Idea 355 of 500. Cluster 17: Health, care and the parents of Sri Lankans abroad
A funeral and estate service for Sri Lankans abroad, who cannot fly home in time
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
Every idea in cluster 17 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Sit down with one funeral director and one lawyer in your town and agree what a complete package would include: the arrangements, the paperwork, the house secured, the accounts closed, and a written report with receipts. Put it on one page with a fixed fee and send it to three Sri Lankan associations abroad. Families who reply asking to register in advance are your proof.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad who has already been through one rushed funeral at home and paid twice for everything, and would pay a fixed fee never to repeat it.
- What leaves today
- Money that Sri Lankans abroad spend in grief now leaks to overcharging and delay; an honest, receipted service keeps it with a local business that earns trust.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
Remittances and what it costs the first one to go - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions already in existence that could carry value back
More from cluster 17
- 341Home-care agencies with trained, vetted carers, booked and paid from abroad
- 342Assisted-living homes for the parents of Sri Lankans abroad, with the standard published and inspected
- 343A daily check-in service: a nurse's visit, a photograph, a message to the child abroad
- 344Medical escort services: a nurse takes the parent to the appointment and reports back
- 345Pharmacy delivery with the prescription managed and the refills tracked
- 346Dementia day-care centres, which hardly exist yet and are needed everywhere
Idea 355 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.