The world of morticians is a lonely one. They work in a morbid environment devoid of laughter. Those who come to do business with them are in a state of grief, having lost their loved ones. They are also tasked with not only consoling the bereaved but also the grim task of preparing the dead body for burial.
Their job is demanding. Since there is no particular time designated for human beings to die, they could be called upon at any time of the day. The society sees them as weird individuals who feel more at home with the dead than the living.
Few people venture into the profession because it is believed that to be a mortician, one needed to be ‘fortified’ so as to cope with man and spirits. It is expected to be a job for the men only.
However, somewhere in Okagwe, Ohafia, Abia State, delectable Olanma Felix Orji is in the business of offering mortuary services. She is as comfortable among the dead as she is among the living. She has been a mortician for 12 years.
She and her husband, Felix Orji, run the Resurrection Hope Mortuary, Ohafia. For her, the job they do is a service to the society and it is not any different from other kinds of job.
So, how did a pretty lady like Olanma end up being a mortician?
“I became a mortician to help my husband. He persuaded me to learn the job,” she said.
Going down memory lane, she recalled that like most people, she used to fear having anything to do with dead bodies until she started working at Mben Mortuary in Ebem, Ohafia.
She said: “It started when I saw a corpse brought from Lagos to Ohafia. It put fear in me because the corpse was already swollen. But my husband encouraged me to enter the embalming room and see what they were doing. I summoned courage and went in.
“Initially I was afraid. I started working at the ticket area. From the ticket area, my husband persuaded me to learn the job. He told me although I am a woman, what a man can do, a woman can do even better, as the saying goes. I joined and I was taught how to embalm corpses.”
Olanma said she threw up when she first saw the process of embalming human remains. But now it has become a normal job for her to stay with dead bodies. “I could stay in the theatre with corpses for hours without feeling any fear. Before, it was not like that,” she said.
“There is nothing bad there. If somebody is sick, can’t you go and see the person? It is just a sick person needing help. I render services to society. When somebody dies, I want to make sure the body does not decay immediately and also see that the remains are treated with dignity.
“I see the job as helping the society. I won’t say because the person is dead, he or she should not be treated with dignity.”
On how she feels working with her husband in the morgue, she said: “I felt comfortable working with my husband. He is a former military man and he instilled that discipline in me. That was what has made me grow in the profession.
“Now, I can comfortably run the mortuary business if he is not around. I can embalm, dress corpses and render any other service that has to do with the work we do.”
There have been reports of eerie and strange happenings in the morgue with some even swearing that some of the dead bodies could stand up and walk when nobody was around.
Asked if she had experienced such a situation or have had to use any supernatural fortification, Olanma said: “Nothing like that. I don’t have any charm.
“From my own experience, a dead person is like a stick. When a stick is standing and producing leaves, it is alive. But when cut down or burnt by fire, it dries up and is dead. That is how dead humans are. Once you are dead, the essence of living is gone.
“When a person dies, he is dead. There is no how a dead person will get up and say, ‘Hey! What are you doing there?’ I go to work at night. I go to work at midnight, afternoon, early morning or any time you call me.
“I am on call 24 hours a day. I don’t believe in ghosts. I have worked as a mortician for about 12 years and I have not seen a ghost.”
Her husband, Orji, a trained laboratory technician, worked in the Nigerian Navy and later retired to go into private practice. He also gave insight into the works of morticians and all the myths around it.
He said: “I had my basic training in the Nigerian Navy far back in the 70’s, and I got my training as a laboratory scientist in India. After serving in the Nigerian Navy for some good years, I was qualified to retire and I did. I came back home to establish a mortuary outfit which would enable me take care of my family.”
Orji said despite the perception of the society, the work of a mortician is vital in the society and would remain so.
He also explained why he went into mortuary business after retiring from the navy.
He said: “Well, science has made things a little bit complicating. You could find that with a handset, you could diagnose your cases without going to the lab. Many doctors diagnose cases with their handsets in their offices.
“Laboratory attendants, scientists and others affiliated to the lab have little or nothing to do, but the mortuary aspect is something that science could not do for you. It is physical. If you lose your own person to the cold hands of death, you need a mortuary to embalm the body. That is why I decided to establish a mortuary. I have the knowledge to run a mortuary.
