The Nigerian family who spent five decades as volunteer grave diggers

For more than 50 years, one family has dedicated themselves to caring for the largest cemetery in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna – thanks to fellow residents who don't like work to deal with the dead.

Until a few weeks ago, they did it without official pay​​​​ – digging graves, washing bodies and maintaining the mass grave, receiving only small donations from mourners for their work.

The large Tudun Wada Cemetery was set aside for the town's Muslim residents by the authorities a century ago.

The Abdullahi family got involved in the 1970s when two brothers – Ibrahim and Adamu – started working there.

The two sisters are now buried under the soil in the cemetery, and their sons have been the main custodians of the cemetery.

“They taught us, their children, that God loves service and would reward us for it even if we don't get worldly benefits,” said Ibrahim Abdullahi's eldest son, Magaji , to the BBC when asked why they had chosen to continue unpaid tenants.

The 58-year-old is now in charge of Tudun Wada – shepherding work and the 18 employees or until recently – volunteers.

He and his two younger cousins ​​- Abdullahi, 50, and Aliyu, 40, (sons of Adamu Abdullahi) – are three full-time workers, all reporting in before 07:00 for a 12- hour, seven days a week.

They must always be called because, according to Muslim rites, a funeral must be organized within a few hours of someone's death.

Magaji tends to get the call on his mobile phone, directly from a relative or from an imam – every religious cleric in town has his number.

“A lot of people have our numbers and as soon as someone dies, we get a call and immediately get to work,” he says.

One of the three is going to tend to the body, which may include washing it and wrapping it in linen.

The body is measured and these details are relayed to the others until a grave is dug.

This takes about an hour – with two people taking turns digging down 6ft (1.8m) into the ground – sometimes longer when it is in a rocky part of the cemetery.

They can dig about a dozen graves in a day – hard work in the Kaduna heat.

“Today alone we have dug eight graves and it is not noon, some days are like that,” said Abdullahi, who started working at the cemetery when he was 20 year old.

The cousins ​​have had some very stressful times – especially during religious violence when tensions flare between the town's Christian and Muslim residents. Both communities tend to live on either side of the Kaduna River.

“We have had a couple of religious conflicts in Kaduna, but the biggest one for me was in the early 1990s. A lot of people were killed,” said Magaji.

“We went around collecting the bodies and taking them off the streets.”

Muslims were taken to Tudun Wada in the north of the city and Christians to cemeteries in the southern suburbs.

“It was such a difficult time personally and I wasn't long in the job then but that helped increase my resolve to keep going,” he said.

Usually, while the team digs a grave, at the local mosque the imam announces during one of the five daily prayers that a burial will take place.

Many of the worshipers then go to where the body has been prepared for prayers – it is then carried to the cemetery for burial, often surrounded by mourners.

Once at the grave, the shrouded body is laid down – it is covered with a layer of sticks and broken clay pots as a sign of respect. The grave is then filled to create a slightly raised bed.

After the ceremonies are complete and before the mourners leave, the cemetery custodians appeal for donations.

This is usually done by 72-year-old Inuwa Mohammed, the cemetery's oldest worker, who explains the importance of the Abdullahi family to the community.

He used to work with the cousins' fathers: “They were wonderful people who loved what they did and who had inspired their children with this altruistic behaviour.

The little money collected sometimes buys lunch for the team – but not enough for anything else. To survive, the family also has a small farm where they grow food.

The grapes are recycled after 40 years, meaning that the big problem is not land – but maintenance.

“There's a lot missing right now – we don't have enough equipment to work with, or good security,” said Aliyu, the youngest of the cousins ​​who has worked there for 10 years.

He describes how part of the wall has collapsed, allowing those looking for scrap metal to steal the grave markers.

Some of the graves have metal plates inscribed with their name and date of birth and death – although few pretend that Islamic clerics do not encourage ostentation. Most of them are simply defined with stones and bricks or with sticks.

Anyway, the cousins ​​remember where everyone was buried in the cemetery and can guide people if they have forgotten where a relative's grave was.

After the BBC visited the cemetery recently, they have seen a big change in fortunes.

The new chairman of the local council, whose office is in charge of the site, has decided to put them on the payroll.

“They deserve it, with the great work they do every day,” Rayyan Hussain told the BBC.

“Graves are the last homes for all of us and people who do this kind of hard work deserve to be paid, so my office would pay them while I'm chairman.”

Magaji confirms that the workers have started receiving monthly salaries for the first time:

• the five oldest, including himself, get 43,000 naira ($28; £22.50)

• the others, including Abdullahi and Aliyu, receive 20,000 naira ($13; £10.50).

This is well below the national minimum wage of $45 a month, but Mr Hussain says he hopes to increase their allowance “in time”.

He says it is sad that the cemetery was abandoned years ago by former local council leaders.

He has plans to repair parts of the fence, install solar lights and add security, the chairman said.

“I am also building a room in the cemetery where bodies could be washed and prepared for burials, until now this had to be done from the homes.”

For Abdullahi's family, every investment is welcome – and Magaji hopes to ensure that one of his 23 children will one day be the caretaker of the cemetery.

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