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When Dries Bekker tells people at a braai that he cleans graves for a living, there is always a lot of interest.
“It is the best job ever,” he tells them. He is outside in a peaceful environment and “nobody shouts at you”. In fact, any backchat would be quite scary!
Bekker has been doing this for more than two years – not out of desperation, but by choice. “I am a fully qualified financial and insurance manager,” he says.
He was employed in the used vehicle industry when he accompanied a friend to her mother’s grave a few years ago. His friend wanted to put flowers on the grave for her mother’s birthday – but it took them more than 40 minutes to first clean the site before she could spend some quiet time there.
The grass had grown so tall it reached Bekker’s hip.
The experience got him thinking. “Coming from a sales background, I always see opportunity.”
He did some market research and found that nobody was providing a service to families to clean and maintain the graves of their loved ones.
And the market is huge. “For every living person, there are 15 dead ones,” he says, referring to families and averages. “That is internationally, but it’s the same story here in Pretoria.”
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In Tshwane, for example, the municipality has a contractor who cuts the grass every four to six months, but that is all they do, and they don’t remove the cut grass.
That was the start of We Care Grave Maintenance.
Satisfying work
Bekker works in four municipal cemeteries in Pretoria, namely Zandfontein, Pretoria East, Pretoria West and Heatherdale.
Now and then he also goes to Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg, and a few clients asked him to service graves in a cemetery in Springs. “If there are five or more graves, I can go there,” he says. Otherwise, it does not justify the cost.
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Bekker says he finds the job incredibly satisfying. The grateful messages he gets from family members who appreciate his efforts to give their loved ones some dignity are touching.
“I work in a peaceful environment. I can see the fruit of my labour and those messages from family members have me in tears every day,” he says. “I am an old softie.”
One couple lives in the Netherlands and are unable to visit the grave of their baby son who was buried in Zandfontein. “The infant graves are so sad.”
‘A good living’
Bekker says he makes a good living. His overheads are low, with just one helper and his wife Jacolette who sometimes jumps in. All he needs is his bakkie to get to the cemetery, a lawnmower, cleaning materials and lots of energy. “Service is important,” he says.
When he first takes on a grave, it is usually a big job. He cuts the grass, washes the tombstone, restores the shine on it, repaints the lettering and puts fresh flowers on it. For this he charges between R450 and R550.
Thereafter he maintains the grave at R150 per month. He currently has 300 graves on his books that he maintains every month.
He always takes a picture of the grave when he arrives and again once it has been cleaned, and sends the photos to the client. “Then they know they can come and visit their loved one in peace.”
Bekker earns additional income by arranging for the erection of tombstones and headstones when asked, and does ‘gravescaping’ with gravel where there is no gravestone across the grave.
He also restores damaged graves, for example when a grave may have collapsed. “A new grave takes up to two years to settle,” he says. Sometimes he helps to close graves after a funeral.
“Opportunity is everywhere, you just have to look, I believe.”
The practicalities
It took hard work to get his business to where it is today, says Bekker. He advertises on social media and his website, and hands out pamphlets to family members visiting graves. The municipality does not allow posters in or around cemeteries.
He did not need any permission from the municipality to get started and the officials allow him to do his job.
Challenges are few. The sun can be hot and now and then he has must deal with a snake. Crime does not bother him. “There is my bakkie with the keys left in it,” he says, but acknowledges that one has to be streetwise.
There is also the danger of falling into a collapsed grave. Only a few days ago he fell more than a metre deep into one. “That felt weird. I got such a fright. I thought the earth was swallowing me!”
Most clients pay without fail. Sometimes they forget to pay and when he reminds them, they pay a few months in advance.
The business is growing all the time. Some days he adds one grave to his list, other days three. And there are thousands of graves that are still unkept.
Future plans … and current kindness
Bekker’s greatest wish is to link his service to life insurance policies, but he has not yet been able to achieve that.
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He believes people countrywide can start similar businesses. He has assisted some with advice, but says not everybody perseveres.
Once or twice a month he randomly selects a grave and cleans it.
“Not to use for advertising or anything like that. I’m just paying it forward.”
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Dries Bekker, founder and owner of We Care Grave Maintenance. Image: Supplied
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A grave seen before being attended to by We Care Grave Maintenance. Image: Supplied
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A grave seen after being attended to by We Care Grave Maintenance. Image: Supplied
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The company does ‘gravescaping’ with gravel where there is no gravestone across the grave. Image: Supplied
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Jacolette Bekker repainting the lettering on a grave to assist her husband, Dries Bekker in his business We Care Grave Maintenance. Image: Supplied
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Dries Bekker, founder and owner of We Care Grave Maintenance. Image: Supplied
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