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ON NOW : World Update
19/06/2013

World Update News and issues making the headlines each day.

ON NEXT : 11:01 BBC News

The Documentary

Image for African Perspective: Living on Death

Play now 25 mins

African Perspective: Living on Death

Duration:
25 minutes
First broadcast:
Tuesday 03 July 2012

They are some of Zambia's most courageous workers, quietly getting on with their job - a job which is shunned by most of their compatriots.

Meet Mwanza and Kapemba, two mortuary attendants working in Lusaka.

In this programme, they reveal what their work entails, but also what it feels like to deal with the stigma they face.

In Zambia, strong cultural beliefs mean that they are feared and avoided by family members and neighbours.

(Image: A funeral in Lusaka, Africa)

  • Rabson Mwanza and Hudson Kapemba

    Rabson Mwanza and Hudson Kapemba

    On the left, Rabson Mwanza (35) has risen through the ranks to become the Mortuary Supritendant at University Teaching Hospital in the capital Lusaka.

    On the right, Hudson Kapemba (58) is one of the longest serving morticians at the University Teaching Hospital. He left the army to become a mortician.

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