Quaker Social Action :: Kwame's story

Kwame's story

Kwame's mother is Jamaican and he grew up in Clapton in Hackney. His mother died in St. Joseph's Hospice.

Canal scene

Down to Earth staff met Kwame at St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney in March 2011, where his mother Althea was in the closing stages of her life. Althea had wished to leave her body to the anatomy department for the London Medical Deanery, but this was no longer possible due to her illness, so Kwame was faced with arranging a basic, meaningful funeral on a small budget.

Kwame is a Quaker and he wished to look into 'green' funeral options. We gave him a funeral resource pack and information on Green Endings, a company providing creative, alternative funerals.

Reassured by Down to Earth and following our planning template, Kwame went ahead with a simple 'DIY' funeral by arranging for Althea's body to be looked after at the hospice for a week while he arranged a celebrant, cardboard coffin and crematorium slot. He asked Green Endings to pick up her body and transport it on the day. The full cost of the funeral came to around £1,200, a third of the cost of the average funeral in London. Kwame thanked us for helping him to arrange the funeral, which he found a "stressful, but spiritually rewarding" experience.