title: THE U.S. IMPORTS MORE AFRICAN REFUGEES AS PLAGUE SPREADS THERE: Caused By Tradition Of Dancing With Corpses [Video]
text: One of the fastest growing groups of refugees coming to the U.S. are coming from Africa According to the Center for immigration studies:The sending countries with the largest percentage increases in the number of immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were Saudi Arabia (up 122 percent), Nepal (86 percent), Afghanistan (up 74 percent), Burma (up 73 percent), Syria (up 62 percent), Venezuela (up 58 percent), Bangladesh (up 53 percent), Kenya (up 46 percent), Ethiopia (up 41 percent), Nigeria (up 40 percent), Iraq (up 39 percent), Ghana (up 37 percent), India (up 37 percent), Egypt (up 32 percent), Pakistan (up 28 percent), and China (up 25 percent). The states with the largest numerical increases in the number of immigrants from 2010 to 2016 were Texas (up 587,889), Florida (up 578,468), California (up 527,234), New York (up 238,503), New Jersey (up 171,504), Massachusetts (up 140,318), Washington (up 134,132), Pennsylvania (up 131,845), Virginia (up 120,050), Maryland (up 118,175), Georgia (up 95,353), Nevada (up 78,341), Arizona (up 78,220), Michigan (up 74,532), Minnesota (up 73,953), and North Carolina (up 70,501).ACCORDING TO PEW RESEARCH: There were 2.1 million African immigrants living in the United States in 2015, up from 881,000 in 2000 and a substantial increase from 1970 when the U.S. was home to only 80,000 foreign-born Africans.The fact is that whether Africans come to the U.S. legally or illegally, they brig with them risks like the one below:DANCING WITH THE DEADIn Madagascar, ceremonies in which families exhume the remains of dead relatives, rewrap them in fresh cloth and dance with the corpses are a sacred ritual.A local name for these ceremonies is  famadihana. It s one of Madagascar s most widespread rituals,  historian Mahery Andrianahag told AFP. It s necessary to assure cosmic harmony  it satisfies our desire to respect and honour the ancestors so that they can be blessed and one day return. The dead are believed to reciprocate the blessings. Says one participant, I am extremely proud to go to rewrap the bones of my grandmother and all of our ancestors. I will ask them for blessings and success in my school leavers  exams. Famadihana is also an opportunity to party:The customary ritual, rather than a religious rite, can be shocking for some, but for those taking part, it is an intense celebration accompanied by music, dancing and singing, fuelled by alcoholic drinks.When the party is over, participants store the mats that the bodies are laid on under their own mattresses. This is said to bring good luck.But some doctors warn that they can also transmit germs and infections.And, at a time when Madagascar is enduring its most lethal outbreak of the plague in years, the practice of body turning has raised fears among health officials.Since August, the disease has infected more than 1,100 people, with 124 deaths.  Health ministry epidemiologists have long observed that plague season coincides with the period when famadihana ceremonies are held from July to October.But who cares about the plague? Scoffs one participant, I will always practise the turning of the bones of my ancestors   plague or no plague. The plague is a lie. Meanwhile, immigrants from every corner of the Third World pour into our country, often illegally, bringing along their exotic customs and diseases.