The past four months have been devastating not just for Ghana, but for the whole world. The coronavirus pandemic has taken over half a million lives. It continues to blight daily prospects for many families and to ruin businesses and national economies. This was what took me to Awudome Cemetery on Thursday.
I joined the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s burial and disinfection team as they undertook their weekly Thursday burials of people who have died as a result of COVID-19.
The exercise began at the Korle-Bu mortuary, where two bodies were retrieved by the heavily protected team of professionals, enveloped in white personal protective gear.
After a short prayer at the morgue by the bereaved families, the bodies were conveyed in an ambulance to Awudome Cemetery, where a special site for deaths by infectious disease has been designated.
No special ceremony
At the cemetery, no special rites were performed. The bodies were taken directly from the ambulance and lowered into the grave.
Only a few members of the bereaved families were granted access to witness the final burial.
After the exercise, the leader of the team, Joseph Asitanga, lamented what he described as the lack of support from the government. He said there were not enough highlighting the lack of logistics and incentives for the 30-member team.
“For many, COVID-19 is still a myth, and to others the numbers are just statistics,” Asitanga said. “But I tell you what, COVID-19 is real.”
Solomon Ter
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