Kabingo: Handling the dead for 32 years

On a cold Sunday afternoon in Kayunga Town, Kayunga District. As I walk to the outpatients department of Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital to meet Musa Kabingo the mortuary attendant for an interview, I find him on a patients’ waiting bench.

The 66-year old stands up, seemingly with a little difficulty, we exchange pleasantries and he beckons me to his workstation, the mortuary.

Kabingo stands with a forward stoop. We get chatting and he confesses to have retired in 2018 due to old age, but the district and hospital authorities gave him a contract to train new recruits.

We enter the mortuary area, Kabingo leads me to a closed room with inscription, “Body Holding Storage Room”. He abruptly pulls open the door but the sight of bodies lying on trays was scary.  He loudly calls me back  while laughing.

“Why are you running away, come we enter and see this one (body) from Gomba (District) it makes news. Two weeks ago, someone got it from Gomba thinking it was his dead relative but as they were about to bury it, the missing person surfaced and it was brought here,” Kabingo explains.

I objected his request.

We got back on track, then a police patrol truck ferries in a charred body of a male adult who had been  burnt for allegedly stealing a motorcycle in Naggalama Area, Mukono District. This body, and another patient who he is informed had just died in the male ward interrupts the interview as he has to go and ferry the bodies.

It is such sight and daily experience that Kabingo who has been working as a mortuary attendant for Kayunga General Hospital which was later elevated to Kayunga Regional Hospital has been enduring for 32 years.

How he started

Before being appointed the hospital mortuary attendant in 1990, Kabingo who is a Primary Three dropout first worked as cleaner at the hospital. While at it, he says on top of his work, he had to help then one Mubiru, the mortuary attendant to wheel bodies from the wards to the mortuary. It was voluntary and earned a monthly wage of Shs70,000 for being a cleaner.

“The mortuary attendant worked alone and whenever there was a body or bodies to carry from the ward to the mortuary, I would assist him,” the father of six recollects adding: “Because I was courageous, I did the work very well and my bosses appreciated me.”

However, after four years as a cleaner, the mortuary attendant then was suspended by the hospital management over reasons Kabingo says he cannot remember well.

Because he had already exhibited excellent skills in handling bodies, he was later appointed to replace his sacked colleague.

Due to the prior experience, Kabingo never found any challenges on his first day at work.

“On my first day there were many decomposing bodies in the mortuary because there was no fridge.  Today, the work is easier because the bodies are kept in a fridges and there is no smell,” a smiling Kabingo says.

As a mortuary attendant, Kabingo says his work entails preparing bodies, especially those of people that are suspected to have died of unnatural causes for postmortem by doctors.

“I help the doctors to remove samples during postmortem,” he says “I also handover the bodies that are in the mortuary to the relatives as long as there is proper paperwork to that effect,” he says.

Additionally, on top of cleaning the mortuary Kabingo’s work also involves digging a grave and burying unclaimed bodies in the Town Council Public Cemetery at Ntenjeru. On many occasions, he says, he does this alone .

“When relatives of the deceased come, I go and exhume the body and hand it over to the relatives but if I exhume it and relatives  examine it only to say it is not theirs, I rebury it,” he shares.

But, Kabingo’s worst experience was during the Covid-19 pandemic when he had to ferry at least four bodies to the mortuary every day.

“The bodies were many and I often went back home very late because I had to  hand them over to relatives” he says

Because he has done this work for long, he is known to many people in the area and says  quite often  many of them call him  “Kakwaya”  loosely translated as a person who handles dead bodies.

But, being referred by this title, he says,   doesnot in a way affect him because it is a means to fend for his family.

 “People call me kakwaya but you cannot go about this work when you are  cowardly or shy,” he says.

And although some people in his community treat at his  job as humiliating , Kabingo says he openly tells his children what his job entails.

However, his children have only followed him to his work place once and that was when one of them was sick and had been admitted to Kayunga hospital.

“When I went to the ward to check on my son, some family members asked to see my duty station. I took them to the mortuary but, they fled and left me behind,” Kabingo explains amid laughter.

‘Although I love my work I would it wish it upon any of my children because people think that I am mad,” he says.

Despite looking at bodies every day, Kabingo says he does not get any nightmares and  handing over a body to its relatives for burial is something that inspires him to do his job the next day.

“I love my work although humanly I get a bit emotional when I see a dead person, but some people think that I enjoy seeing the dead,” he notes.

Kabingo is asked if some claims are true that mortuary attendants work under the influence of substances such as drugs or alcohol.

He quickly refutes and says, he neither drinks nor smokes.

“I work while I am sober. I am now used to this kind of work and fear nothing,” he says.

The 32-year-experience has changed his attitude towards death.

Kabingo says he looks at life as something short and highly despises people who kill others for material wealth and those that under look others.

“Death can strike any time and we should not fear it,” he says and explains:“Some people fall sick and spend years bedridden while others die without falling sick.”

Although his job demands that he works from Monday to Sunday, Kabingo says on few occasions when there is not a lot of work, he goes to his garden to tend to his crops.

“During my free time I garden with my family although I occasionally receive urgent calls even when it is my day off,” he says.

Challenges

Currently, Kabingo says his major challenge is the delay to formalise his contract and because of this, he does not receive any pay at the end of the month.

“They promised that they would pay me but, five years later, the promise has not materialised,” he says.

Besides, Kabingo is not content about the Shs6m gratuity he was paid for retirement and the Shs47,000 monthly pension he receives.

“In order to earn Shs100,000, I have to leave that pension money on the account for three months before I withdraw it. It seems I am not appreciated,” he complains.

His typical day

A resident of Kisaaba Village in Kayunga Town Council, Kabingo’s typical day starts at 5am, then goes for morning prayers at a nearby mosque. At 8am, he listens to press review on radio to acquaint himself with what is going in the country. He sets off for a 15-minute-journey on his old bicycle.

When he arrives at work, he first cleans the mortuary,  in case it is dirty, but when he finds it clean, his assignment is to check the wards for  any body to take to the mortuary.

This work takes him to around noon when he gets some rest before going for lunch which is served at the hospital at 1pm.

He then rests for some minutes or interacts with medical workers at the outpatient department or wards.

When there is less work he takes leave at 3pm but if there is another for him to do, he keeps around until 7pm before going back home.