For more than 50 years, one family has dedicated itself to caring for the biggest graveyard in Nigeria’s northern city of Kaduna – much to the gratitude of other residents who do not fancy the job of dealing with the dead.

Until a few weeks ago, they did it for no formal pay – digging graves, washing corpses and tending to the vast cemetery, receiving only small donations from mourners for their labour.

The vast Tudun Wada Cemetery was set aside for the Muslim residents of the city by the authorities a century ago.

The Abdullahi family became involved in the 1970s when two brothers – Ibrahim and Adamu – began working there.

The two siblings now lie beneath the soil in the graveyard, and their sons have become the cemetery’s main custodians.

“Their teachings to us, their children, was that God loves the service and would reward us for it even if we don’t get any worldly gains,” Ibrahim Abdullahi’s oldest son Magaji told the BBC when asked why they had chosen to continue as unpaid undertakers.

The 58-year-old is now in charge at Tudun Wada – shepherding operations and the 18 members of staff or until recently – volunteers.

He and his two younger cousins – Abdullahi, 50, and Aliyu, 40, (Adamu Abdullahi’s sons) – are the three full-time workers, all reporting in by 07:00 for a 12-hour shift, seven days a week.

They always need to be on call because, according to Muslim rites, a burial must be organised within a few hours of someone’s death.