Funerals are very important to Ghanaians. Because of how painful the loss is, we (Ghanaians) do our very best to give our lost loved ones a befitting departing ceremony. We go through a range of activities like preparing posters, brochures, videos, announcing the funeral and preparing for the funeral itself.

Aside these, we put together a collection of these for future reference. Sometimes, some of our loved ones who are not close to us may not hear of the loss or may hear about it later; hence what we do in such instances is that we put together and send to them as a package that will give them an idea of how the funeral went.

I have however been always thinking of ways to make our funerals easy to publicise worldwide, organize and also have a well organized collection of the funeral package (publicity, brochures, videos.. etc) for future reference and use, and also to send to others. This is why I find FuneralsInGhana.Com which i saw whilst surfing the internet very useful.

FuneralsInGhana.com, designed by CNJ Consult, is a Ghanaian website designed to help bereaved families by offering them an on-line service where they can place all their funeral arrangements and details in one go and also make it accessible online worldwide. The site has pages such as a Memorial, Obituaries, Articles, Products and Services, videos, and photos. It also has guestbook and contact pages . The pages are all unique with features that promote our -Ghanaian –culture.

The home page contains the latest funeral announcements as well as a brief on the life of the deceased. It also has special articles to take care of the special needs of those affected by the loss. For example, on my recent visit to the site, I saw an article on how to deal with grief and also how to assist a child in times of grief. There are also articles on so many of the issues to think about when it comes to the elements that surrounds funerals (facts about caskets, planning funerals etc..). This page also gives information on how one can contact funeralsinghana.com for funeral coverage and advice.

On the Memorials Page, one is given the opportunity to write pieces in remembrance of the deceased. Thus people can send in their memorial messages during the period of grief and when they are celebrating some anniversaries in memory of the deceased. Hence if you are celebrating the 1st, 2nd or so years of the death of the deceased, you can post it on the page. The Obituary page gives the details of the funeral. This is where we would otherwise put the information we would have put on the posters we put outside to inform people of the loss of the bereaved. Here you have details such as the picture and age of the person, the family announcing the bereavement, family of the deceased-both nuclear and external, Date, time and place of the funeral ceremony. FuneralsInGhana.com has a well designed page which makes these details so enjoyable to read.

On the Tributes page, all sorts of tributes to the bereaved were found. The Articles Page contains even more specific articles on issues relevant to funerals. Articles, among others, centre on the discussions you need to hold with the ministers, family, and all stakeholders who may matter in planning and holding of the funeral. Articles also touch on cost sharing, taking care of visitors and very many more important issues that need serious consideration in such times.

The Products and Services Page assists funeral organizers with information on where they can get certain services. Supposing you have just come from abroad to organize a funeral for your loved one, one of your handicaps will be information on where to get certain products and services. How convienient to have FuneralsInGhana.com provide information on that in all aspects. For catering services you can find information, for coffins and dressings stuff you can also have places to choose from. For decorations also, there are a number of companies.

The Photos and videos page gives you the video and photos, if any, of the event. It is very beautiful to watch on the site. Then the guest book page for guests comments. On the whole, I must say funeralsinghana.com is a masterpiece that needs great commendations. The benefits to us, Ghanaians, are far far more than we may have estimated. First and Foremost, let us look at it from the view of the great store of information it affords us. After one has finished with a funeral, one can lead anyone to the site to have a complete information about how everything went and the resources used. Often for our loved ones abroad who are not able to join us for funerals, we go through the arduous task of putting together brochures, video tapes, posters etc and posting to them at high costs. This costs a lot of time and money. With Funeralsinghana.com, all we need to do is just give them the link and they will see everything for themselves. What a great way to save time and cost.

Another area we may analyse it from is the wideness of the coverage. In the absence of funeralsinghana.com, what people did or would otherwise do was to send as many posters as possible around so people who may matter get to know about it. And even then, there is a limit as to the coverage we can cover with the use of posters. However, with funeralsinghana.com everyone in every corner of the world can have quick information on the funeral since it is an internet facility. Just imagine the cost we would incur if we were to post posters to every corner of the world. Even in this regard, those who may come to hear of the bereavement later will have all the information handy via the site.

Another aspect is the accessibility to information. Most times we desire to have the kind of services and resources that will give our loved ones the most befitting funeral. Without a proper information resource, we rely on hearsay and unproven information source and end up going through a hell of stress. Funeralsinghana.com having recognized this need thus provides information on places that one can get high quality services and products. And when it comes to certain information on funerals like discussions with family and ministers, information on coffins and other funeral materials, dealing with grief etc.. you have more than you

would want to have on the site. This information is very rare; no one will tell you, you often have to go and find it yourself. It is therefore a great relief to have funeralsinghana.com put together such information. My Dear Reader, you would agree with me that there is no where that you can have such great services concerning funerals other than on this site, funeralsinghana.com. Funerals have been covered comprehensively and we need to really commend the architects of this for a great job. Henceforth we are going to experience a drastic reduction in the time and cost of our funerals because of funeralsinghana.com, if only we are going to use the website. Fellow Ghanaians, we really have a resource with us now. Let us use it to the optimum best.

The site is great, the information very comprehensive, pages very relevant, and everything else about it wonderful. I will however suggest that we get more videos on the videos page. Great Stuff, funeralsinghana.com, organizers-keep up the great job.

Author: Obibini Kojo

The Author is a Ghanaian residing in London who came by funeralsinghana.com whiles surfing the net.