[Music]
I’m going to ask you a question what
comes to your mind when one mentions the
word death quite often this way the
invokes feelings of sadness grief and
misery I’ve seen people develop
goosebumps
some would clench their jaws together
some even get edgy and are traumatized
by the death of someone take the person
sitting next to you for example you are
friends or you just met here and started
talking to each other you are laughing
together and friendly with one another
what would happen if the same person
sitting next to you drops dead
within seconds you would move from these
feelings of affection to being afraid of
the specimen you didn’t even want to
look at that person let alone touchy
more hair why my hope is that after
today you will not feel the same way
death should not induce this
gut-wrenching fear or bring sadness to
anyone I actually think that death
should be embraced and celebrated yes
embraced and celebrated my perception
and attitude to death is obviously
linked to my personal experiences so let
me share with you my background I
trained as a medical doctor basically
like any other doctor I wanted to take
care of patients treat diseases as well
as to relieve pain and suffering I then
specialized in the area of pathology
that is the study of disease etiology
what causes these diseases how they are
transmitted and how they may lead to
death I sub specialized in the area of
forensic pathology that is the
application of medicine and pathology
for the needs of the criminal justice
system as you know quite often death is
as a result of unnatural causes like
physical harm and violence at the same
time being a doctor I am an African in
African medical doctor I work as a death
investigator in an African environment
and you know death investigation from a
forensic perspective in an African
setting has forced me to reconcile
science with my African beliefs this has
been very phenomenal and unique like any
other community we Africans view death
according to our socio-cultural beliefs
one belief system shapes how they view
death and can make a person develop
either positive or negative attitude to
death and these are not easy to shake
off here in Botswana we subscribe to a
culture root
had an ancestral belief system and
shaped by judeo-christian concepts we
typically believe in the afterlife that
our body is only a vessel that remains
empty after death
we do however attach significance to
this vessel because of the soul
contained in it is somehow believed that
this soul hovers around the body and
continues to live even after death we
therefore view bodies not just as bodies
but perhaps as vessels surrounded by
this spiritual aura that we cannot
explain best therefore that mysticism
surround in death and unfortunately we
happen to focus on those explanations
that induces fear and pain I personally
come from Tulane a small village in the
outskirts of the capital city harbour
Oni where we bury our deceased presence
within our residential areas and
children often under the floors of our
houses as backrub a tribe we feel if we
use outside symmetries we are actually
neglecting or throwing away our deceased
presence like any other tribes in putana
we handled the deceased with reverence
and kay we spent days mourning the
deceased persons sometimes more than a
week and this is obviously the influence
from our ancestral belief system so you
see our culture and way of thinking
encourages us to find elaborate and
sinister motives associated with death
someone cannot just die from a heart
attack
without finding some peculiar
explanations associated with the death
people die especially at gatherings are
commonly said to have been a poisoned
unfortunately this belief system robs us
of ability to see death from a positive
point of view from a medical standpoint
a person is an organism that has
physiology
that manifest is what you call life each
person is made up of and controlled by
systems for example we have the
cardiovascular system which is the heart
and related structures the respiratory
system which is the lance and the entire
breathing apparatus the neurological
system which is the thinking and sensory
mechanism made up of the brain spinal
cord and nerves death is what happens
when this system shuts down in ceases to
function and after ever any living thing
dies it goes back to the ground and
becomes organic matter so tell me if if
if a person is for example crushed by a
fast-moving car isn’t it like a mosquito
being smashed by someone’s hand
you you you must be wondering how can
this guy compare the death of a person
to that of a mosquito my experience has
taught me that a dead body is really a
caucus that the deceased person has left
behind on earth for us to study the so
and so we know it’s no more of course
you may say gone or going depending on
your belief system but the fact is that
they are no more what we see is just a
bag of bones and meat that we can study
[Applause]
you know I’ve come to view the deceased
body as their gift to humanity it
affords us opportunity to study their
causes of death thereby delaying or
preventing the death of those who are
still alive
a dead body it’s a sacrifice to humanity
and you know this altruistic behavior
it’s also seen in other animals for
example a bee will attack and sting if
it senses intrusion to its nest even
though it knows that its stingers will
be detached from the abdomen therefore
dying in the process but it also knows
that the enemy will run away and live
the rest of the colony
to propagate it progeny let me share
with you some of the cases of come
across in order to prove my assertion
that death can be a gift to humanity a
family was experiencing the death of
their children before they reached 11
years of age in fact three children died
the third child died at the age of six
years an autopsy and genetic tests
revealed that this child died from an
inherited electrical disorder of the
heart this information ensured that two
other children who is still alive were
referred to a cardiologist or heart
specialist and were ultimately put on
medication to prevent death from this
inherited heart condition so you see the
death of this particular six-year-old
child was a blessing too to others who
continued to live even up to today
their parents were also relieved that
the other children did not die from some
sort of witchcraft or to a non magic or
voodoo so this is how this death was a
gift to everyone else
second case three people including a
pasta diet while conducting a baptismal
service in Columbia River 40 kilometers
southwest of Harbor oniy the popular
belief among the community was that
there was a big snake or anaconda like
creature commonly referred to españa
