Tombstone sellers plead for business
Written by Millennium on January 16, 2019
SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes @SunZambian
WE DO not wish people to die so that we can make money but families of the deceased should always consider burying their loved ones with love and dignity, some tombstone sellers at Leopard’s Hill Cemetery have said.
One of the sellers, Kennedy Chibambo who has been in the business for ten years claimed that some people did not bury their loved ones with love.
Mr Chibambo said that nowadays most people just buried their relatives and forgot about them, a situation he described as unfortunate.
“Some time back we would see people buying tombstones for their loved ones so as to beautify their resting places,” he said.
He said however that the situation was no longer the same as many families could not be bothered to buy tombstones.
Mr Chibambo explained that most of them complained that the prices for the tombstones were too high.
Mr Chibambo wondered why people should complain about the prices of the stones when they had money to buy a lot of good food at funerals and expensive caskets.
He further said that some people did not buy tombstones for their loved ones because they did not want to visit the graves of the departed ones.
“They however end up failing to locate the graves for their relatives because they did not put up tombstones to identify where their loved one had been put to rest,” he said.
He explained that the cheapest tombstone went for K800 but he was lucky to sell one or two in a month especially in the dry season because business was slow.
Mr Chibambo however said that people should not be thinking that (tombstone sellers rejoiced when people died for them to
“We know that we make money to fend for our families through this kind of business but wishing people dead is not on our minds,” he said.