Daddy please wake up, people will think you are serious, cries Sinkala’s daughter
AS hundreds of sombre-faced mourners filed past and paid their last respects to late comedian Brighton Sinkala at the Chainama SDA in Church in Lusaka, grief came to its climax as his young daughter wept and pleaded with him to wake up otherwise people would believe he had really died.
Sinkala, a comedian of national repute as well as a health educator who worked for the Ministry of Health, died in a road traffic accident in Kabwe on Sunday.
He has been put to rest at the Lusaka Memorial Park this afternoon.
The 53-year old’s burial was preceded by a funeral service at the Chainama Seventh Day Adventist Church where he was a deacon and his wife Anne, a Dorcas worker.
During his life, Sinkala’s presence mostly meant only one thing – plenty of laughter.
But today was quite different, as pall bearers wheeled in his body, sorrow enveloped the atmosphere although there was one or two moments of giggles when those who spoke during the funeral service reminded the gathering of some of Sinkala’s funny moments.
Hundreds of people Sinkala had touched, turned up and filled the church to overspilling capacity taking up even the church’s floor space for sitting.
Those without seats were prepared to be scorched by the sweltering heat as they followed proceedings from outside but eventually got their chance to file past Sinkala’s casket to pay their last respects.
Grief reached its climax when family members stood up to pay their last respects.
Widow Ann who needed walking aid led her three children wept before the brown casket clothed in decor of flowers containing his body.
After, the SDA leadership had offered the last prayer for the family and the deceased, his young daughter broke into heart-sinking wail pleading for her father to wake up otherwise people would believe he had died.
“Daddy, look at all these people. Daddy wake up, people will think that you are serious and they will bury you,” she wept!
PHOTO: Sinkala’s wife and children pay their last respects.
By Moses Makwaya
Kalemba
