Launch of Oasis Bamboo Coffins
New, environmentally-friendly bamboo coffins are now available in the UK, thanks to a Christian organisation that manufactures Oasis Bamboo Coffins in Nilphamari, an extremely poor rural area of Bangladesh, about 500 km north of the capital, Dhaka.
Chris Wickenden, the owner of HAVEN Funeral Services, is the UK's sole distributor for Oasis Bamboo Coffins. The coffins are available to funeral directors and major distributors across the UK, as well as to Chris’ customers at his businesses in Acton, West London and Hillingdon.
Chris Wickenden says: "I spent a sabbatical year in Bangladesh in 2008/9 working for The Leprosy Mission and looking for a way that I could use my experience to make a difference in a country that is so desperately in need of help. I came across Oasis Transformation Ltd in Dhaka, which really was the perfect organisation for me to work with.
"You can see the tangible difference that providing employment in the coffin factory makes to the people of Nilphamari. Not only does it improve the life of those working for Oasis Transformation Ltd but the lives of their families, as well. A regular salary translates into improved family health and better education for children."
The bamboo coffins have a traditional shape and are manufactured with the minimum use of energy, using traditional skills and making use of the whole of the bamboo plant.
The practical design of the coffins means that they are transported as flat-packs, reducing transportation costs and energy. The coffins are easy to assemble, strong and secure, and are supplied with all the necessary fittings, assembly instructions, inside linings, gown and a bamboo nameplate.
Bamboo is one of the world's most renewable resources - it grows in places where other crops would not survive and absorbs carbon dioxide efficiently, providing an eco-friendly alternative to timber forests.
Chris continues: "Oasis Bamboo Coffins really do provide a practical, natural alternative to traditional coffins and one that is making a meaningful difference to the lives and communities of many people in an impoverished part of Bangladesh." and “Buying one of these coffins gives a bereaved family the opportunity to turn some of the sadness of a bereavement into something positive that benefits very needy people”.
The product was launched at Ealing Golf Club in April 2010 in the presence of The Mayor of Ealing and many local and trade representatives. Baptist minister, author and broadcaster Steve Chalke MBE spoke about the work of Oasis. Steve set up Oasis Trust in 1985 initially with a view to opening a hostel for homeless people. Today, the charity has around 2,000 staff, students and volunteers who are pioneering educational, healthcare and housing initiatives in the UK and across the world. Among his many achievements, Steve Chalke holds the Guinness World Record for the largest sponsorship sum ever raised by an individual through a single event, when he raised £82 million in 2007 by running the London Marathon.
For more information visit www.oasisbamboocoffins.com.
