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Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...of-afghanistan
No Rest For The Gravediggers Of Afghanistan
July 1, 20209:01 AM ET
Diaa Hadid
Abbas has worked in this Kabul cemetery for more than a decade, since he moved to the Afghan capital for work. He's sometimes called to dig quickly to bury the victims of militant attacks. But the last six weeks are the busiest he's ever seen.
"People bring their dead during the day and during the night," says Abbas, who like many Afghans, has only one name. He believes the cause of death is COVID-19.
"The sickness has spread between the people, and the number of deaths are growing," he says as he scrapes through the hard, rocky ground to dig a new grave in the Omed-e-Sabz cemetery that clings to a windswept mountainside that looms over the Afghan capital.
Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak
Goats and Soda
Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak
Abbas says before the pandemic, the gravediggers would bury seven or eight people a day. Now it's more like 20. He sometimes buries family members side-by-side...
No Rest For The Gravediggers Of Afghanistan
July 1, 20209:01 AM ET
Diaa Hadid
Abbas has worked in this Kabul cemetery for more than a decade, since he moved to the Afghan capital for work. He's sometimes called to dig quickly to bury the victims of militant attacks. But the last six weeks are the busiest he's ever seen.
"People bring their dead during the day and during the night," says Abbas, who like many Afghans, has only one name. He believes the cause of death is COVID-19.
"The sickness has spread between the people, and the number of deaths are growing," he says as he scrapes through the hard, rocky ground to dig a new grave in the Omed-e-Sabz cemetery that clings to a windswept mountainside that looms over the Afghan capital.
Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak
Goats and Soda
Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak
Abbas says before the pandemic, the gravediggers would bury seven or eight people a day. Now it's more like 20. He sometimes buries family members side-by-side...