Spontaneous burials are still commonplace in Kazakhstan. Some infants get buried in the steppes. It is unfeasible to erect monuments above the graves. There are no fences around the cemeteries. Up to 90% of cemeteries throughout the Central Asian country remain ownerless, the local journalist Sandugash Duisenova told Daryo correspondent in Kazakhstan.
'Following the data of the Almaty region, 80% or even 90% of cemeteries are orphaned. For instance, the governor of Kyzyl-gash village appoints an imam responsible for the maintenance of the cemetery. The imam invites someone to help him out when necessary and conducts the burial', Duisenova said.
Sandugash Duisenova started the funeral business in 2018.
'Initially, I started seeing strange dreams, I would say, receiving signs from an afterlife world urging me to go to the cemetery, clean it up, and restore its order. Finally, it became unavoidable, and I had to accept the call to look after the graves. I have been cleaning cemeteries since 2016. And two years later, I decided to participate in the tender', she said.
However, there is no law regulating the funeral business.
'They, thanks to me, finally adopted the burial rules in 2019, servicing cemeteries in the Almaty region. Such rules were not yet applied in the Zhetysu region. And we prescribed the responsibilities of the tender winner for cemetery maintenance. Law 109 states that six squares of land are allocated free of charge after death.
But the ritual agencies, according to Duisenova, make a lot of illegal money on this.
'They make up their gossip saying 'you have to pay for the place, for something else. It is necessary to pay only for digging the grave and ritual accessories. In the law, she clarified that these rules are specified as the work of diggers'.
Sandugash Duisenova emphasized that many people confuse the service of digging the grave with the sale of land.
According to her, in Taldykorgan, digging one pit costs 35-50,000 tenge ($73-$115). For Muslims, the digging costs around 50-60,000 ($115-$136). But the most critical issue lies in the relationship between the morgue and the ritual agencies', she said. For example, Almaty has a particular plant to provide ritual services at the akimat of the city. Sandugash noted that the burial site cost 91,000 tenges ($206).
'Plus digging a grave and the like. And you have to take this moment into account. Christians bury in a two-meter-deep rectangular grave. And Muslims make 'zharma' - it's when you put a septum in the middle, so the clay doesn't hit the face of the deceased. And there is an acyl, a corridor, and they dig to the side. It costs 50-60,000 tenge ($113-$135). In winter, this service costs 20,000 tenges more ($181)', Sandugash Duisenova said.
Burying an Orthodox man in Taldykorgan would cost nearly 200-300,000 tenge ($453-$679), which covers expenses for a coffin, the necessary attributes, and fencing. The hearse services cost 15-20,000 tenge ($34-$45).
According to her, these services are three-fold more expensive in Almaty.
Sandugash clarified that there is still a guaranteed amount of free assistance and paid services that any hospitals provide in Kazakhstan. But there are no free services at forensics, where morgues are concerned.
'Only paid ones. A person's body enters the morgue, and from this point on, the countdown for each hour of preservation is made. When the body is discharged, there are also special rates that we are obliged to pay. And if the deceased has no relatives or close ones, he is usually transferred as a fatherless citizen. The state buries him. Today, the price of burial varies from 20,000 to 30,000 tenges. This includes coffin production, delivery, and burial. If you consider that a simple wooden box without rag upholstery costs about 10,000 tenges, it is a pittance', she stressed.
Sandugash Duisenova added that all fatherless Orthodox people are buried according to Muslim customs.
'Because the church demands 5,000 tenges ($11.3) for each deceased and asks if the person was baptized. On average, it should take up to 75,000 tenges per technical specification for the burial of a native of Muslim customs, and I have to fit into 20,000 tenges. It's the transportation costs and the digging and other expenses. She said I'd be honest, and it's a significant loss.
From the state, Sandugash received 1.2mn tenge ($2,700) per year for everything. According to her, this includes the salary of four guards.
'So I opened a store to cover these expenses. I will tell you honestly, for all these years, we spent 7-8mn tenge (about $15.8 thousand). All this is the non-refundable help of people. They give me money or provide me with free help to do the cleaning in the cemetery. It is necessary to adopt the law on the burial and burial business. The powers of all state organizations that are directly or indirectly involved in these activities must be delimited. It is necessary to specify the responsibilities of the state, the local executive, health facilities, and forensic and commercial organizations and specify the status of the digger of the grave. To approve the rules of visiting the cemetery so as not to smoke and drink alcohol. There is no such a law in Kazakhstan now. There are only model rules of burial and organization of the case for the care of graves. We need leverage to influence fraudsters in this field. And I believe that cemeteries should be in municipal property of the state', Sandugash Duisenova concluded.
Credits: Svetlana Shesternyova, Almaty
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