Cerro de Pasco, Peru 1969
Another funeral procession with a small coffin...tough living conditions at 15,000 feet altitude resulted in many children dying before they were 5.
Near the completion of my service, I was lucky to attend the funeral of the chief of Kpendua, the village in which I served in the Northern Region of Ghana. It took 5 years for the village to raise enough money to properly commemorate his death,...
This photo was taken April 20, 2011 in Ha'afeva, a small island in the Ha'apai group (Tonga). I was on a business trip with some Church of Tonga leaders to Pangai, Ha'apai and we made a last minute trip to Ha'afeva to attend a funeral. On a walk...
I took this picture in April of 2005 during my language training in Fastive, Ukraine. I passed this cemetery everyday as I walked from my host family's home to the town center for language lessons with my training group.
Note that cemetery...
After attending a funeral feast during the Month of Flies, my "sister" Myra carried my share of the leftovers home. She carried my food in a coconut fond basket that was made on-the-spot.
Myra is the oldest daughter of the couple whose home I...
Cathy (foreground) and Barb attended the funeral of a fellow trainee's host father in South Africa in February 2011. Women are traditionally required to cover their heads at funerals, which typically begin before sunrise.
Trainees witness the burial of Danielle's (second from right) host father in February 2011 in South Africa. There were more than a thousand people at the funeral because the deceased was a distinguished member of the community and closely related...
This is an Ingi Puru Blaka, a traditional ceremony taking place in my village, Redi Doti, in Resortt Caroline, Para District, Suriname.
The idea behind this ceremony is that while a family is in mourning following the death of a loved one, they...
A Pohnpeian woman sits with her spoils in the nahs (meeting house) during a funeral -- e.g. the most important of social occasions in Pohnpei.
January 2010
When I put this photo up on facebook to get help in choosing which photos to submit to this contest, someone wrote a comment on this one saying "her whole life is in that room." And while the woman in the corner is not the wife of the man who has...
His death came unexpectedly. She said when she woke up at her usual 5am she heard her husband was having difficulty breathing, but she didn't think much of it. A couple of hours later she was surprised he wasn't out of bed yet, and it was at that...
Two women seek out the shade during day one of a funeral in Pohnpei, FSM. Beside them are the several gallons of water there for the mourners, also seeking some coolness. May, 2010.