Mortuary attendant: [Left] Kayode
Olufemi Daniel was just 15 when his
father died. It was a bitter blow, a shock, something he never imagined
would happen to him at that young age. He wondered how he would cope
without a father figure to mentor and guide him.
But he had to brace up. As much as he
wished his father would rise from the dead, he knew that his journey
into manhood had started automatically especially since he is the only
surviving son of his father. Gingered by these thoughts, Olufemi went to
the mortuary to identify and sign for the release of his father’s
corpse. That visit to the mortuary changed his life.
Fast forward to 10 years later, Olufemi
is now a proud mortuary attendant who loves his job and who wouldn’t
even wish to trade it for another.
Recounting to our correspondent how he
became a mortuary attendant, Olufemi said he remembered vividly the day
he went to identify his father’s corpse at the mortuary. His heart was
still heavy but he needed to do what he came to the mortuary to do. He
needed something that could take away the thoughts that his father was
dead. As such, somehow, he found himself looking at other corpses and
interestingly, wondered how he could help them since to him, they looked
helpless.
Continue reading after the cut....
“That was many years ago when bodies used
to be kept on the floor and before getting to your own relative, you
might need to walk through a number of bodies. The way the attendants
treated them was pitiable, so I felt sorry for them, and wished at that
moment that I could be of help to them.”
The strange empathy towards the dead
wasn’t just a whim. The urge to defend the dead didn’t just end when he
identified and picked up his father’s corpse. Olufemi still nursed the
feelings to go back and be of help to the dead. He did that eventually.
“After my secondary education, I looked
for a job in a mortuary and I got one. Since then, I have been doing the
job. This job is the best thing that has happened to me and I don’t see
myself doing any other job because it gives me satisfaction.
“I have passion to help dead people. They
don’t complain, they are helpless, calm, and peaceful. They need people
to take care of them, and that is what we do. It’s like a social
service because if we are to look at the wages and the discrimination
that comes with it, many of us would have left the job for other things.
I actually marvel when people run away from dead bodies.”
Indeed, most people really run away at
the sight of a corpse. In fact, many people dread moving close to dead
people, especially in this part of the world, because of some perceived
fears of the dead rising up to whip them, slap them or even scare them
deliberately. And to such people, the fear of the dead is the beginning
of wisdom
But Olufemi is not the only one who marvel at some people’s fears, perception and attitude towards the dead.
Some other mortuary attendants shared their experiences with Saturday Punch and revealed how exciting and interesting it is working with the dead.
To them, the fear of being slapped by a
‘ghost’ just doesn’t arise, because the dead is dead! The fact that dead
bodies don’t wake up engraved from their mind and as such, they go
about their business of washing the dead bodies, embalming and applying
make-up on them as just a normal job.
The dead, our passion
For 42-year-old Aina Oluwayomi, nothing
is too much to give for one’s passion. He is one of those driven by
passion to help the dead. Thus, few years ago, he resigned his job as a
bank employee to pursue his dream of “helping the helpless.”
When our correspondent visited the facility where Oluwayomi works, he was full of smiles.
He said, “When I was working in the bank,
I wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing. My mind was just not there,
so I had to resign. You see, all the people in that chamber (pointing to
the refrigerating units in the storage room) are dead and they can no
longer help themselves. Some people need to offer that help and I’m glad
to be one of those rendering the help. Believe me, they are the best
people to work with because they don’t argue, they don’t fight back and
they don’t make trouble. I would always want to be there for them
because they are helpless and harmless.
“Working in the mortuary is the best
thing that has happened to me, and it’s the most interesting job I have
ever done. Suffice it to say it’s one of the best decisions I have ever
made because since I started this work as an embalmer, I have had to
appreciate life more than I used to. You see all kinds of bodies and you
wonder what this life is really about.”
To Oluwayomi, there is no reason to fear
dead people the way many people do, saying once a person has been
pronounced dead by a doctor, all that is left of such person is the
lifeless body. He added that the cold in the storage chamber was even
enough to take the life of anyone still hanging between life and death.
