For many people, especially in African settings, working as a coffin maker is often regarded as a derogatory and shameful business venture since its earnings are derived from people’s death.
The sight of even an empty, new coffin will often give the average Ugandan the chills as the piece of furniture is a grim reminder of death. So, pity the coffin maker. It is a business someone has to do and will often be ridiculed over it.
Coffin makers are sometimes regarded as ‘murderers’ by superstitious communities with wild imaginations about what kind of prayer one says for such a business.
On a low business day, for example, does a coffin trader/maker grumble to God for not sending him enough customers, or does he thank Him for lives preserved?
It is also possibly the only other business – apart from a tailor – where the seller asks for the ‘clients’ measurements in order to find a perfect fit. Not easy questions to ask.
And have you seen the tiniest coffins meant for babies? Heartbreaking reminder of the facts of life. It is a sad business that has no other purpose, apart from dealing with death and sorrowful mourners looking for a decent, final resting place for a loved one.
And 27-year-old Emmanuel Okot is not bothered by the public’s fear-based perception. He is out to do this job, and do it well.
Driven by his spirit of enterprise and industriousness to overcome the hardships that life often throws at any struggler, Okot is determined to continue making ends meet in this highly reproachful business.
“I don’t care what others say about making coffins; it is not because I wish anyone to die,” a husky-voiced Okot, clad in tattered jeans and grey shirt, speaks with resolve.
“But death is compulsory for everyone, and a coffin is a necessity for us, which I make as a way of helping people even though I also earn from it.”
Having lost his father, who was a sole breadwinner, in 2008, Okot struggled to make ends meet through engaging in odd jobs to stay in school until he dropped out while in his senior four.
Faced with the responsibility that comes with ‘premature adulthood’, Okot, a resident of Kirombe, Layibi division in Gulu municipality, was faced with a task of taking care of his frail mother, younger siblings, and an expecting wife.
Fortunately, in 2011, Okot got a two-year scholarship to study for a Certificate in Carpentry and Joinery from Minakulu Technical Institute in Oyam district, thanks to Comboni Samaritans – a Catholic charitable organization.
Starting out
Upon completion in 2012, Okot began by working as a part-time carpenter and later started his own workshop on a rented piece of land.
“The first time I began making coffins was at a friend’s workshop. It made me feel uncomfortable at the start but later on, I started getting used to it,” Okot, now a father-of-two, narrates.
“Sometimes I would work from home, but it was hard for clients to notice what I was making [coffins]. I had to rent a place at the roadside for my business and I was able to thrive with my work,” he says.
Okot’s workshop is located along the Gulu-Kampala highway where he also employs two people. Okot’s dream was to become a mechanical engineer right from childhood, but his dream was shattered after the death of his father who was paying his school fees.
However, this did not stop his exceptional abilities in psychomotor skills that he has now switched into carpentry.
Okot says once one gets used to the nature of the carpentry coffin-making involves, caskets are among the simplest items to make since they do not require a lot of sophistication compared to other items that he makes at his workshop.
Besides making coffins, Okot’s workshop is also a one-stop centre for assorted items such as bookshelves, tables, chairs, stools and shoe racks.
He advises youths not to undermine jobs for fear of public perception as long as it does not involve committing any crimes.
“I pity youths who are fighting for the few white-collar jobs. They should think and be enterprising rather acting like lazy people.”
“For instance, in a day I can make about three coffins or even four depending on the order. It is an easy job which anyone can do but many youths are after office jobs,” Okot says.
It is not lost on many that when Okot talks of “three or even four” coffin orders a day, that corresponds with the number of deaths of human beings. But for the young man, it is business as usual.
Demand for coffins is high during the festive seasons and also cold seasons, according to Okot.
“Festive seasons such as Christmas are full of accidents because of reckless people. It is not something that we pray for to happen, but we are there to offer services when it happens,” he stresses this point, in case anyone assumes he rubs his hands with glee as Christmas approaches, in anticipation of high profits.
Why decorate coffins?
Okot makes two types of coffins at his workshop; one that is often covered with a dark piece of cloth and decorated with plastic flowers that goes for Shs 100,000, while the other is a bit costly at Shs 200,000 since it is well varnished on the outside.
Okot says they decorate their products, because many mourners prefer attractive coffins for their lost ones, adding that this is an expression of affection and how much the deceased meant to the bereaved.
Beautiful caskets are not meant to please the deceased, but for the comfort of the loved ones they leave behind.
“Decoration is also appealing to the eyes of the mourners who love their lost ones,” Okot adds.
Achievements
At the moment Okot, who earns at least Shs 300,000 daily, is able to finance his family’s basic needs as well look after his extended family in the village. He has been able to buy a plot of land where he is currently building a two-roomed a house.
People’s negative perception towards his work aside, Okot pays revenue to the municipal authority in tax and his business is fully licensed like any other.
Now Okot plans to acquire another piece of land where he can establish a fully fledged workshop where better-standard coffins can be made.
“The sky is the limit for me. I don’t want to stop here. I want to produce quality products [coffins] especially for wealthy people, so that they don’t have to travel to Kampala to buy them from funeral planners,” he adds.
Well, like an old English saying goes, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Okot handles both.
Did You Know…
In Ghana, funerals are put off for months as the perfect coffin is made.
Every culture has its unique funeral customs; but the most interesting ones usually come from those cultures that celebrate death instead of mourning it.
Such is the way in Ghana, who honor their deceased ancestors by sending them off in the most insanely elaborate coffins you have probably ever seen. Larger-than-life-sized Nike trainers, Coca-Cola bottles, naked women, grand pianos. . . they can all serve as caskets for the dead.
In this tiny nation on the West African coast, the dead are seen as protectors of the living – spirits that dwell among us and interact with us on a daily basis. For this reason, it’s important to keep the dead happy. One way to do that is to send them off in style, ferried to the hereafter encased in a one-of-a-kind work of art – a fantasy coffin.
Ghanaian coffins are built to reflect the personality, interests, and even vices of the owners. An avid soccer fan might be buried in a big Adidas sneaker, or a writer in a fountain pen. A fisherman would choose a marlin or trout, while a sunbather might prefer a giant bottle of SPF 50.
Someone’s coffin might even represent the type of car they owned or always dreamed of owning. Some are a little more cryptic than others, but you can probably take a guess at the preferred pastime of the owner of the coffin above.
By far, the most popular burial coffin in Ghana is the cocoa bean pod. As you may know, a good amount of the world’s chocolate comes from Ghana – cocoa is the country’s second largest export behind oil.
The cocoa bean is central to the lives of many Ghanans, especially those whose families have been working in the chocolate business for generations.
And you thought you loved chocolate!
While before people were just buried in cheap, wooden boxes almost immediately after death, now they have to be embalmed, preserved and stored for weeks or months. This has built up a healthy secondary industry for morticians and funerals homes, which were practically nonexistent in Ghana 40 years ago.
The wait also gives families time to plan and show up for the massive parties that also accompany any funeral in the country – which hasn’t hurt the catering business much, either.
– ranker.com
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