Cemetery is a mystery

A sole parish clerk tries to maintain an overgrown and neglected cemetery that even nearby residents can not find.

Umm al Nar, a non-Muslim cemetery, is located outside Abu Dhabi near Abu Dhabi University and the Petroleum Institute.

ABU DHABI // Even nearby residents are not aware of the overgrown and neglected Christian cemetery that lies between the capital and Dubai. Umm al Nar, behind a noisy building site on a winding road, was built 40 years ago on ground provided by the late Sheikh Zayed. It is home to hundreds of graves of Christians who lived in the UAE, many of them children. But so little known is Umm al Nar that strangers struggle to find it; policemen, petrol-station attendants, librarians and even residents living within walking distance of the cemetery do not know where it is.

Rows of tombstones, their inscriptions faded and with letters missing, rest on their sides and cracked, rusty crosses lie hidden under weeds. "It is such a shame," said Bernardo Gomes, the parish clerk of the St Andrews Centre in Abu Dhabi, which tries to maintain the cemetery. There just are not enough funds to maintain the cemetery. People complain about the state of the graves of their loved ones, but do nothing to help with funds.

Mr Gomes said St Andrews had only about Dh3,000 (US$816) in funds each year to maintain Umm al Nar, but needed as much as Dh15,000. "There are at least 500 graves, and each and every one of them needs to be taken care of," he said. Last year, 25 new graves were dug, the majority of them for children. "The majority of those buried were Roman Catholic and of Asian and European origin," he said, "but most people prefer to be buried at home."

Only a handful of headstones have withstood the ravages of time and neglect. One is dedicated to a girl, who died 17 days after her birth in December. Sweet dreams, our princess, remember us to Jesus. Daddy, Mommy, and Kuya, reads the epitaph. Faded images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, a withered wreath of pink flowers and a row of candles, long since burnt out, are scattered on the tomb. The smaller graves for children are close to the cemetery's entrance, while the older and adult tombs, like that of Captain Colin Eymourfield 1918-1972, are hidden behind massive trees among empty plastic water bottles and sweet wrappers.

Mr Gomes said the graves were rarely visited, which did not help the cemetery's plight. "There are rarely fresh flowers being put on graves by loved ones as most only visit once or twice a year," he said. @Email:[e-mail]