LONELY FAREWELL WAS LONG WAY FROM HOME
HE was to be lowered into the ground without a priest, a prayer, or a friend. The body of John Kennedy Gurjao, 25, had lain at the morgue of Cork University Hospital for more than a month because his family could not afford to bring his remains back to Brazil, writes Seán O’Driscoll.
From an impoverished family in the Amazon jungle, he had swallowed cocaine capsules to take to Ireland, but they burst in his stomach and he died before he arrived.
There was a lot of paperwork for his distraught family following John’s death in October 2015. Although the Irish Government would pay for his funeral, the Department of Social Protection doesn’t as a matter of course contact religious ministers in such instances – officials simply pay an undertaker to bury the person.
John’s sister, Euziane Gurjao Ferreira, 22, was distraught that this most religious of families would not have even a blessing for John, and that he would be buried with only a undertaker by his side. She asked if there was anything I could do.
The night before John’s funeral in November 2015, I contacted Fr Pierce Cormac. He reworked his schedule to be at Saint Finbarr’s cemetery to bless John’s coffin as it was buried. I also contacted the Cork Gay Alliance (John was openly gay, and in a relationship), members of which arrived a little later to pay their respects.
His lonely funeral was far from the only one – statistics from the Department of Social Protection show that more than 3,000 people are buried in pauper’s funerals every year – 3,970 in 2011, 3,632 in 2012, 3,199 in 2013 and 2,953 in 2014.
‘He was my best friend. I wanted him home so we could visit his grave and talk to him but that will not happen now. It is very difficult for us,’ Euziane said. ‘We are hoping someone will take a photograph of the funeral so I can share it with the family.’
It was difficult for me to tell her that there was no funeral as such, but she was relieved that a priest had been in attendance, and asked me for a photo of his grave. For John’s family in Brazil, the whole ordeal has been devastating.
‘Nobody told us anything,’ said Euziane. ‘It would have been nice if they would just announce the funeral – if people want to say goodbye to John, they can. To think of him alone was really very sad.’