but that lives in the river
apparently the snake would occasionally
take people who swim in that part of the
river after an intensive investigation
it was apparent that the cause of death
was just drowning that they died they
drowned in deeper medea waters and
imagine none of the people who are
present there could rescue them because
they couldn’t swim as well so this
invaluable information would in future
be used by the authorities to ensure
that anybody conducting a religious
ceremony in this river would be
accompanied by trained swimmers so the
death of this stream was a blessing to
the entire community
[Applause]
my third case while excavating a caved
water point or borehole a person
disappeared the second person who
followed to check on this first also did
not resurface everybody abandoned the
boho and and nobody wanted to go nyet
because surely there must have been
something taking these people guess that
what is the infamous anaconda after risk
was ultimately retrieved the body’s
postmortem examination showed that they
died from carbon monoxide poisoning that
was from a fluid generator that we are
using to light up inside the cave there
was a relief to the community a borehole
that would have been abandoned for
generations to come and probably also
associated with this myth was she
ultimately used for the betterment of
the community a detainee who commits
suicide in custody in short that holding
cells are constructed such that they do
not have points where others can hand
themselves or that idea to buy a blanket
without seams where put forward you can
imagine somebody committing suicide
maybe just sending a message that my
workplace is horrible
so please do something about it
Oh or perhaps or perhaps my partner is
abusive so lady stay away from this man
criminals who could have perpetuated
more violence and deaths are put behind
bars because of the death of one
particular person you may be aware that
the life expectancy of the world today
it’s above 70 years compared to 1960
when it was hovering around 57 years
whether this is due to advanced medical
technology better disease management or
new techniques like stem cell theory
what we know is that it is because of
the death of other fellow human beings
that we are able to learn from their
bodies thereby preventing the death of
those who are alive so my friends my
role as a forensic pathologist is to use
evidence left by death to bring peace to
those who survive
for example we are able to reassure
people that they are not being bewitched
we do however push science and facts
above all else in order to combat the
hysteria and paranoia commonly
associated with deaths we also try to
understand people’s background and to
see why they may view death in a certain
manner death is painful nobody can deny
that losing someone close to you it’s
saddening the whole that they dead
person lives it’s very difficult to feel
so while shedding tears when a loved one
died and it is okay to do that pause for
a moment and try to understand what you
can learn from their death people teach
us so many things when their life but
also when they die they give us their
dead body to learn from so my friends
let us try to embrace death because a
dead body is the deceased gift to the
living thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
I’m going to ask you a question what
comes to your mind when one mentions the
word death quite often this way the
invokes feelings of sadness grief and
misery I’ve seen people develop
goosebumps
some would clench their jaws together
some even get edgy and are traumatized
by the death of someone take the person
sitting next to you for example you are
friends or you just met here and started
talking to each other you are laughing
together and friendly with one another
what would happen if the same person
sitting next to you drops dead
within seconds you would move from these
feelings of affection to being afraid of
the specimen you didn’t even want to
look at that person let alone touchy
more hair why my hope is that after
today you will not feel the same way
death should not induce this
gut-wrenching fear or bring sadness to
anyone I actually think that death
should be embraced and celebrated yes
embraced and celebrated my perception
and attitude to death is obviously
linked to my personal experiences so let
me share with you my background I
trained as a medical doctor basically
like any other doctor I wanted to take
care of patients treat diseases as well
as to relieve pain and suffering I then
specialized in the area of pathology
that is the study of disease etiology
what causes these diseases how they are
transmitted and how they may lead to
death I sub specialized in the area of
forensic pathology that is the
application of medicine and pathology
for the needs of the criminal justice
system as you know quite often death is
as a result of unnatural causes like
physical harm and violence at the same
time being a doctor I am an African in
African medical doctor I work as a death
investigator in an African environment
and you know death investigation from a
forensic perspective in an African
setting has forced me to reconcile
science with my African beliefs this has
been very phenomenal and unique like any
other community we Africans view death
according to our socio-cultural beliefs
one belief system shapes how they view
death and can make a person develop
either positive or negative attitude to
death and these are not easy to shake
off here in Botswana we subscribe to a
culture root
had an ancestral belief system and
shaped by judeo-christian concepts we
typically believe in the afterlife that
our body is only a vessel that remains
empty after death
we do however attach significance to
this vessel because of the soul
contained in it is somehow believed that
this soul hovers around the body and
continues to live even after death we
therefore view bodies not just as bodies
but perhaps as vessels surrounded by
this spiritual aura that we cannot
explain best therefore that mysticism
surround in death and unfortunately we
happen to focus on those explanations
that induces fear and pain I personally
come from Tulane a small village in the
outskirts of the capital city harbour
Oni where we bury our deceased presence
within our residential areas and
children often under the floors of our
houses as backrub a tribe we feel if we
use outside symmetries we are actually
neglecting or throwing away our deceased
presence like any other tribes in putana
we handled the deceased with reverence
and kay we spent days mourning the
deceased persons sometimes more than a
week and this is obviously the influence
from our ancestral belief system so you
