Spirits of Nairobi: I am a Morgue Attendant at City Mortuary. This Has Been My Experience

“The idea of being a morgue attendant was floated to me by my dad. I had graduated with a medical laboratory science diploma and did not have a job. So my old man suggested it, saying it paid relatively well and there was no competition.
My first experience with dead bodies was in Chiromo Mortuary where I did several months of practical work to get the certificate.
But if Chiromo ushered me in the mysterious world of the dead, City Mortuary toughened my nerves for what lay ahead. Its the only public morgue in the city, hence bodies from everywhere are dumped here on an hourly basis. Some are in different stages of decomposition, others are mutilated, burnt, amputated, ripped open or bloated after drowning. Its literary the citys dumping site for corpses.
My first one month in that hell hole was my worst in my job so far. I frequently lost appetite. I stopped eating meat. I saw the world from a deathly lens where all the people in the streets around me turned into zombies. I lost feelings and became cadaverous. I had nightmares almost on a daily basis for a year.
I dont drink or take any drugs, so I had to contend all this in a sober mind. But my passion and desire to succeed kept me going. The scariest incident to date was when I received two bodies from Juja Farm at the City Mortuary. The victims were beheaded, decapitated and stuffed in a sack. The heads, limbs and torsos were separate. I spent the whole day stitching the body parts together for burial. It was so grotesque and traumatizing that I still remember their faces to date.
Due to the nature of my job, things like dating is a big problem to me because most women flee the moment they know what I do”
Source – Spirts of Nairobi