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The cost of dying
It is Easter this weekend. It is the time of the year when Christians the world over relive the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 2000 years down the line, death, the final farewell, has become a whole business in itself, plunging families and friends into debts and in some cases, crisis. Unfortunately, funerals are becoming more costly than even joyous celebrations such as marriages and “outdoorings”, the ceremony to celebrate the arrival of a new baby as families get together to formally give the baby a name.
Dying is expensive
It was only recently when I got directly involved in a cousin’s funeral, from start to finish, that I realised how dying has become an expensive business and a drain on families, financially, as well as emotionally. Planning and executing my cousin’s funeral, we had agreed to go by her wishes of a simple, less costly funeral. We settled on an average but decent funeral that was not going to leave debts hanging on anyone’s neck.
However, we were soon to realise that there is nothing like an average simple funeral.From nowhere, we had to factor in a one week celebration, a phenomenon that is gaining so much ground in funeral preparations these days. The funeral came to pass and after the final rites, the cost of a funeral in monetary terms and the demand on one’s time and strength became real.
Categories of funerals
There are different categories of funerals. I have attended extravagant funerals where fashion catwalks were the prominent features alongside buffet lunches and dinners with assortment of drinks laid out barely hours after returning from the cemetery and live bands in attendance. I have also been to average and moderate funerals where packed snacks or lunches were served.
Then also are the funeral discourses which last not more than two hours and where mourners joined to bid farewell in whatever attire of their choice. The only refreshment served is a bottle of water to be picked up as one walked out. The cost for each of these funerals could easily be assessed.
Cost areas
Nonetheless, the little search conducted before writing this piece confirms that for a modest funeral today, the cost will probably range between GH¢ 25,000 and GH¢ 30,000.For an average funeral, the basic cost includes mortuary fees, coffin, space at the cemetery, epitaph, shroud, flowers, decoration, funeral brochures, announcements, hiring of hearse and a simple refreshments.
So why are we having to spend so much money on funerals? With the search conducted, things such as the one week celebration and the needless ‘competition’ to outdo somebody’s funeral are tops in the rise of funeral expenses. There are other costs which are aligned to the rising cost of living. In a chat with coffin makers on the Korle Bu mortuary road in Accra, with the cost of timber having shot up, I found that this had affected the production of coffins depending on the type of wood a customer would prefer.
The same goes for mortuary fees. As someone put it, even in some public mortuaries, they have VIP, VVIP and a commoner’s compartment. So if you want the body of your departed relative well preserved, you should be able to pay for a VVIP treatment. Cemetery charges have also gone up with the local assemblies increasing their fees supposedly to help keep the public cemeteries up to a standard. But are they? The hiring of a hearse is another cost area in funerals. Apart from providing a special service, like all vehicle operators, cost of hiring a vehicle is up because of spare parts and fuel charges.
Funeral donations
Families sometimes borrow in order to bury their dead hoping that they would recoup from donations received. Unfortunately, donations are rapidly diminishing. People do go in their numbers to funerals. However, many more are walking away with little or no donations for families to bank on. The Sunday receptions after thanksgiving service are for some, a party time. They would come to mourn and eat but not to give to defray cost.
The lesson, maybe, is for people to take funeral insurance to cover all the expenses accruing from their funerals or to set aside a sizeable sum that is likely to cover everything including the one week observance, as well as the Sunday reception, two areas that do not fetch many donations yet are becoming costly. Funerals have indeed become a final rip off whichever way one looks at it.
Source: graphic.com.gh