“As long as I didn’t kill the person, why
should I be scared? There are situations where relations are even
scared of their own relatives, yet, we work on the bodies and preserve
them. If possible, dead people will appreciate people like us for taking
care of them. All those stories about people waking up, ghosts moving
about or dead people coming back to life and changing location are all
myths. With the years I have spent on this job, I can tell you that once
a person is dead, that is the end. No waking up again. There is
miracle, but dead bodies don’t wake up,” he said.
As if he was waiting to be asked about
mortuary attendants who are said to fortify themselves against attacks,
he said, “There is nothing like that. You don’t need to fortify yourself
to work in a mortuary. These people are dead, harmless, helpless, calm,
peaceful and even need help, so where is the attack coming from? I am a
Christian, I know the Bible talks about miracles, but that was then. No
dead person ever wakes up. So, no magical power is needed to work in a
mortuary.”
Oluwayomi told Saturday Punch that
even though some people see them as strange beings to be able to stay
close and work with corpses, there is no big deal in it. “It’s easier
than people think because they don’t complain or make trouble. They do
as you want. So, why won’t you enjoy working with them? Also, not many
people are attracted to the job, because people are too scared, so the
pay is not bad, coupled with cash gifts from relations who are impressed
with our work it’s a good job.
Unlike Daniel and Oluwayomi who had
passion for the ‘helpless,’ Akinyemi Esther’s eventual journey to the
mortuary as an embalmer was not out of passion. She needed a job and she
got one in a mortuary, having been jobless since she graduated in 2011.
She said she didn’t consider taking the job initially but did when the
frustration of joblessness was too much.
Unlike the way many people look forward
to resuming a new job with so much enthusiasm, Esther did not look
forward to going to work even on her first day. In fact, there was
nothing to be happy about. She told our correspondent that an experience
she had in the line of duty made her overcome her fears easily but
painfully.
“I won’t forget the first time I had to
embalm a body alone. It was around 11pm. I was working on the body when
there was power outage. Between then and the time the generator came on,
I knew I froze,” she said.
She noted that the image in her head was
that of a dead person in white garment with white powder all over the
face, carrying a big stick and ready to whip her.
“That was the most scary moment of my
life. I ran to the door and hit the storage chamber, where bodies were
kept. I almost fainted; thinking the bodies would come out and attack me
and that the one I was working on would stand up and slap me for
abandoning him. I decided to sit on the floor, expecting that they would
have surrounded me and be waiting to pounce on me. At that moment, I
wished the ground would just open and swallow me. I imagined many things
and waited for them to happen.
“When the light came on, the relief I
felt was immeasurable. I couldn’t stay again. I sought the assistance of
my senior colleague who was already sleeping. I stood by him and
followed him everywhere he went that night and he had to finish the job
for me. But he told me that since nothing happened to me, even with the
power outage, that was enough reason for me to free my mind of such. And
that was the truth. So, these days, I have no fear at all. Now, I can
even sleep there alone without light because I know the embalmed bodies
are dead and will never wake up.”
To Seun Akindele, an embalmer in a public
mortuary in Lagos, who almost lost his fiancée when she knew that he
works in a mortuary, knowing that anyone pronounced dead is dead forever
makes it easy to work with them without any fear, even in the dark.
He argued that not even a miracle that
many people believe in could wake up the dead. He said though many
people see mortuary attendants as strange beings, there is nothing
special about them and there is nothing as sweet as working with
“harmless people.”
“My fiancée of two years almost broke up
with me when I got this job, simply because she had fears and thought I
had charms I used to protect myself. It took a while before she changed
her mind and because of the love between us. Then, she used to tell me
that she could not imagine me using the hand I use on dead bodies to
touch her. Now that I have disabused her mind, we are fine and she even
visits me here once in a while.
“All the fears people associate with dead
people are nothing but a figment of their imagination. A dead person is
dead forever. If everyone is overwhelmed with fears and nobody wants to
move close to dead people, who would take care of them? That means the
world would be a tough place to live in because the smell that would
fill the atmosphere would have killed the rest of us,” he added.
However, he explained that the only time
he had a “relatively scary” experience was a night his door suddenly
opened and closed. “I was about the only person in the office. I was
watching a movie and suddenly, the door to my toilet opened and closed
and almost immediately, the door to the office also opened and closed. I
was almost scared, but when I didn’t see anyone or anything, I
concluded it was probably the wind.
