Dispatching the dead (08-02-07)

says he has yet to spare a thought about his own death.
In an interview this week, the country’s first black undertaker confided to CAJ News:
“I have not really thought about the aspect of the actual disposal of my body – whether I would rather be buried in a coffin, without one or be cremated. But had you asked me what I would rather be after I have retired, I would quickly tell you that I want to lecture in a school of Mortuary Science – if one is introduced in this country.
“With the vast experience I have acquired from working with the dead, many other people would somehow benefit from this trade of mine. Undertaking has become big business everywhere. It is, therefore, my desire to assist those that will be joining this industry at some later stage”.
As a young boy growing up in the streets of Ardbennie in Harare, Michael used to wonder what the secret was behind the white man who accompanied the body in the hearse each time a death occurred in the suburb. In the country (then under colonial rule) the undertaker’s job was not open to blacks.
When his mother passed away life seemed meaningless to him as she had “taken a part” of him with her.
“When an opportunity came for me to enter this business I did not think twice. Since 1985 I have been earning my daily bread through dealing with the dead and I don’t regret it at all. In fact, it has become an obsession filled with everyday challenges”, he says.
Michael deals with bodies that are as different in form and size as the colours of the rainbow – natural deaths, burns, accidents … right down to those in their worst forms of decomposition.
“But ethics demand that I treat each and every one of them with the same care. I am an artist with a task to make the dead seem more life-like on their final journey from this planet and for the past 21 years I pride myself for having done just that. You could say that I am like the sub-editor in your newsroom whose task is to perfect the story and rid it of mistakes.”
Galio has led to the grave three-quarters of the politicians laid to rest at Heroes Acre since independence. They include the former first Lady, Amai Sally Mugabe, and, a few months back, popular musician Simon Chimbetu who was accorded provincial hero status and buried at the Chinhoyi Provincial shrine.
“People look at me with different views in their minds. Some love and praise me while others demonise me, especially the young ones who have seen too many horror movies and liken me to the devil. Then there are those that think I possess some supernatural powers to the mysteries surrounding death,” he says.
He starts every day with prayer. “I praise the Lord for the long day ahead of me and make the normal preparations to leave for work.” – CAJ news