see our culture and way of thinking
encourages us to find elaborate and
sinister motives associated with death
someone cannot just die from a heart
attack
without finding some peculiar
explanations associated with the death
people die especially at gatherings are
commonly said to have been a poisoned
unfortunately this belief system robs us
of ability to see death from a positive
point of view from a medical standpoint
a person is an organism that has
physiology
that manifest is what you call life each
person is made up of and controlled by
systems for example we have the
cardiovascular system which is the heart
and related structures the respiratory
system which is the lance and the entire
breathing apparatus the neurological
system which is the thinking and sensory
mechanism made up of the brain spinal
cord and nerves death is what happens
when this system shuts down in ceases to
function and after ever any living thing
dies it goes back to the ground and
becomes organic matter so tell me if if
if a person is for example crushed by a
fast-moving car isn’t it like a mosquito
being smashed by someone’s hand
you you you must be wondering how can
this guy compare the death of a person
to that of a mosquito my experience has
taught me that a dead body is really a
caucus that the deceased person has left
behind on earth for us to study the so
and so we know it’s no more of course
you may say gone or going depending on
your belief system but the fact is that
they are no more what we see is just a
bag of bones and meat that we can study
[Applause]
you know I’ve come to view the deceased
body as their gift to humanity it
affords us opportunity to study their
causes of death thereby delaying or
preventing the death of those who are
still alive
a dead body it’s a sacrifice to humanity
and you know this altruistic behavior
it’s also seen in other animals for
example a bee will attack and sting if
it senses intrusion to its nest even
though it knows that its stingers will
be detached from the abdomen therefore
dying in the process but it also knows
that the enemy will run away and live
the rest of the colony
to propagate it progeny let me share
with you some of the cases of come
across in order to prove my assertion
that death can be a gift to humanity a
family was experiencing the death of
their children before they reached 11
years of age in fact three children died
the third child died at the age of six
years an autopsy and genetic tests
revealed that this child died from an
inherited electrical disorder of the
heart this information ensured that two
other children who is still alive were
referred to a cardiologist or heart
specialist and were ultimately put on
medication to prevent death from this
inherited heart condition so you see the
death of this particular six-year-old
child was a blessing too to others who
continued to live even up to today
their parents were also relieved that
the other children did not die from some
sort of witchcraft or to a non magic or
voodoo so this is how this death was a
gift to everyone else
second case three people including a
pasta diet while conducting a baptismal
service in Columbia River 40 kilometers
southwest of Harbor oniy the popular
belief among the community was that
there was a big snake or anaconda like
creature commonly referred to españa
but that lives in the river
apparently the snake would occasionally
take people who swim in that part of the
river after an intensive investigation
it was apparent that the cause of death
was just drowning that they died they
drowned in deeper medea waters and
imagine none of the people who are
present there could rescue them because
they couldn’t swim as well so this
invaluable information would in future
be used by the authorities to ensure
that anybody conducting a religious
ceremony in this river would be
accompanied by trained swimmers so the
death of this stream was a blessing to
the entire community
[Applause]
my third case while excavating a caved
water point or borehole a person
disappeared the second person who
followed to check on this first also did
not resurface everybody abandoned the
boho and and nobody wanted to go nyet
because surely there must have been
something taking these people guess that
what is the infamous anaconda after risk
was ultimately retrieved the body’s
postmortem examination showed that they
died from carbon monoxide poisoning that
was from a fluid generator that we are
using to light up inside the cave there
was a relief to the community a borehole
that would have been abandoned for
generations to come and probably also
associated with this myth was she
ultimately used for the betterment of
the community a detainee who commits
suicide in custody in short that holding
cells are constructed such that they do
not have points where others can hand
themselves or that idea to buy a blanket
without seams where put forward you can
imagine somebody committing suicide
maybe just sending a message that my
workplace is horrible
so please do something about it
Oh or perhaps or perhaps my partner is
abusive so lady stay away from this man
criminals who could have perpetuated
more violence and deaths are put behind
bars because of the death of one
particular person you may be aware that
the life expectancy of the world today
it’s above 70 years compared to 1960
when it was hovering around 57 years
whether this is due to advanced medical
technology better disease management or
new techniques like stem cell theory
what we know is that it is because of
the death of other fellow human beings
that we are able to learn from their
bodies thereby preventing the death of
those who are alive so my friends my
role as a forensic pathologist is to use
evidence left by death to bring peace to
those who survive
for example we are able to reassure
people that they are not being bewitched
we do however push science and facts
above all else in order to combat the
hysteria and paranoia commonly
associated with deaths we also try to
understand people’s background and to
see why they may view death in a certain
manner death is painful nobody can deny
that losing someone close to you it’s
saddening the whole that they dead
person lives it’s very difficult to feel
so while shedding tears when a loved one
died and it is okay to do that pause for
a moment and try to understand what you
can learn from their death people teach
us so many things when their life but
also when they die they give us their
dead body to learn from so my friends
let us try to embrace death because a
dead body is the deceased gift to the
living thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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