“I would have thought it was a spirit
that did that, but I don’t believe in spirits because I have never seen
one before. So I dismissed the thought and moved on. Why would a corpse
even want to harm the person that bathes for him, applies make up on
him, clothes him and preserves his body?
“It’s all about one’s mind, and that is
why I have never dreamt of them. I only think about them when working on
them and that is because I need to be focused, but after that, I forget
about them.”
When our correspondent visited TOS
Funerals, a private funeral home in Lagos, the environment was calm,
beautiful and welcoming. At the reception, the beautiful female staff
member at the front desk said even though she knew there were corpses
well stored in the refrigerating units in the building, she could not be
scared of them, as “they were dead and nothing would bring them back.”
However, she didn’t hide the fact that
she used to be scared of corpses when she started the job, more so that
she had watched how dead people used to rise up in movies. She said she
had to reconcile herself with the reality that “the dead would never
rise again” and that to keep her job, she must enjoy staying around
them.
She said, “Believe me, dead people are
the best people to work with. They are peaceful, they don’t argue and
they stay where you keep them. Once a person is dead, that is the end.
Nothing can bring the person back. Not even a miracle.
She said even though there were miracles
in the Bible of how dead people came back to life, “that cannot happen
again. Anyone pronounced dead is dead and will never come back,” she
emphasised.
Just as the conversation with her was
gaining momentum, an embalmer with TOS Funerals, who gave his name
simply as Kayode, emerged from the ‘inner room,’ having just finished
working on a body. Dressed in a well ironed white long sleeves shirt
tucked in a black trousers, his carriage, appearance and disposition
could easily give him away as a director in the popular mortuary in the
Lagos metropolis, but his designation was far from that. Kayode is a
mortuary attendant.
Seemingly very proud of his job, he said
he had always been close to dead bodies. He recounted that he used to be
a pall bearer, but that he had to switch to being a mortuary attendant
because he had passion for taking care of the dead. Kayode, a graduate
of Banking and Finance, said he does not see the dead as spirits that
could hurt anybody but rather as bodies that must be well taken care of.
“People who are dead need help and
somebody or some people have to provide that help. If we all run away
from the job, who will do it? Dead people deserve respect, even in
death, and that is what we give them. They are dead and helpless and can
no longer help themselves, so we have to help them. That is my passion
and I enjoy doing it.
“The truth is that anybody who has been
pronounced dead is dead forever. So at anytime, I can work in the
‘storage room,’ embalm a body and dress a body without any fear. A dead
person will never wake up.”
He argued that the kind of miracle that
woke people from the dead “would not happen again. Such things don’t
happen again. For example, how can someone that was burnt to about 90
per cent come back to life? Which miracle? Anyone dead remains dead
forever,” he stressed, as he flashed some smiles and sipped some coffee.
When the dead takes the living to the police
One thing mortuary attendants would never
take for granted in the line of their duty is accuracy. Given that
“dead bodies are harmless” and no longer know what happens around them,
missing or misplaced corpse, according to these attendants, is a serious
offence in law and one that could land any liable person in jail.
They explained that if there is a case of
giving a corpse to a wrong family, such cases end up in police stations
and could take any involved person(s) to jail.
“They may be harmless, but there is need
for care in dealing with them. That is why there is a lot of due
diligence checks when families come for the remains of their relatives.
To such people, mortuary attendants delay them or spend too much time in
releasing their corpses, but to us, we must ensure that the right body
is released to the right family,” he said.
Snapshots with dead VIPs
Daniel would just not forget how happy he
was when he was to embalm the body of a foremost politician. He said
the closest he had been to the late philanthropist was through the
television screen, but that since death brought him to his presence to
work on, he had to take photographs with him being a man he used to
admire.
“There was also another case of a
celebrity that was brought here for embalmment. I loved him so much as a
fan but I could not meet him because of his status until he died. As
God would have it, I was the one to embalm him, and as I was working on
his body, I was taking snapshots with him. I treasure such photographs,
and I make sure I don’t keep them on my phone so that if my phone gets
lost, such images wouldn’t be in the open.
“The ethics of our work do not permit us
to do such but that is the last opportunity to meet such people and so I
take advantage of it.”
