Kenneth AFOR, LAGOS
Working as a morgue attendant must be a calling, it must be prophetic, says Oluwaseun Balogun, a morgue attendant at One Life Funeral Home at Amuwo-odofin area in Lagos.
Oluwaseun, a graduate of Arts and Design from Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) who shared his experience with Neptune Prime, said he got into the job due to the collapse of his business in 2015.
After undergoing six months of training he was the last man standing among 50 other apprentices who applied as a morgue attendant at TOS Funeral in Yaba.
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According to him, he got more interested on the job due to his curiosity of wanting to find out how dead bodies are being preserved to retain the state in which they were brought (deposited) the first time.
“I got into the job in the year 2015, I was running a business of my own at the time. I was into signage and advertisements and also I was running a security company,” he said.
“You know having a business in Nigeria when it comes to sourcing financial assistance, one will go through so many ups and downs and that was the case for me and there was nobody to help me in terms of the monetary aspect of it so I had to look for a common ground to work with some people.
“A friend of mine used to work with a morgue in Yaba, owned by TOS Funeral so I joined them in 2015, and I started with a six-month training with 50 other apprentices and I was the last man standing among those who left, they couldn’t stand with the sight of blood as at then.
“We had different departments and I picked interest in the pathology department which deals with breaking of heads, removing the chest, intestine, and other vital organs, what it entails generally is knowing the cause of death of the body, and besides that, after the whole thing you’ll embalm it,” he explained.
Driven by curiosity, Oluwaseun said he wanted to find out how corpses are embalmed, he continued, “What attracted me was after you might have removed the intestine and everything, how do you embalm that kind of body, so that was what attracted me and I joined the pathology department.
“It’s the same field but different sections, so I joined after the training we were posted to different locations and that’s how I started working and since then it has been interesting.”
While others who are on the job may have passion for it, Oluwaseun said being a morgue attendant is more than having a passion but one must have a calling for it because it is not ordinary.
“Definitely, except you have passion for it. Everything has to do with passion. But, this kind of job is more than having a passion, it is like a calling, it’s more like a prophetic calling, I’m telling you, it’s not for everybody.
“I sometimes, I dream seeing myself in the middle of dead bodies, and I take care of them, not once, twice, thrice, but multiple times, I had that same encounter in my previous office where I worked, my boss then, she also had this same experience, she dreamt that she was taking care of dead bodies, so, it’s more like a calling and if you’re passionate about it and you’re good to go it’s okay.”
Although, according to him, there have been different encounters working on corpses, however no physical or life-threatening encounter as portrayed in our local movies but Oluwaseun asserts that it is a kind of job that requires one to be spiritually firm due to unknown circumstances surrounding the nature of the job as many have claimed.
“Yes, I have had different encounters. During the first week of my stay overnight, I see lots of dead bodies around, it is not like working in a bank, the fear is always there, it is not like you sitting down in the office and there is money surrounding you but here is a different case, you’re surrounded with dead bodies,” he said.
“After a week into the job, I started using chisels to break heads and cut bones, you know stuff like that so, there was nothing to fear because what I have in mind is that I wasn’t the one that killed them so why would I be afraid, I’ve not had a serious encounter with the dead. People will talk different stories about dead bodies but, I’ve not witnessed such.”
When asked if the job has impacted his relationship with God, he responded, “At a point, I became closer to God, I pray and fast more often, that’s the spiritual aspect of it – this kind of environment if you’re prayerful your prayer gets answered quickly because I worship with Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Surulere, I’m a churchgoer so I understand the spiritual background of this kind of job, but one thing I understand is that’s the way God programmed spiritual things because God himself is a spiritual being, He’s outstanding, spirits are everywhere, so it’s cool with me,” he added.
When asked what was the reaction of his family members, he said his wife is the only person that knows what he does.
“It’s only my wife that knows about my work. That’s the only person that feels comfortable, she comes to my workplace, she sleeps, we have lots of odies lying down outside, we’ll sleep together in the same place where the bodies are. There was a time when one of my children wanted to travel they wanted to board a bus at Yaba, so they spent the night with me at work because we have a place to sleep, so my wife, she’s good to go,” he said.
According to him, the job has given him a new perspective about life seeing and working with dead bodies every day, he, therefore, advised that people should take life easy because they have only one to live and that there is no duplicate.
Also, John Osagie, a colleague to Oluwaseun, who transports corpse to any location in the country says while others will not attempt to go near to dead bodies it is a job they signed up for, adding that there is no form of charm they are using to protect themselves when on the road.
He said that reactions from family members did not deter him from continuing with the job because it was his wish and that is where he makes his living.
“Some used to wonder that this guy carrying dead bodies around he uses charms to protect himself but that’s not true, we are just helpers, you understand. For example, if someone dies there will be no one to go near the dead body but for us, that’s our job, that’s what we do.
“No, my family they didn’t go against it because it was my wish, it is my story, I’m the one doing it, not them. If I ask them to give me money they might not be able to, so this is the only way I can fend for myself in as much as I’m not stealing, this is the best for me,” Osagie said.
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