The funeral business, traditionally done by men, is changing as women make forays into it. In this interview with TERH AGBEDEH and TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEBOYE, TOS Funerals Managing Director, Taiwo Ogunsola, shares her experience as a mortuary scientist.
Are your challenges different from those encountered by men?
Taiwo Ogunsola
There is no difference. It is like a daily occurrence in the mortuary; people are waiting for you, shouting at you, everybody wants to be attended to at the same time. You are facing families who have no money, people that are not doing it right, and everybody wants to collect the corpse of their loved ones, whether you like it or not.
So it is the same challenge a man will face that we face every day.
Running mortuary business being a man’s world
I totally disagree because I trained in England and we have more ladies embalming there than men. When I got to Nigeria in the late 1990s I realised that I was the only one on the ground and it took me by surprise that we don’t have enough women doing this thing.
We should have more ladies come on board. I am the only one that is fully licensed, and there is one student. I don’t think it is right. We should encourage more ladies to come on board.
Talk of people in mortuary business seeking special spiritual powers
That is a big lie. I am a prophetess and I belong to the Cherubim and Seraphim Church movement. There is no special power.
It is like me asking you what powers you have to do journalism. It is the same thing with me, I don’t have any power other than God. I have never been to any occult in my life. I don’t even know what they do there.
To be honest with you, there is nothing strange about this job, and somebody must do the job and do it well.
Once you are trained you should be able to do this job. There is nothing special about it. It is nothing special, it is like any other job.
Are you a pall bearer in addition to being a mortuary scientist?
I am a mortuary scientist. Mortuary scientists are embalmers; you can also call them morticians depending on what they have, a diploma, a degree.
A mortuary scientist should be able to handle the mortuary, set up a mortuary, embalm dead bodies and take up all the challenges of the mortuary. Pall bearers are the boys who carry caskets.
A funeral director is different from an arranger. The arranger is the person you see to discuss what you desire for the funeral. So, there are so many departments in this industry that you need to know.
It is like going into a bank. There is the loan department, savings, corporate account. If you come into my office you have funeral arranger, a funeral director, pall bearers, brass boys, drummers, who play different roles.
Fortunately, I did a bit of funeral directing, so I can direct funerals since I understand what I need to do with the boys.
Is the funeral director the person who goes in front and directs pall bearers?
Yes. It is just to put things right and organise things so that you know what to do. When people go to a funeral home, at that moment you should be the one to advise that family as a professional on what they need to do.
If the family is going off the track it is your job to tell them what to do so that the funeral will be a success. Not that they will tell you we want to wear pink agbada (flowing gown) and you say okay, that is what the family wants and you go ahead and do it.
Some people will come to me and say they want a pink casket for a man and I will tell them, ‘no, there is a rose inside that casket, a man cannot use that when he is not gay’. A lady might want to use a very dark casket, if she is not 90. I advise based on age, profession. I advise my clients so that I can get it right ab initio.
Job also involves counselling
Yeah, I do a lot of that because I have virtually gone through it since I have worn the bitter T-shirt before. I know where it hurts. Apart from my personal experience, I studied this thing in school.
I did a bit of psychology and I can tell people how it feels, what to expect; so I am able to talk to them.
Some people are so bad, some people take it in good stride. Once you are trained you should know what to tell them, when to talk and when to keep silent.
Do purported rainmakers stop rain during funerals?
I don’t believe in such things. As I said, I trained in England and I don’t understand whether anybody is a rainmaker or cloudmaker or sunmaker. They have a problem there. I have a problem with that.
If it wants to rain let it rain. It is up to them. I don’t believe in it.
