Students Build Coffin for Dying Teacher.

By Alex in Baby & Kids on Feb 15, 2007 at 6:15 pm

A Dutch primary school teacher has a strange and poignant final project for her class:

Eri van den Biggelaar, 40, has just a few weeks to live after being diagnosed last year with an aggressive form of cervical cancer.

She asked the woodwork teacher, a friend, to build a coffin for her. "Why don’t you let the children make it?" replied Erik van Dijk.

Now pupils of the school in Someren, who normally plane wood for baskets and placemats, have been helping with the finishing touches. They have already sawed more than 100 narrow boards and glued them together. Only the lid needs to be completed.

Link – via Spluch

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ted
Feb 15th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Kinda creepy with so many of them smiling.
yayo
Feb 15th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Damn sad history!!!!!!!
Heather
Feb 15th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I understand the teachers thinking… that her body will be housed inside something made by the hands of children.
Miss Cellania
Feb 15th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Wow, I had read the story elsewhere, but I got the impression that the students were older, like a high school shop clas. These kids are young!
Ginger
Feb 15th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
We should all be so lucky to have our coffins made by people we love and who love us. I would not be opposed to my children participating in such a project.
Ty
Feb 15th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I wonder if the kids are too young to even know what they’re really doing.
Alex
Feb 15th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Is it only in the US that we have adults actively shield their children from death?
Crudely Wrott
Feb 15th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
If I ever write a dictionary this would be the illustration for the word “bittersweet”.
Acedia
Feb 16th, 2007 at 6:30 am
My feeling is that children this young understand death but since they are “wired” for self-preservation, they are not actually devastated by it unless it directly affects their day to day life (i.e., “who will take care of me.”

I think it is a good and reasonable thing for children to realize that death is a sad, but integral, part of life. I would willingly allow my daughter to participate in this loving “send off” project.
astrodex
Feb 16th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
What a beautiful gift she is giving those children. The death of someone close to you can make you feel powerless, especially if you are a child. By allowing them to participate in the “process” she is giving them a small measure of control over the situation. What a great teacher. There should be more like her, not less. I’m sure she will be missed by many.
yuck
Feb 16th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
this is sick
Carl
Feb 16th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Ginger: “We should all be so lucky to have our coffins made by people we love and who love us. I would not be opposed to my children participating in such a project.”

Wow, very true. Great comment. I agree 100%

I toy a little with woodworking. I’m no carpeter for sure, but I would be moved beyond belief if any of my dear loved ones ever asked me to build them a coffin. I couldn’t imagine the power of that gift.
Jackie
Feb 17th, 2007 at 9:06 am
to yuck: What is sick about it? What do you tell your four-year old when he begins to grapple with the concept of death? How would these children deal with losing their dear teacher suddenly if there was a cover-up or taboo?
4 is NOT too young. They can start coping with their sadness right away, instead of later, and get a great view of serene dying- not up close, of course.
Meggymoo
Feb 18th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I think this is a great way of teaching children that death is a part of life kinda like when your first pet dies

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