Shame as glutton is ferried home on wheelbarrow after he overfed at funeral

Mourners at a funeral in Runyenjes, Embu County recently turned an otherwise solemn occasion into a laughing fest.

This was after they experienced an off the wall comic relief in which a grave digger, legendary for his humongous appetite for food, not only overate but also drunk himself silly to walk home. He had to be ferried home on a wheelbarrow by his colleagues.

The man has since become the butt of jokes in the locale, with some nicknaming him Kavuna (one with a distended belly).

Kavuna left residents of Gichiche village in gales of laughter each time they tried to nudge and talk to him, and all he could do was grunt, whistle back and dismiss them with a tired wave of the hand.

With sweat flowing from his face, Kavuna could not speak but gesture towards his home’s general direction.

Crazy antics

It all started when Kavuna, a part-time grave digger, was hired to prepare a grave for a deceased villager.

As is the custom in Embu, most grave diggers, commonly known as andu a irima, are at times paid in kind and Kavuna and his colleagues were not different.

Drama began after Kavuna and co insisted on cooking their own meal.

“No woman should touch our food, it’s an abomination,” Kavuna shouted as he called upon his colleagues to take over the makeshift kitchen.

The whole process was a circus, with the grave diggers engaging in all sorts of crazy antics. At some point, a drunk Kavuna who was preparing the ugali began eating it as it cooked, attracting ire of his furious colleagues who felt shortchanged.

He defended his actions, claiming he was only tasting to ensure the food cooks to perfection. Once the food had cooked, Kavuna and his colleagues descended on it with relish.

Manna from heaven

“This is manna from heaven bwana. I had not eaten real food for two days,” one of Kavuna’s colleagues was heard saying, as the rest munched away on the ugali, cabbages and meat with delight.

As sweat rolled down their faces and tears from their red eyes due to smoke as they wolfed down the meal, ribald jokes did rounds as shocked mourners watched in awe.

All of a sudden, Kavuna fell off the log he was sitting on, and began writhing in pain as he clutched his tout stomach.

His terrified colleagues stopped the feast and quickly swung in to action.

Fearing the irony of him dying at a funeral for having overfed, they ambulated him to his home on a wheelbarrow. Kavuna is said to have recovered from the stomach bloat two days later.

While Kavuna was being wheeled away, some youthful mourners went after the wheelbarrow as they poked fun at him, calling him a glutton.