The ground has officially been broken and construction work has started for a first-of-its-kind Funeral home and crematorium which will be opened to the general public in Jimmit, by Gentle Rest Funeral Services, come July 2023.
In providing an overview of the construction, Project Advisor Mr Eddison Henry made known that the first floor of the two-storey structure will house sections such as the crematorium, the preparation room, the refrigeration room, as well as quarters for the staff who may be on call from time to time to meet the demands of the Gentle Rest service.
Also included on this floor will be a display room where families will be allowed to see the products that will envelop their loved ones, a chapel which will double as a conference facility, the general offices as well as provision for the general manager’s office.
The top floor he revealed will serve for other activities both in a “celebratory and sombre mood.”
He stressed that this will be an ideal location “symbolic for sunsets,” as the building will be picturesquely placed on the west coast of the island nestled on a small hilltop which is typical for Dominica and architecture.
“It also encompasses compasses, elements of classical, mediaeval and modern architecture, in the sense that if you look at the building, you will see the dominance of Roman columns. And that is also symbolic of the imagery that we get when we hope to move to the last place after leaving this life,” Henry stated.
“Today is surreal. In so many ways. A 25-year dream has evolved,” Managing Director of Gentle Rest Funeral Services Mrs Josephine Robinson remarked during the groundbreaking and contract signing this week.
Describing the journey thus far, the business proprietor recalled that when started back on September 3 2002, the company only sold one coffin within their first year and had to shut down four times before re-establishing it in 2007 at its present location in St Joseph.
She went on to declare that notwithstanding the hurdles Gentle rest has been a “model for change”, and has changed the face of the funeral industry in Dominica, as well as earning the respect and support of their colleagues in the region and beyond.
“While there are challenges, we see them as opportunities for continued growth and development. If you were to ask me, then, what was my greatest challenge, I would have echoed financial, which today still is and will remain throughout. But with a quiet result, I will alter human resources,” Mrs Robbinson said.
“The struggles are real. The frustrations are real. But the goodness of God has brought us here today to witness an era in Gentle rest history of the signing and groundbreaking ceremony,” she added.
Adding his voice, Parliamentary Representative for the Mahaut Constituency, Rayburn Blackmoore, noted such a momentous occasion was a clear demonstration “as to the outcome of hard work, persistence and commitment to a cause that is noble.”
The minister added “today’s groundbreaking ceremony is a further step forward to achieving the ultimate goal. And that ultimate goal has always been excellent. The services offered by gentle rest are second to none.”
He went on to pledge his commitment to assist in whatever possible to the advancement of the institution which will soon be opened in his constituency.
For her part, Minister for Senior security, and Parliamentary Representative for the St Joseph Constituency, where the funeral home has been operating for two decades, Dr Adis King, also extended her congratulation to the institution.
She stresses the importance of this not only being a Dominican-owned company but one which offers new services to the ever-changing public.
“It is just fitting that a Dominican company is here to take care of us, this big step,” Dr King declared. “It is also great because a lot of people are talking about cremating now. That is your next challenge as a company to bring to Dominica, so I was very happy when I heard the Director talk about the crematory service which will be offered.”
Other speakers at the ceremony included Family member and President of the World Maritime University Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, who revealed that the groundbreaking ceremony was an opportunity to witness a 20-year dream come to fruition.
“It is a big day for all of us. Today is the brick-and-mortar milestone, for the gentle rest and for Josephine. Today’s project is the fruit of hard work. And I am really very proud of my sister Joe,” she stated.
She went on to issue a call to the general public to provide as much support in the venture as possible, as union completion, the home will stand to benefit every Dominican.
The 2700 square feet building is being constructed by contractor EEZE development, who vowed to deliver the project on time.
Photos of the groundbreaking ceremony can be viewed below.
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Congratulations to them on this achievement. It takes a lot of work to get these things from thoughts to reality. Well done
When people are sick they should go to the hospital of funeral home,and there they will not die.Lazy,nonsesecal UWP.
This particular group of investors are very clever. The only business that is presently profitable in Dominica is a funeral home.
