Muslim leaders in southwest Kansas are considering opening a private cemetery after city officials turned down their request to create a separate burial area at a municipal cemetery.
Currently, the bodies of many Muslims who die in the region must be taken to Wichita to be buried in a cemetery that better serves the religion, said Abdulkadir Mohamed, vice president of Somalis of Southwest Kansas. For example, Muslim bodies must be buried in a white shroud and facing the Islamic holy city of Mecca.
A growing number of Muslims, many from Somalia and Burma, have settled in southwest Kansas, mostly to work in four meatpacking plants within a 70-mile radius of Dodge City and Liberal. An estimated 500 Muslims live in Garden City.
Mohamed said finding a separate cemetery is "very important to us."
"As long as we work here and we live here, we need a place to bury our people," said Mohamed. "Most will stay here. It's not easy to move."
Mohamed and Saw Min, a Garden City resident and leader in the Muslim Burmese community, asked Garden City officials in early June to create a separate burial ground at Valley View Cemetery for Muslim burials.
