HARARE, Zimbabwe — When Melisa Kasu’s mother passed away, her family wasn’t financially ready for the elaborate funeral customs expected in Zimbabwe. These ceremonies require substantial expenses for food and music, often pushing families into debt to maintain their reputation in the community.
The 29-year-old Kasu recalled how their local burial society stepped in with large cooking pots, bags of cornmeal, and other necessities. The group even started the cooking fires for the ceremony.
“That’s the time I decided to join them,” she said.
After assuming her deceased mother’s membership in 2023, Kasu witnessed an unexpected transformation occurring throughout parts of Africa: Traditional burial societies are broadening their scope to assist living members alongside their funeral services.
Beyond funeral support, these organizations now provide grocery savings programs and small business development opportunities. They’re helping families navigate rising expenses, limited banking access, and irregular earnings in a nation where more than two-thirds of workers are employed informally. Participants contribute small monthly fees.
During a recent gathering of Kasu’s Kuchemana Burial Society, funeral planning wasn’t the primary focus. Female members sang together, discussed various topics, and presented business proposals from chicken farming to soap production.
“We wanted dignity in death. Now we are striving for it in life,” society secretary Nyadzisayi Mirisawu said. “We don’t want members suffering while alive.”
A women’s group established the society in Kuwadzana, a township in Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare, during 2021 to help families avoid what members described as “embarrassing” funerals that reveal financial hardship.
Providing a proper burial for family members represents one of the most significant household duties. Kuchemana translates to “mourning one another” in the local Shona language. However, membership benefits extend far beyond funeral planning.
The organization includes 40 participants ranging from 23 to 72 years old. They contribute $3 each month and receive food supplies, cooking assistance, and a $150 payment when a family member dies.
In addition to funeral contributions, members now deposit $10 monthly into a group savings program. Both members and trusted community residents can access loans from this fund at 20% interest, with participants splitting annual profits.
“Borrow for health care, school fees or projects,” Mirisawu explained to members who recently gathered beneath an avocado tree. Wearing coordinated T-shirts and floral skirts, they formed lines to make their monthly payments. A separate grocery initiative enables bulk purchasing of essential items.
For Kasu, who lost her hardware store job in 2022, the organization’s appeal stems more from its financial support than burial benefits. She received $100 from the savings program in December and borrowed an additional $30 without banking complications.
“I bought gas tanks and a scale. Now I sell cooking gas to neighbors,” she said. “Business is good. I support myself.”
Academic experts suggest these developments represent a widespread trend across the African continent.
“Banks normally do not lend to the poor or the unemployed, and governments are not providing enough support,” said Sharon Chilunjika, a lecturer in social sciences at Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. “People are using an institution they already trust, the burial society, and expanding it to cover more of their needs.”
She described funerals as “one of the most underrated or underappreciated drivers of household poverty” in Africa, with families sometimes resorting to predatory lenders or asset sales.
“The way you bury your loved one says a lot about who you are as a family. A cheap coffin or scant food invites judgment. The society will talk,” she said.
In Zimbabwe, burial societies trace back to the early 1900s during colonial times, when migrant laborers created mutual assistance networks to guarantee respectful funerals away from their homes in locations like neighboring South Africa.
This custom has persisted in Zimbabwe, where funeral coverage is more prevalent than health insurance, which remains unaffordable for many residents. Government data shows fewer than one in 10 people have health coverage.
Studies from insurance companies, research organizations, and the nation’s statistics agency reveal funeral policies as the most common insurance type in the country, with providers and mobile phone companies marketing affordable options.
However, members explain that community-based burial societies continue thriving primarily because they offer something corporations find difficult to replicate: genuine connection and belonging.
“It is your neighbor, your church mate,” Chilunjika said. “They don’t ask you to fill a form. They come to your home and comfort you.”