“Really, we had just one in Ohafia, which was Mben Mortuary, and it was not sufficient. So I had to boost up such services in my community. That was the main reason why I established that mortuary.” Asked whether the opportunity of making money informed his decision, he said: “You see, not the monetary aspect really. I wanted something that I can use to help my community, because I know, before the establishment of Mben, we used to go to Umuahia, that is Aloma Hospital, to keep our loved ones that passed on.
“Then, Ozuabam, Abiriba, they were all coming to Ohafia. When I saw the workload, because I was managing Mben Mortuary there, I told the management that I think we need to expand these services. That was how I came to establish The Resurrection Hope Mortuary.
“The mortuary system is diversified. We have those who would like to dry the corpses. And when the corpses are dry, it doesn’t really give you the proper look. That is the resemblance of that person. It changes. But with the training I had overseas, I imbed in chemical. This is a term we use. It remains a secret because I won’t give it to others.
“If I imbed these bodies, when they are about to be taken away, they remain as fresh as they use to be. So, the person would not lose any of his or her normal features. This is what has given me leverage over most other mortuaries. This is why most people prefer coming to me.”
Orji also gave insight to the reason why the Igbos bring the bodies of dead relations back to Igboland for burial.
He said: “The Igbo man has pride which he cannot lose. There is this saying by Ohafia people that the head of the first born cannot remain in a strange land. In other words, the head of our son cannot be buried outside. This has made us to always bring back the remains of our brother.
“To crown it all, customs demand that wherever you bury the remains of your son or father, it is now bequeathed to him because you don’t bury him in another man’s land. So, the burial of your brother, your father or your son gives you a bona fide right over that land.
“So, in most cases, some of us who are a little bit selfish use the burial of our relations to claim lands. Like I said earlier, the Igbo man can never allow the corpse of his own relations to remain outside. We must bring that corpse home.”
So many myths surround the business of embalming bodies, but Orji said most of these myths are cooked up by people to give the false impression of being strong and powerful. He believes there is nothing in myths like corpses possessing some supernatural powers.
He said: “Really, I am somebody who believes in God and whatever God says. Well, when I talk about God, there are so many gods. I’m talking about the only true God; Jehovah is His name. He is the author of the Bible, and the Bible says when one is dead, he is conscious of nothing.
“However, stories have gone round that when somebody is dead, there are still some supernatural powers in him. I know the devil is funny at times, and if you decide to play with the devil, he may give you his own side of view.
“If you search, even the devil tempted Jesus Christ.
“When people want to instill some fears in themselves, they believe the dead could harm one. The dead are conscious of nothing. Like the Bible says, if there is a dead hero, a General who dies today, he is like a dead rat.”
Also a major issue that has to do with the dead in Nigeria is the belief that parts of dead human beings could be used for different rituals for money and other things. Orji said no such thing exists.
He said: “People harvesting the parts of dead people for rituals, I don’t believe in it. If the parts of a dead person could give you money, then I think those working in the mortuary should be the richest. They should be the richest. Those things are not true. They know whatever means they want to use in deceiving people, let them continue. But for me, I know it is not true.
“Generally, people want to boost their egos. If I want to plant fear in you, I will tell you that I play with the devil; I play with spirits. Sometimes, there are those who when they approach a mortuary, they tell you to knock before you go in. It is not true, knocking for who? Those who are inside are not conscious of anything; they are dead.
“If you go to my mortuary today, those that have not been imbedded, you see them naked. Even if you knock, nobody will answer you. So, those things are just to implant fear into those watching you.
“At a time, there was this native doctor who was brought to my mortuary. When his colleagues came, they were dancing, dressing the body and doing all sorts of things. They said I should go out. I said me? I left.
“All they did was to turn their backs. Instead of going normally into the mortuary, they went in with their backs. What is this all about? I think it was to see if they could frighten me. So, I called them and said people, please give me my money, then you can do whatever you want.
“So, when they came to do that, they wanted to frighten me as if the corpse had some supernatural powers. I said: ‘Come, just give me my money and play whatever game you want to play.
“When they had paid me, I left the place. They killed their chickens, spilled the blood around, but I knew the dead native doctor would never stand up.”
Although mortuary business is thriving in the South East because of the desire to give loved ones a befitting burial, he said the economic downturn has taken a toll on the business.
