Ex-cons to build 'eco coffins'
2005-07-21 21:39
Nelspruit - Former jailbirds will soon get help adjusting to life on the outside - by making "eco-friendly" coffins.
Government's Working for Water programme has partnered with key government departments and faith-based groups to help unemployed people, including ex-convicts, make coffins during a two-year pilot project in KwaZulu-Natal.
The coffins will be made from invasive alien plants cleared by Working for Water, and are expected to provide a cheaper alternative to poor families faced with the cost of burying loved ones.
"Not only do these families have to cope with their loss, but the funeral costs often worsen the grip of poverty," said KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and environmental affairs MEC, Gabriel Ndabandaba.
Former inmates
The coffin-making teams will include former inmates to give them a chance to be re-integrated into society.
Minister of water affairs and forestry, Buyelwa Sonjica, said Working for Water not only provided jobs by hiring people to clear invader plants, but that the cleared wood would now help create even more jobs by being used for coffins.
The World Bank has pledged R1m to the coffin-making project, after the project proposal was one of 31 winners from over 2 600 entries in the World Bank's "Development Marketplace" finals in Washington DC last month.
The awards aim to stimulate innovative development projects.
A site for the pilot project has yet to be identified.