00:01Family and friends dancing the night away at a wake in Yopugon, a working-class neighborhood in the Ivory Coast's
00:07economic capital, Abidjan.
00:09For Valérie Bliyilou, a shopkeeper from her modest family, it was important to give her late father the sumptuous funeral
00:16that Ivorian tradition demands.
00:18Despite the costs of this lavish tribute to his life, she thinks it was worth it.
00:26I've already spent about $4,300. $2,300 of that is for three cows, as I had to provide beef.
00:35That's how it is, not counting food.
00:37It's like a blessing that I will receive after my father. If I bury my father with dignity, I'll receive
00:43a blessing.
00:44Among us gurus, that's how it works. The blessing comes from one's mother and father.
00:53When her father died in July, she didn't have the money to organize his funeral.
00:57So, she paid to preserve his body in a morgue while she got together the funds she needed with the
01:04help of family and friends.
01:07The whole family rallied together. The whole family.
01:13Whether it was the young ones, the elders of the family, everyone unanimously came together to really take part in
01:20the funeral.
01:22Death is big business in Ivory Coast, where families are expected to say goodbye to their loved ones with massive,
01:28music-fueled feasts.
01:29In fact, funerals are so important in some communities that they apparently unleash competition and rivalry between families.
01:36This has given rise to a booming industry with shops like this one, offering items including coffins, artificial flowers and
01:44even scents for perfuming the dead.
01:48I wouldn't say it works, but it's a need like any other.
01:52I'd put it like this.
01:53Well, it's an emergency too.
01:55It's a need like any other.
01:57And I'd also say that it works because demand is high.
02:00We don't say it.
02:01We refuse to understand, to accept it.
02:03But it happens anyway.
02:05It's God's work.
02:08And this thriving profession apparently guarantees shop owners and those who work in the industry a good living.
