A day in the life…

A coffin sellerAriane  Uwumulinga, 29, owns Moriki Funeral Services in Remera. Her coffins cost up to Rwf420, 000. She also hires out funeral service cars to people who need them. She tells Society Magazine how her day goes.

Thursday, January 17, 2013
Uwumulinga in her shop on a sunny day. The New Times / Ben Gasore.

A coffin sellerAriane  Uwumulinga, 29, owns Moriki Funeral Services in Remera. Her coffins cost up to Rwf420, 000. She also hires out funeral service cars to people who need them. She tells Society Magazine how her day goes."I open shop every day from 8 o’clock in the morning and start by organising the place and making sure all is prepared including the cars. With help of my workers we also make sure we are working in a clean environment,” she says. "Usually at this time, customers are coming in and this being a rarely sought  business here in Rwanda, some find it to be like a curse to society. Some even wonder how I pray for customers when the going gets tough,” she says laughing. "It’s like they think I pray for people to die”! "I usually have a take-away lunch because I can’t close the place at midday because customers may come anytime. At 6pm, I close and go home after such a long day. I pray that as days go by, Rwandans open up and stop being mean-spirited about my business,” she ends.