This archive report was first published on 24 June 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, many businesses have been forced to shut down, leaving their owners struggling to make ends meet. For Tina Akello, a 33-year-old single mother from Mombasa, her business has been severely affected by the pandemic.
Before the crisis struck, Tina could visit different morgues within Mombasa to beautify the dead bodies before their burial. She had started this job in 2016, after the death of her best friend, whom she had made up for before her burial.
However, at the moment, Tina is struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table for her two children. She has not been able to get a single client from her job since the virus hit the country, and she has lost over KSh 50,000 in one assignment due to the cessation of movement imposed by the government.
Tina, who relocated to Mombasa in 1999, used to make between KSh 20,000 to KSh 30,000 per body before the pandemic. However, for five months now, she has not got any requests.
She dismissed the myth that anyone working in the morgues or anything to do with corpses must be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Tina said she has never used alcohol and is always sober when attending to her clients.
According to her, she not only does make up for the dead but also cleans and dresses them. In most cases, she receives makeup products to be used on her clients from the family members.
However, at times, she has to visit the morgue and get the right complexion of the corpse before getting the right products that would match their skin colour.
When she is not at the morgue attending to the dead, Tina is sometimes in her salon glamming other clients.
Published on June 24, 2020, at 8:38 PM.
