"I never made so many coffins a day"

[sabra]

http://electroniciraq.net/news/2756.shtml

"I never made so many coffins a day"


Muhammad Abdel Kader makes around 20 coffins a day. (Afif Sarhan/IRIN)

BAGHDAD, 20 Dec 2006 (IRIN) - "My name is Muhammad Abdel Kader. I am 36 years old and live in the Ejidida neighbourhood of Baghdad with my parents, wife and only son. I have lived in Baghdad all my life. I have been making coffins since I was 24 to help with the family income.

I work non-stop, 12 hours a day, six days a week. I have never made so many coffins a day in my life. I have to make as many coffins as I can to meet demand in al-Qarah Cemetery.

Before the war, we were making about two or maximum three coffins a day for people who had died from diseases or car accidents. But today we make at least 20 a day for victims of the violence.

For me, this is good business because the more people I bury the more income I get. I usually get US $10 per burial. But I can't be inhuman and say that I don't care because the suffering of the families sometimes makes me think about changing my profession so that I don't ever have to see such depressing scenes.
For me, this is good business because the more people I bury the more income I get.

...

My worst experience was making the coffin of my own brother, Ahmed. He was a 33-year-old cabinet maker with two children. I had to help burying him. He was killed in a bomb explosion and fate had it that I was the one working in the cemetery on that day. Sometimes you don't even have time to cry for the loss of your relative.

[Ezlivin]

1. Bush Administration and Fox News reports that business is booming in Iraq

This is another "feel good" story they can trot out to show that "progress is being made."

:banghead:

[maxsolomon]

2. insert cynical comment here

this helps the GDP of iraq. his business is thriving.


http://www.truecosteconomics.com