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By Evan Tan, Conributor
Indeed, the wonders of
technology. Bridging the gap between people has never been easier.
No longer did you have to travel miles to see a loved one, or wait
for days or weeks to read their mails.
Missing someone? Buzz them at
Yahoo! Messenger. Wanting to let them know you’ve been thinking
about them? Call or text them on their mobile. Curious about how
they’ve been doing recently? Check their Friendster or Facebook
profiles or Twitter updates even.
Can’t make it to
their funeral? See the wake online.
Death and the digital
St. Peter Chapels, one of the
stalwart companies in the local funeral industry, now offers what
could change how Filipinos pay respect to their dead: the e-burol.
Launched in October of 2007, what
originally began as a funny idea soon developed into an actual
service of the chapel. The pioneering concept of the e-burol was
fuelled by the desire to change the common notion of death as morbid
and frightening. By introducing the e-burol, the chapel aimed to
reach out to people who were afraid of coming in funeral parlors,
thereby allowing them to participate in the wake of the deceased by
viewing it through the Internet instead.
The idea caught on, however, with
another market. Through the service, people abroad or in the far end
of the country who could not make it to the wake, either because of
financial or circumstantial constraints, were now able to take part
in their loved one’s funeral.
Currently available at St. Peter
Chapels in Quezon City and 10 other provinces, the free-of-charge e-burol
is quite simple. The Chapel’s manager or Technical Services staff
provides a customized private password to the family, who then can
use it to access the real-time 24-hour video feed from the
wide-angle camera inside the chapel, through the St. Peter website.
It is up to the family on whom to share the password with, thus
making the service only exclusive to friends and relatives of the
deceased.
Knowing no boundaries
With the Filipino’s culture of
tight-knit families and the rise of fellowmen living abroad, the e-burol
has been received positively by the chapel’s clients. While some
skeptics found the idea too weird, families who have availed of the
service have praised it, as they found consolation in being
connected with members who, though far away, still were able to
share their grief.
“They’re just so happy and
eager to say hi to friends and families in other parts of the world.
The fact that they’re there to pay respects to their loved ones is
already a consoling experience, so it’s not that anymore
difficult, that heavy for the family,” observes Mildred Vitangcol,
executive vice president for Luzon and vice president for marketing
and business development, of the reactions of those who benefited
from the online viewing service.
Teresa Smith, a Filipino migrant
in Australia, says that the e-burol is a stroke of genius. Unable to
come home to pay her last respects to her deceased brother, she felt
detached from her family members and was left to grieve in
isolation. In a letter, she writes that, through the online viewing
service, she and other relatives living overseas were able to see
her sibling. The connection with their family in the Philippines
made the wake lively, just the way her brother would’ve wanted it.
“By being able to view our brother, it made our grief and sorrow
feel more real and I was able to let go of that emotion especially
during the final hours leading to his internment.”
Truly, our love will always find
ways to bring us closer to our loved ones, in life, and yes, even in
death.
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