Generally, death, for mankind, is an inevitable end. But whenever it comes calling and no matter the age of its victim, pains, sorrow and unquantifiable anguish are its accomplices. Ironically, for those in the business of coffin making and funeral management, this is not so. While their patrons wail, lament and mourn over the loss of their dead ones, this group of people smiles very broadly to their various banks. “It is different strokes for different folks,” says Dehinde Harrison, the Managing Director of Ebony Casket and Funeral Home.
His death came too sudden. He was just in his 40s and had a lot yet unaccomplished. His children were quite young and his wife, just in her 30s found it a pill too bitter to swallow. He had life – touching programmes on the radio and television stations, so, Nigerians all over the globe, were also not ready to let go. All efforts were put in place to revive him, but then, his time, apparently, was up and he had to go. In a rush of some unbearable pain, the whole nation was caught in a grip without any consent to consolation.
The burial, however, appeared to paint a contrary picture. While everyone was clad in black, a symbol of mourning and sobriety, with a mindset of devoting the day to the departure of a rare gem, a master plan had been drawn up for a grand burial to mark his departure. It was not one to be done in some hush-hush tone.
So, while the environment remained tense, it was shocking to many to have some group of people, carrying the casket come in different beautiful attires that depicted the ethnic background of the departed man, all excited and in different heroic display.
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Within seconds, the people’s spirit got lightened up. Even the deceased’s children, who thought the arrival of the remains of their father in the box would shatter them suddenly became proud of him. They had something worthwhile to linger in their memory till date.
That was the scene some years ago, created by the Pall Bearers of Ebony Casket and Funeral Home at the burial ceremony of Chief Kolawole Olawuyi, the famous investigative radio and television broadcaster.
Decades ago, when Harrison took off with the business, his dream, according to him, was clearly cut – to improve on the way funeral conduct is undertaken in Nigeria. Although he was born into this business, Harrison said, he never got attracted to it until after his graduation from the university. “I saw the way the Whites buried their dead and I just decided to set the pace in this area in Nigeria. I am glad this culture has become acceptable in the country and many are currently attracted to the business. ” he said.
As far as Harrison is concerned, the business of funeral management is one business just like any other business. “Just as everyone wants to prosper at whatever he does, so do I. This is why I put in my best in this business, praying and calling for people’s attention to what I do. At funeral ceremonies, especially whenever the casket is brought forward with the body of the dead person, people always cry, even when the late person is old. The thought of having him or her locked up in a ‘box’, the coffin, usually triggers their emotions. That is why we are needed. We are to make light their pain and add colour and honour to the departed in such a way that they will have a beautiful memory of that day,” he said.
And since God is no respecter of persons, this, he said has worked for him. Till date, he has clients from the corridors of power and the corporate world within and outside the country scrambling for his services. “ Ebony Casket has been privileged to bury a lot of dignitaries and important personalities in and outside Nigeria and still hopes to carry on,” he enthused.
But do undertakers pray for people to die? Harrison had this to say: “Yes and no. We pray for the old and the aged only to die and not the young ones. When an aged person dies, it is fun and we would be free to make good charges and display all that we have at our disposal to entertain everyone. But if it is the other way round, everyone will be sober, as they will be mourning and in that wise or condition, we would not be opportune to charge as much as we would have loved to. But one thing about this business is explained in Yoruba as Ori ti yoo su opo ko ni je ki alaare gbadun. This means that when a man is destined to inherit another man’s wife, this will never grant the sick man his utmost wish of recovering from his illness. He will surely die so that the luck of taking over the late man’s wife will end up shining on him.”
Relating this to his profession, he explained that since he is designed to care for the dead, it is simple and normal for somebody to die.
Explaining the challenges of the job, the undertaker said it is a time consuming one. On a typical business day, he starts his day as early as 8am and may not close until midnight, if clients keep calling. This, according to him, has denied him of quality time with his family and close associates.
He said, “When business is good, I always have lots of things to attend to. A client might call for your assistance, even at midnight when he or she just discovers that he had lost a dear one and needs your assistance. Whatever you are doing then, you have to abandon to attend to that.
We have had to keep vigil over a dead body till day break or taken off with burial preparations right from there on. But my people know the nature of my job and never complain. All the same, I try as much as possible to make it up for those periods.”
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Describing the nature of the business, Harrsion said it operates as a faculty, which has different departments. It goes beyond just having the dead buried. He said, “We have the mortuary services where the undertaker takes up the responsibility of getting the dead person to be accommodated in a mortuary, get them examined the cause of the dead man’s death; and when it is time to retrieve the body for burial, the managers also take up the responsibility but all of these happen if the man or woman drops down dead in his house and not at the hospital. If our client desires that we transfer the corpse to our own mortuary, we will have to do so but this comes with a price.”
Other services they engage in include embalmment and preservation of the body and burning of corpse if a client so wishes.
When asked whether this has anything to do with what his childhood ambition, Harrison told The Nigerian Xpress that as a young man, his dream was to become either a pilot or an astronaut but he ended up studying Mechanical Engineering.
“I believe destiny has a lot to do in all of this, otherwise I wouldn’t be found in this business. I never wanted this kind of business, even when I am well familiar with it but as God has planned, I am making a mark in it. The business, which used to be just about making and selling of caskets has since experienced a turnaround, all thanks to God. This is why I know that there is nothing one sets his or her mind to do that cannot be done,” he said.
