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It was 2 a.m. in Boston, an ungodly hour, that time of day when it feels impossible to be awake. As her husband and son slept, U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo walked to her kitchen and set up her MacBook Air on the island. The prospect of a long morning loomed ahead.
Mhlaba-Adebo logged onto Facebook Live. That’s when she saw it: In the same living room in Zimbabwe where she watched movies and the news with her mother, where baby photos of her and her brother mingled with traditional Zimbabwean soapstone carvings, she saw the coffin. Her mother’s coffin. Her mother’s college graduation photo sat on top, and hymns sung in her native language of Shona filled the room. Family members wore masks.
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