guardians all gather together and sing the most beautiful songs as they escort the body to the morgue. It’s very moving to see. And to hear.
Jo Spiller 