Mortuary assistant performs thankless job from the heart<\/p>\n
By Multa Firdaus<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The stench of the rotten corpse was unbearable,
\nbut Sofah calmly leaned over the body and cleaned it. The dead
\nwas not a member of her family, nor her best friend. She did not
\neven know who the dead was but she handled the body with care.<\/p>\n
Bathing corpses and preparing them for burial is her job. Not
\njust the corpses of those who die of illness or old age, but the
\nbodies of people who die an unnatural death -- whether they are
\nslashed by a machete, hit by a car, attacked by mobs, burned in a
\nfire or commit suicide.<\/p>\n
Sofah, 27, works in the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital
\n(RSCM) morgue in Central Jakarta, where she has to breath
\nunpleasant and unhealthy odors while facing loathsome sights.<\/p>\n
RSCM morgue receives an average of three corpses every day.
\nSome of them have begun to decay and emit an offensive odor by
\nthe time they arrive at the morgue.<\/p>\n
Many corpses are unidentified and no one comes to collect
\nthem. In that case, they are buried in a mass grave at Tegal Alur
\ngraveyard in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Before a corpse is buried -- or taken home by the dead's
\nrelatives -- there are many things which must be done by the
\nstaff at the mortuary. They have to do a variety of tasks,
\nranging from preparing the coffins, shrouds, flowers, fragrant
\noils, bathing and wrapping the corpses, as well as saying prayers
\nfor the dead.<\/p>\n
Sofah is one of two employees who are responsible for bathing
\nfemale corpses.<\/p>\n
Sofah, a Tsanawiyah (Islamic junior high school) graduate from
\nKuningan, West Java said that she accepted the job offered by her
\nuncle who also works at the morgue because she, as the eldest of
\neight children, wanted to lighten her parents' financial burden.<\/p>\n
\"Of course I want better job, but I don't have any other
\nchoice,\" she told The Jakarta Post at the morgue.<\/p>\n
She said that she had been jobless for three years since she
\ngave up working at several garment factories in the capital.<\/p>\n
An impression forever imprinted in her memory was when Sofah
\nfirst started the job five years ago.<\/p>\n
The first corpse she handled was the body of a 50-year-old
\nwoman who had died of cancer of the breast.<\/p>\n
\"There were many holes in the body which had also began to
\nrot. As I sprayed water the body with water, the flesh around the
\nholes disintegrated, causing gaping holes,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The second corpse she bathed was even worse because it had
\nbeen found five days after death. She said she could not eat for
\nseveral days since she felt queasy and overshadowed by the dead
\nwomen's faces.<\/p>\n
\"My first and second week at the morgue was really hard for
\nme. I felt horrible seeing the bodies, but I could not vomit
\ndespite feeling nauseated,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She began to adjust after she entered the third week at the
\nmorgue.<\/p>\n
Sofah's working hours are from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but she has
\nto be ready to return to the morgue if there are corpses that
\nhave to be bathed after she gets home.<\/p>\n
Despite her hard work, her monthly salary is less than half
\nthe minimum wage stipulated by the government. In addition, she
\nreceives Rp 10,000 as a daily transportation allowance.<\/p>\n
The minimum wage for greater Jakarta is Rp 426,250 a month.<\/p>\n
Yet, Sofah never complains, saying that she regards the job as
\nan act of charity.<\/p>\n
\"At least, I can help the mourning family, or the dead who
\nhave no one to arrange their funeral. I am happy enough, I treat
\nthe corpse wholeheartedly like a living human being,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Sofah said what disappointed her was that most people who come
\nto pick up the corpses were reluctant to give a hand when she
\nbathes the corpse. However, she sometimes receives tips from
\nfamily members of the dead who appreciate her job. Such tips add
\nto her income significantly, in fact. The highest tip she ever
\nreceived was Rp 100,000.<\/p>\n
Sofah is also frequently annoyed by family members of the dead
\nwho insist that things required to treat the corpses such as
\nflowers, perfumes, soaps, shrouds and coffins should be prepared
\nby the morgue staff, while actually those things must be provided
\nby the families themselves.<\/p>\n
The thin woman said there was no fixed number of corpses that
\nshe had to bathe daily. \"Once I had to bathe five corpses in a
\nday, but on another day there was no corpse at all to bathe,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Sofah, who married two years ago, said her husband had no
\nobjection to her job so far.<\/p>\n
\"I keep working in order to help augment my husband's earnings
\nbecause he only runs a small warung (stall) at our home in Gunung
\nSahari subdistrict in Central Jakarta,\" she added.<\/p>\n
She has yet to make a decision on whether she will keep
\nworking if she has a baby later. After all, she has not yet been
\nappointed as a permanent member of staff at the hospital despite
\nher five-year term of service at the morgue.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mortuary-assistant-performs-thankless-job-from-the-heart-1447893297",
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