There is lots of death, and the graveyard is getting busier every day. Aids is killing lots of people including men, women, and babies. This sounds like a fairytale but aids is real: there is no cure.
You don’t have to look any further than the rows of freshly-laid tombstones at Oponganda cemetery to believe this. Many people who are being buried there weren't even 50 when they died. Tombstone after tombstone reads "Born 1971", or "Born 1973" even "Born 1980". The graves are so fresh they all read "Died 2002."

Fifteen men with pickaxes and shovels work full time to prepare graves for the parade of the dead.
This is what the gravediggers have to say about the place where they work.

How many people get buried each day?
Hangula Hitotelwa said, more than 10 adult are being buried every day and approximately 10 to 15 children are buried every day. He says that they prepare more than 25 graves but after the weekend it's already filled up.

In the past people only used to bury people once in a month; you hardly hear of people dying. But nowadays the death is commonplace. "Most people are dying of AIDS," he says.

Andreas Amweelo said lots of babies are being buried everyday.
He said these children are dying because they are being infected by their mother. On the 28th of August they dug lots of graves, but today it's the 4th of September and all of them are being filled up.

Sackaria Onesmus said lots of people are dying because of this Aids disease although people they don't want to say that their relatives have died of the virus. Especially when you come to the cemetery on Saturday you will find it full, he says. "There is lots of burial taking place."

Hangula said he wasn't so sure. He couldn't comment on that cause they only dig the graves for the dead: even though you ask them they won't tell you that their relatives died of aids.

The cemetery in Soweto (Katutura) is used up. When that happened, people moved to this one at Oponganda. Stephanus said it wouldn't be long -maybe five or ten years - before the whole field is full of tombstones.
It already looks like this in 3 years.

How many graves have been dug?

Junias Asino said, They can not tell the number of how many graves are being dug; they dug 25 graves in a week and after the weekend all the grave that they dug are already finished.

Who works at the cemetery?
The gravediggers work for the municipality on a contract basis.

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