Cheap Funeral Flowers

No need for lavish burial ceremonies

While in Tanzania recently, I happen to have listened to some death and funeral announcements in one FM radio.

Shockingly, most of them went: "... kifo chatangazwa cha ... kilichotokea leo. Marehemu amezikwa na habari hizi ziwafikie jamaa na marafiki walioko Arusha na Iringa (we announce the death of ...which occurred today. The deceased was buried today and this information should reach his relatives and friends in Arusha and Iringa).

Unlike in Kenya, there was no reference to funeral committees’ meetings to offset the usual burial and medical expenses.

In another incident in Mombasa, a senior leader of a firm opened a conference at noon. He fell ill that evening. He was rushed to hospital where he died upon arrival.

Following religious practices, his family buried him the following day. News of this development reached the attendees of the conference he had opened barely 24 hours earlier.

The shocked participants visited his family to condole them. They had already opened a contributors’ book and collected funds. But their eager offer to "foot the funeral bill" was ironically turned down.

When someone close dies, the last thing in a person’s mind is thinking of the cost of funeral arrangements. Yet with the biting inflation, people might not afford ostentatious funerals.

The funeral industry, arguably the fastest growing, has hidden costs in unnecessary items that are often forced on to the bereaved regardless of their feelings and depth of pocket.

The average mwananchi funeral today runs in excess of Sh40,000. Given that death is omnipresent, the cost of funerals can be enormous in one’s family, neighbourhood and workplace because mostly the charges are footed by the society in each person’s little way.

There is an urgent need to re-evaluate the role of the ubiquitous funeral committees with a view to auditing the funds that they mobilise and keeping burials cheap.

Certainly, planning for branded mineral water to be taken during a funeral or hiring outside catering services to feed the mourners is costly.

But the good news is that with a little planning, these costs can be significantly reduced without compromising the dignity that funerals demand.

According to Jack Madzayo, a funeral home attendant, the first step in planning an interment is to shop around for the funeral home with the best deal.

Floriculture, designing & merchandising

But What Do I Know?

Flowers after the funeral, reflections on the post-9/11 digital age

Flowers for My Sister's Funeral

The Nation