THE Bemba saying, “teti tuluse umuntu nobwali” (we cannot lose the person and also lose nshima), has become the most famous saying at funerals today. What was once a solemn moment for mourning has become a test for the grieving family, who now worry about how to feed the entire community. People arrive with their families, including children, just to have breakfast, lunch and supper, and then depart. After midnight, drunkards show up demanding food, piling even more pressure on the bereaved. A social commentator and senior citizen, Mark Mukuka, says it is shameful that people today flock to funeral homes and demand food, recalling that in his younger days, funerals were intimate affairs meant only for family members and...