THE COFFIN-MAKING PROJECT OF CATHOLIC AIDS ACTION
For the past several years Lucy Steinitz-Kiekebush and
her family have been in Windhoek, Namibia [north of South Africa]. Lucy has
been industriously and creatively working with the Catholic Church on AIDS
relief and prevention.
Previously Lucy lived in Columbia, Maryland and was
Director of Jewish Family Services in Baltimore.
WHY WE CHOSE TO GET INVOLVED
The aim of the Coffin
Project was to undertake an experiment, whereby coffins would be designed and
produced from a mixture of paper and glue (paper mache) - to be made and sold
as an income-generating activity for clients of the Bernhard Nordkamp AIDS
Information & Support Centre in Windhoek (a branch of Catholic AIDS
Action). The project was funded in
1999-2000 with a small start-up grant by the Catholic Medical Mission Board in
New York City, following an on-site visit by Terry Kirch.
Nothing like this has ever
been done before in Namibia or elsewhere, to the best of our knowledge. Coffins
are required by law in Namibia to stave off marauding animals from the
cemeteries at night. But these coffins
form a big part of the total funeral expense, which usually comes two or three
times the average monthly income for a family.
This is especially devastating for families who have already been
without a wage-earner for many months, and who now have several orphans to
support.
OUR DREAMS
We hoped that our paper
mache coffins could be produced at 1/3 of the cost of a timber coffin. As with
the existing income-generating projects at the Centre, once the cost of the
materials have been deducted, the calculation of the income is that 2/3rds go
to the makers and 1/3 to the Centre.
All participants involved are themselves infected or directly affected
by HIV/AIDS (e.g. as caretakers of the ill or orphans).
In this way, we hoped that
this project would provide a much-needed service to the community at a
reasonable price, in addition to benefiting several families from the money
earned. Finally, we were attracted to the environmental message inherent in
paper mache coffins, given that we live in an extremely arid country with very
few trees. Ultimately, we wanted to produce 200 coffins per year (approximately
four per week) at this Centre.
THE BEGINNING PHASES
Following some weeks of
experimentation, and a helpful donation from the American Embassy of finely
shredded paper, we came up with a successful recipe for the pulp (paper clue
mix) which lines the inside of the wooden coffin mold. (Before that, we had to collect
paper and shred it all ourselves - a tedious and unenviable task, if there ever
was one!)
The wooden mold is firstly
lined with ventilated plastic to ensure that the paper coffin may be easily
removed from the mold and that the coffin would also have a smooth surface.
(Note as a curious footnote: This
finely shredded paper from the American Embassy turns out to be confidential
documents which they are obliged to shred into very fine bits - each about the
size of hole-punches. What better way
to ultimately dispose of these shreds, we all agreed, than to turn them into
coffins and bury them?)
During the winter months the
pulp took several weeks to dry; however this was not necessarily a bad thing as
it is important that the pulp when drying does not warp, and time is the only
remedy. On the other hand, this means
that production-time per-coffin must be extended considerably; probably the
same will happen in summer when it rains. More molds will also have to be made,
with the result that more space will be needed if there is to be a real
turnover of coffins.
After drying, the sides of
the mold are unscrewed, and the coffin is left again to dry and harden. If
there are any alterations to be made to either the size, texture or strength of
the paper coffin they are done at this stage.
When completely dry the
coffin maybe painted in the desired color, with PVA paint, first by hand and it
is then spray-painted. The paper coffin is then fitted with silver coffin
handles, nameplate, etc. The strength
of the coffin is then tested again. (To
prove its ability to carry a dead body, we convinced the very large-sized
Director of the Berndard Nordkamp Centre to step inside and be lifted - and
thankfully, the coffin held.)
OUR PROGRESS AND PLANS TO
DATE:
So far we have fully
completed and sold one coffin. It was sold for N$200 (US $23.50), about one
third of a low-cost wooden coffin. The
supplies cost to make it were N$100, which left N$30 to go to the Centre and
N$70 to the worker.
Due to the nature of the work,
many clients are not interested in participating in the coffin project.
Currently there is only one person along with the supervisor working on the
coffins, and so this does slow the process down considerably. Over time, however, this may change - judging
by the experience of wooden-coffin projects, which we know to exist in several
AIDS-projects in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Some clients have also
expressed discomfort with having the coffins surround them in the workshop, so
we would like to move at least part of the project to another place. At the very least, we decided, the storage
of drying and completed coffins should go elsewhere. Our plan now is to put up a pre-fabricated Tool Shed for about
US$1500 (N$11,000) for this purpose.
Although this particular expense was not initially anticipated, we have
sufficient leftover money from the original donation to make this possible.
The Tool Shed will be placed
along side the back entrance to the kitchen, at the rear of Centre. Then, while we will likely not achieve the
original dream of 200 coffins per year (at least not right away), we should be
able to produce them on a more regular basis.
Ultimately, once we have a routine going and community acceptance is
achieved, we expect be able to expand the project further.
Deirdre Kenny and Lucy Y.
Steinitz
Catholic AIDS Action -
Namibia
THE KIEKEBUSCH-STEINITZ
FAMILY
(Lucy, Bernd, Elsita, &
Sergio)
PO Box 86266, Windhoek,
NAMIBIA
phone & fax:
(++264-61)-250-267
e-mail: steinitz@mweb.com.na