BENGALURU: Wasim Zubair’s day begins with his prayers after which he heads to the burial ground at Quddus Saheb Eidgah at 5.30 am to get a list of the deceased whose last rites are to be performed there. He and 22 other men who are part of Helping Hands, an NGO, stay there till 10pm, doing what even family members or relatives are scared to do — bury a Covid-19 victim’s body.
The task is tiring as they sweat while wearing their PPE kits, which they have to constantly change out of after each burial.There is no incentive for them to do the burials, not to mention the risk of contracting the infection. Ask them why they do it, Abdul Muheeb, founder of Helping Hands, says, “In April, we saw families struggling to carry the dead bodies of their relatives as very few would turn up for the last rites fearing contracting the virus. Seeing them helpless, made us want to help. The happiness we get when we help them in such a situation is unmatched.”
The team has completed over a 100 burials of Covid-19 victims till date. Wasim has seen several cases of brothers, sons and grandsons of elder victims not even entering through the gate of the burial ground.None of the volunteers have contracted the virus till date. Wasim says they take all precautions and don’t go too close to the body or even the family members of the victim.
“Most of our team members are youngsters. Our tagline is, ‘Making it possible by his grace’. We spend our money on PPE kits but some times people donate kits. We don’t charge the family a single rupee,” Wasim said, speaking on the sidelines of three funerals taking place on Tuesday afternoon.