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World Down Syndrome Day

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I knew Odinga in 1969 before he became a Muslim, and the spiritual change when he returned to Belize in 1980, after becoming a Muslim, was substantial. I can easily understand how valuable he was to President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana. A man like Lumumba had the gift of making things become simple, understandable and controllable.


When Lumumba returned to Belize after his second sojourn in Ghana (1988?2003), he had suffered serious illnesses while in jail for a year and a half, most of that in solitary confinement.


During the times he spent at my home with me, he asked me on more than one occasion, in front of my wife, to make sure that he had a Muslim burial when he died. As he explained it to me, in Islam one should be buried the same day one dies, or within 24 hours.


When I visited Odinga at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital on Thursday evening, he was in a coma and it appeared that he was near to death. I felt the responsibility he had given me as a weight upon me, because I am not a Muslim. I first attempted to make contact with my Muslim brother, Ismail Omar Shabazz, but was informed that Shabazz was in Los Angeles, himself seeking medical attention.


It seems that there were Christian people who prayed over Odinga during his last days, and one of these people is reported to have said that Lumumba moved his feet in response to their ministrations, and they interpreted this to mean that they had the go-ahead to prepare a Christian burial for him. After Lumumba died on Saturday afternoon at the KHMH, then, there were a few hours of back and forth, so to speak.


This man had been a Muslim for perhaps thirty years, and he had asked me, while he was alive and clear headed, to make sure his burial was Islamic. I felt, to repeat, a burden of responsibility.


Through Mark Espat, who was of great assistance, I made contact with Nuri Muhammad, who, in turn, called Brother Kaleem, who lives in Ladyville. Brother Kaleem came down from Ladyville on Saturday evening, and began taking care of the preparations for burial. He asked us to purchase four yards of white cotton for the wrapping of the body.


So it was that Lumumba?s funeral service was held on Sunday morning at the Muslim Center on Fabers Road. After that, we drove to the Muslim cemetery at Mile 17 on the Coastal Road for the interment. Respect, Brother Kaleem.


A Christian burial for Odinga would have allowed his sisters and other relatives to fly in from the United States, and no doubt the funeral would have been much larger.


There was one benefit in the Islamic ceremony, however, Lumumba?s funeral service brought together all the leaders and spokesmen of the black conscious community in Belize. These black leaders and spokesmen are divided by personality differences and party politics, but on Sunday morning they all came together as one to honour a man who was bigger than all of us ? Baba Odinga Lumumba.


Nuri Muhammad is organizing a memorial service for this Sunday evening at the Bishop Sylvestre Memorial Center on Regent Street.


Lumumba died like a nobody, but for the black conscious community in Belize, he was the greatest national hero of our lifetime. I would therefore urge you to attend this memorial service for Odinga, because it is you and us, living Belizeans, who will be the beneficiaries. Lumumba is dead now, but his memory must inspire us. He proved beyond any doubt that he loved us. We must now begin to love ourselves.

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