By Dayo Yussuf
Ali Khalid has lost count of the bodies he has buried – strangers whose names and faces he can't recall, but with whom his emotions remain intertwined.
"In Islam, when someone dies, it is a societal responsibility to make sure the person gets a proper burial," the Nairobi resident tells TRT Afrika.
"It is heartbreaking to imagine there could be a fellow Muslim lying in a mortuary near me for days or months, with no one to honour that person."
Ali is an exception in a culturally sensitive milieu where even talking about death could leave people squirming.
He operates through the local Jamia mosque in Nairobi, collaborating with a small group of people to seek information about unclaimed Muslim bodies lying in the capital city's morgues.
Since starting his mission, Ali has laid to rest scores of people who would otherwise have been denied a sliver of dignity in death.
Mortuaries fill up
In September, Nairobi City County issued a public notice urging people to come and identify their loved ones if they have been missing.
It said 200 unclaimed bodies had piled up in the public mortuaries in just over a month, leaving the authorities no choice but to dispose of these after a certain period.
Kenyatta Hospital, the largest government referral healthcare facility in the country, had issued a similar notice the previous month, giving a grace period of seven days before disposing of 233 bodies lying in the mortuary there for more than three months.
"We have contacts at the various hospitals and even the mortuaries. If they encounter a Muslim who has died and no relative has turned up to claim the body, they reach out to us. We then step in," says Ali.
"We try to identify the person's relatives if we can. If not, we take care of the burial through the Jamia Mosque Waqf."
Limited reach
As comforting as it is to hear of Ali and his colleagues' service, they cater to a tiny percentage of the population.
Kenya is less than 20% Muslim, and Ali says he offers burial services only for those practicing his faith.
Since he has no idea what the procedure is for non-Muslim burials, fear of legal repercussions prevents him from venturing beyond what he is comfortable with.
Steven, a devout Catholic, tells TRT Afrika that the situation is more complicated for Christians.
"You see, Christians are split into various denominations, each with its procedures and rituals," he says.
"Also, most churches have memberships and registrations, which come in handy when offering services like marriage, baptism, or funeral rituals. So, how can the church take an unknown person's body and bury it?"
Recurring problem
For many years, unclaimed bodies piling up in public mortuaries has been an administrative challenge.
In February, Nairobi City County obtained a court order to dispose of 250 unclaimed bodies. Several hospitals nationwide gave up to a week's notice before disposing of the bodies in their mortuaries.
"Sometimes, we locate the families, only to learn they don't have the means to clear hospital bills and spend on burials. We then do fundraisers sometimes, either through social media or in mosques," says Ali.
Most unidentified bodies lying unclaimed in the mortuaries are of hit-and-run victims or people who died suddenly.
According to the Nairobi County Council, suicide, electrocution, drowning, shooting and murder are among the other frequently listed common causes of death.
"Lifestyles have changed, and some people live in the cities without contact with their families. So, when something happens to them, no one gets to know," says Ali.
He believes the government could devise a better plan to dispose of these unclaimed bodies.
"The Health Act stipulates mass graves for disposal of unclaimed bodies, which is undignified. You find male and female bodies lumped together like logs thrown in a huge hole without care," says Ali. "This is not a humane way to give someone a send-off."
If various courts approve pending requests for disposal of bodies, this will raise to 500 the total number of such burials in 2023 alone.
