Widow in battle to bury daughter in Kenya

Her desire to bury her daughter has caused agony and frustration but her quest to abide by her culture, she says, will not be deterred. Ms Margaret Obura’s 37-year old daughter, Victoria Adhiambo, left for Dubai in 2005 to work as a hairdresser but fell ill and passed away a fortnight ago.

Ms Obura’s efforts to bury her daughter in Kenya have borne no fruit. “I was informed that my daughter died of Aids and was asked to send someone to witness her burial because her body could not be transported,” Ms Obura, a widow and mother of eight, told the Nation last week.

“It does not matter what Victoria died of; I just want to bury my daughter. My daughter cannot recount what happened, but I know her wish is to rest at home.” Adhiambo was the mother of a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, who live with their grandmother in Eastleigh.

Ms Obura says she has frequented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for close to a fortnight in a bid to get permission to give her daughter a decent burial. However, the director of the Middle East office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ken Vitisia, said that meetings had been held with Adhiambo’s family to candidly explain reasons for detaining the body in the United Arab Emirates.

No airlines

“We advised her mother that there are stringent embalmment procedures that do not allow the transportation of the body to Kenya,” Mr Vitisia said during a phone interview, though he did not divulge information on reasons for the body being withheld.

Mr Vitisia reiterated that the available option was for the family to send a representative to witness the burial of their loved one. No airlines will accept the body, he added. But the widow will not give up her plea to the Government and the Dubai authorities.

The news of her daughter’s death was relayed to her by a pastor of a church her daughter attended while in Dubai. According to reports, Ms Obura’s daughter died a day after she was admitted to hospital, though she was not told the nature of the illness. An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is said to have intimated to her the medical report.

According to Ms Obura, her daughter deserves to be buried in her Butere home according to Luo cultural rites, come what may. She terms the directive to have her daughter buried abroad as unfair, adding she will not be at peace. The Dubai website indicates that if a person dies in a hospital, the hospital is expected to file a report stating the cause of death.

However, according to the official Dubai police website, there are some restrictions. If a foreigner dies of an infectious disease, the body cannot be transported to his or her homeland and is buried in Dubai.

Death caused by traffic accidents is treated the same as death from natural causes, for nationals and foreigners alike. Any death suspected to have been caused by a criminal act takes longer to process, depending on the procedures of the autopsy and the public prosecution.

According to the official portal of the Dubai government, for a body to be transported to another country, one needs to make arrangements through both the Dubai National Airline Travel Agency (DNATA) and the airline to be used.

“DNATA will handle the body at Cargo Village as well as process the required documentation, but reserving cargo space on an airline is the responsibility of the person making the arrangements,” reads a section of the website.

When preparing the required documentation, seven photocopies of each document and translations are required. “Along with the original police No Objection Certificate (NOC) you will need to obtain an NOC from the Cargo Village Police Station. If you haven’t already done so, get an NOC from the embassy to allow the deceased to leave the country. Submit these documents and all previously obtained documents to the DNATA export office in Cargo Village,” says the site.

Identified

Before the body can leave the country, the body must be embalmed at Al Maktoum Hospital Mortuary. One needs a police NOC to have this performed. The process takes around three hours and the body must be identified both before and after the embalming.

The hospital will then arrange transportation to Cargo Village, where the body is weighed and the paperwork processed. If nobody is accompanying it, someone must confirm by fax with DNATA that they will receive the body from the airport.

The procedures for cremation or burial in Dubai differ depending on the religion and nationality of the deceased and require proper documentation, including the original passport cancelled from the embassy or consulate, proof that the residence visa has been cancelled, the death certificate, and an NOC from the sponsor stating that all financial obligations have been settled.

Any person can be cremated, regardless of religion or nationality, but all cremations follow Hindu tradition and are carried out by the Hindu Temple. The Christian cemetery is located at Jebel Ali on land provided by the Dubai Government. To organise a Christian burial, one needs to obtain an NOC from the Dubai Police Headquarters requesting that the Dubai Municipality clear the burial.

The certificate, along with the required documents and fee, are taken to the Municipality Cemetery Office to collect a clearance letter.

Gravestone

One is then asked to contact the Christian cemetery caretaker to help with the rest of the process, including having a coffin and gravestone prepared and arranging the funeral. Burial fees at the Christian cemetery are Dhs1,100 (Sh23,100) for adults and Dhs350 (Sh7,350) for children.

For Muslim burials, the guarantor or next of kin of the dead is expected to go to the Dubai Police headquarters with his or her passport, where the police will issue a letter requesting Dubai Municipality to clear the burial.

“They will also keep the guarantor’s passport until all of the necessary documentation has been completed, including obtaining the death certificate and registering the death. You should then take the police letter to the Dubai Municipality Cemetery Office where they will make arrangements for the rest of the burial,” says the website. An air ticket to Dubai costs at least Sh50,000.