NCDs are very prevalent in Dominica. Heart-attacks, strokes, diabetes, hypertension are rapidly exploding. Many are meeting their demise from one of these ailment almost on a daily basis.
Morticians are working overtime in Dominica. They are never once out of work for the past ten to fifteen years. Things in Dominica have turned dire. The Roosevelt administration is an existential threat to Dominica.
Why does every DNO article generate so much angst, opposition and venom?. I wonder what type of article published here will not result in undue skepticism or political diatribe? My sincere hope and wish is that we, as readers and a people, can still find some common good ground for the good sake of our country.
There are some people with this erroneous notion that criticism of the current administration equates to lack of patriotism.
When the masses and the mass media remain silent in the face of victimization, dubious arrests, lack of transparency, misappropriation of public funds, money laundering, corruption, democracy dies and bad government mushrooms.
To remain silent in the face of atrocities and bad governance is to sin.
I am starting a new business. It is called a funeral advance. In the next month i will be contacting all my friends and loved ones especially those living overseas to send me all the flowers, money for tickets to come home money they would spend on food and drinks and send to me now. I would also like to pick my coffin, and seeing i dont pay for it and all the celebration when i dead just give me all the cash in advance. Send me all the love and tell me what a good person i am so i will know how much yall cared before i gone. When that day reach you guys dont have to feel guilty cause you paid and showed your love so if no one comes funeral just wrap me in a cloth throw me in a hole and on my tombstone put the words ” he knew how much we loved him”. Funeral advance it is
Congratulations to the business persons…
In order for a business like a funeral home to prosper, more people have to die for the business to survive..😩😩
Or otherwise the business will die too….
Don’t worry, the Militia and the Friendship Hospital will see to that. This business will thrive, mark my words!
I felt just an inkling of pride reading the story because it is a private Business breaking ground in Dominica. This has become a rare occurrence in recent times however, stories like these give a little hope for our people and communities.
Dominica needs more businesses in play to become a richer nation. Unfortunately, the climate is tough. In this case it took 20 years to get to this point and not without struggles and dreadful hardship. Great Lesson though. I do sincerely wish that the Gov’t and People can both draw from this.
This is a welcome and necessary move. Our traditional cemeteries are running out of space making it necessary for bodies to be buried on top of one another. Secondly, they are not well maintained and this also removes the rivalry between religions, which is certainly not christian. As for my mortal remains I am sure God is more interested in my soul than my wretched bones but please, do not call it an industry, which is rather insensitive I think.
Typical UWP,always negative.The house N….. attitude.For them Dominica must be last in everything.Wearing their badge of stupidity and JAH KA.SISM like it is their first meal of the day.
We need to invest in burial grounds in all four points of Dominica? One in the North, one in the south, one in the East and one in the south and let people pay to give their loved ones a proper burial?
Sorry but the cemeteries we have in Dominica at present represents religious divisions even at death and as a result it’s a disgrace to go to the burial grounds of those that don’t belong to some religious bodies.
Some of the better burial grounds are either owned by the Catholic Church or Adventist Church. So if you are a Pentecostal no matter how good a person you are or how much you are loved in the community the Catholic Church will not all you to be buried in their cemetery. Murderers and thieves are welcomed but non Catholics are not! Same with the Adventist burial grounds. If you were Adventist as a child and backslide and even killed people as long as you never baptized in another church they will bury you. All others that don’t belong to these two denominations is a disgrace
Adventists will bury anyone. And they will also conduct your funeral. It does not matter what denomination you belong to or if you belong to none at all, Adventists will allow you to be buried at their church. So don’t compare the Adventist Church to the Catholic church. By the way, they also practise open communion.
Why not? Funeral home is the only business thriving in Dominica today as Skerrit has destroyed all other businesses. So if anyone wants to make money in Dominica invest in anything that has to do with burial. I mean instead of bananas plant acres of flowers; invest in first class coffins, funeral homes, and everything that had to do with first class burials and you will make plenty money
Off course, with the state of the art Morgue Skerrit and China replaced the Princess Margaret Hospital with, why not build a first of its kind funeral home to bury Dominicans to make way for Chinese