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I didn’t fully get how COVID impacts families grieving a death till this week.
This past Friday, my Dadi (grandmother) passed away and a burial following pandemic rules had to happen in less than 24 hours, without the same support you’d rely on from friends & family. 1/
This past Friday, my Dadi (grandmother) passed away and a burial following pandemic rules had to happen in less than 24 hours, without the same support you’d rely on from friends & family. 1/
My Dadi came to Toronto in 1967 with my dad, uncle & my Dada. They sponsored refugee families from East Africa in the 70s, founded my mosque (which now has ~10,000 congregants on some occasions), spent her life in service.
She was funny & feisty, cracking jokes constantly 2/
She was funny & feisty, cracking jokes constantly 2/
That 10 of us had to bury her by ourselves, without the community that she helped build present, is devastating.
Her friends and extended family were forced to watch online we recited salatul mayyit prayers for her and said goodbye. 3/
Her friends and extended family were forced to watch online we recited salatul mayyit prayers for her and said goodbye. 3/
I’ve taken for granted how important grieving with others is - relying on people giving you hugs, crying with you in person. The burial was that much harder without them there. 4/
#COVID forced us to take care of her last moments at home and not at a hospital, where nurses & doctors would’ve been better able to help with her pain but where we wouldn’t be able to be there for her. 5/
But there were moments that made us all feel blessed too.
Food deliveries, hundreds of messages of people who wanted to be there in person, the prayers for her, the mosque volunteers who organized different parts of the funeral 6/
Food deliveries, hundreds of messages of people who wanted to be there in person, the prayers for her, the mosque volunteers who organized different parts of the funeral 6/
And the Zoom calls where we all talked about our times with her (her WhatsApp forwards and her hilarious jokes & insults, the times we snuck out of her bedroom to go watch tv at 6am, the best food - at least that’s what we told our Mom all the time - and constant chocolates) 7/
So distance, isolate, wear masks, download the COVID Alert app. Do what needs to get done so we can be done with all this.
I’m looking forward to this pandemic being over so my family can mourn Dadi properly and laugh together again too. 8/
I’m looking forward to this pandemic being over so my family can mourn Dadi properly and laugh together again too. 8/
