{"id":1242,"date":"2019-06-01T19:56:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T19:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lignumvitaeclub.org.uk\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2019-06-01T19:56:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T19:56:01","slug":"laying-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lignumvitaeclub.org.uk\/laying-to-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"Laying To Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"

After building a life in the United Kingdom, having children and grandchildren, some from the Windrush generation decided to return home to Jamaica to be with their remaining family and live life at their own pace enjoying their retirement.<\/p>\n

When the unfortunate news of their death is informed to their families, many of the children make the journey to Jamaica to put their parents to rest. A final sign of respect. However, the systems within Jamaica are known, even to this day, to \u201cmove slow\u201d. This means that a simple task of filling one piece of paperwork can take three times as long as it can within the UK. For all the moaning that we do over here about our bureaucratic systems, believe me, Jamaica is on another level.<\/p>\n

This series of posts speaks from one woman’s journey to bury her mother in Jamaica between 17th June 2015 to 1 July 2015.<\/p>\n

We hope that by sharing this, anyone else that will go through a similar situation will be more prepared and be ready for any challenges that await you.<\/p>\n

How To Bury Your Loved One Abroad<\/h2>\n

Let me tell you about my experience as a first generation Caribbean descendant born in the UK trying to lay my mum to rest in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

A week after we learned of the death of my mum, my family arrived on Wednesday 17th June in Jamaica. The first document we needed was a medical certificate. We eventually collected this on Thursday from the Alexandria police station six miles away.<\/p>\n

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However, when we first got there, the front desk officers said they weren\u2019t aware of any document. The Sergeant then informed the staff that there was an envelope addressed to the family in the office.<\/p>\n

Once retrieved, we took the medical certificate on Friday 19th June to the funeral parlour in Browns Town nine miles away.<\/p>\n

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When we arrived at the funeral parlour, we were told that we also needed a Form N, The Registration (Births and Deaths) Law, Part B – Certificate for Burial after Registry \u2018pink form\u2019 from the local town registrar which was down the road from the local town police station. This meant that we would have to return back to the funeral parlour once we had obtained the form.<\/p>\n

Digging<\/h2>\n

Saturday 20th June was grave digging. My dad, grandmother, and grandfather are already buried on our land. I employed a builder and he brought four workers with him for the task. In addition, we had about 25 onlookers, including babies and young children, who we are supposed to give food and drink. The materials for the funeral plot (including delivery) cost J$31,800.00.<\/p>\n

Back To Town<\/h2>\n

On Monday 22 June, we returned to the registrar to get the pink form. At this point he asked us for i.d. for my mother. The only i.d. I had was an out of date passport. I told him that I would look again but would have to return on Thursday 25th June. This cost J$300. The deputy registrar had no change from a J$1000 and as my sister only had J$200 he reluctantly accepted this. The deputy registrar also informed us that we would need permission from the Parish Council to bury my mum on her own land and this would cost us J$2,500<\/p>\n

In the way back to the car, I checked the form only to find out that the registrar had put the incorrect surname on the form, so I went back in and got him to change it. Unfortunately, I failed to check any other information at this time.<\/p>\n

We proceeded to the funeral parlour and I gave them the programme and the \u2018pink form\u2019. To our dismay, the clerk discovered that the registrar had put the incorrect date of my mother\u2019s death! She telephoned him and asked us to get it amended on our return journey home. The registrar reminded us again about the Parish Council.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we had a partial blackout on the night of Tuesday 23rd June. We had to call out an electrician on Wednesday 24th June so we were unable to go out that day.<\/p>\n

On Thursday 25th June we went back to the Registrar with my mum’s Electoral Registration Card and her i.d. This number was written on the back of the document in the Registrar\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

We then went onto the Parish Council, 17 miles away and I took with me the Property Tax paper for 2015 – 2016. The Administrator asked for the Title of Deeds. I explained that I did not have this document and I did not know how far my mum had progressed with the process. She told me that I would not be able to go ahead with the funeral unless I found a Justice of the Peace (JP) to verify that it was my mum\u2019s land. At this point we were finding the whole process frustrating, stressful and the various departments unhelpful at a time when we were grieving for my mum. I told all this to the Administrator. I didn\u2019t know a JP and was not prepared to go back home again 17 miles away. I also explained that I was due to fly back to the UK on the following Wednesday, so we would go ahead with the funeral on Saturday 27th June. She then took the address of the property to do a visit and told us that it would be J$2,500. The computer was not working so we given a manual receipt.<\/p>\n

We went back to the funeral parlour to deliver my mum\u2019s clothes, and pay for the funeral package costing J$160,000 this included:<\/p>\n