While some attest to the fact that they
also do it secretly because they saw it as an opportunity to see the
VIPs, even though in death, others described it as something that should
never happen as it is flagrant violation of the rights of such people
and the ethics of their profession. Kayode of TOS funerals said apart
from the fact that such an action is condemnable and against the law, he
would never do such.
“When I’m working on a dead body, I see
such a person as dead, and so I would want to quickly do my work and
move on instead of taking photographs. We don’t do such. We don’t even
talk about the people we embalm, no matter how highly placed.”
Romancing sexy corpses
They may be dead, lifeless, and unable to
initiate or feel a romantic touch or exercise, but it appears that
their naked outlook could easily arouse anyone who looks beyond their
state and focuses on sexual gains, “especially those who are new on the
job,” one attendant said.
The attendant added, “The parts of a
woman that attract the man are the breasts, the vagina and maybe butts.
They may not be fresh or have life, but the sight of them could be
tempting, especially for fresh cases. If the temptation is too much, one
could be tempted to at least touch. And that is why some people sleep
with corpses.
“Those who do such do it after washing
the body but before embalmment because once you embalm, the chemicals
fries the system and that is why their body becomes stiff and hard. Of
course no one would be attracted to a hard body. We see a lot of breasts
and other things but it depends on the person working on it,” an
attendant who craved anonymity told Saturday Punch.
When our correspondent asked Kayode if he
had ever been moved seeing a dead, young, naked beautiful lady in front
of him, he shook his head in utter disbelief that any embalmer could do
that.
He said, “That is the most irresponsible
thing any embalmer can do. Do you actually mean that somebody could do
that? I can’t even imagine it happening. When I’m embalming a body, I
see the person as dead and nothing more.
“Here, we treat bodies with dignity and
respect. When embalming, we cover the vital areas, like the sexual
organs, which is a way of preserving their dignity, even in death. All
we want to do is to work on the body as quickly as possible and preserve
it. They are important to us and we treat them as very important
people.”
Other attendants told our correspondent
that it would be “crazy” for anyone to attempt to touch the “vital”
organs of a dead person, saying it would be unfair to do that as it
would amount to taking advantage of the person.
Making money from dead bodies
It is no longer new that people visit
mortuaries and cemeteries to look for certain body parts and the water
used to bathe dead persons, usually for ritual purposes or some
acclaimed preservation. The attendants who spoke to our correspondent
admitted that they have encountered such people, including family
members, who demand for body parts and the water.
They said they had been faced with the
requests a number of times but that they would always decline. “I tell
family members who request for the water we used to bathe the body of
their relation to take the person’s body home, bathe for him/her and
collect the water before bringing the body to us. If it is the body
part, I also tell them to take the person home, cut the part they need
and bring the remaining to us afterwards.
“If the person requesting for such is a stranger, we decline, because it is not done,” an attendant said.
‘Only the rich take care of the dead’
It may not be a form of investment people
would readily embrace, but mortuary business, especially in a place
like Nigeria where there is no constant power supply, is an expensive
venture. A senior executive in a funeral home in Lagos told Saturday Punch
that the refrigerating units work all the time (24/7), “And with the
epileptic power supply, powering the generator with diesel is not a
joke. But, the job must be done.”
On the other hand, given that death is a
constant thing in life, coupled with the fact that not everyone would
bury their deceased persons immediately, mortuary business would always
be a business to reckon with.
Hidden benefits of working in the mortuary
Findings show that the attendants receive the same wage with other civil servants.
It may not be the highest or lowest
paying job in town, and it may not be the job everyone would be proud
of, but one thing that mortuary attendants would not mind telling anyone
who cares to listen is that working with dead bodies has helped them to
value life more.
They argued that seeing all kinds of
corpses has helped them to be careful and tread softly. “I am a cautious
man. There are things that people out there will do that I will never
try. I don’t fight, I don’t argue, I run away from anything that has the
likelihood of taking one’s life, which are things many people do daily.
I have seen burns of varying degrees, suicide victims, fire accident
victims, auto accident victims, plane crash victims and many others. So,
I am more careful than anyone who does not work here.
“It does not mean that I live in fear, it’s just that I am careful,” one of them said.
-Punch
Share your thoughts....thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment