The wider natural death movement

He had written to the Natural Death Centre in London in December '95 to say:

"A few weeks ago I was reading an article in a Dutch magazine about the do-it-yourself funerals and green burials in England. When I read about your Natural Death Centre, I felt "Hey! That's something new! That could be what I'm looking for." I felt the same enthusiasm as my wife: she's a midwife and very busy with natural births. She's dreaming of a natural birth centre, so why shouldn't I dream of a natural death centre in Antwerp?

"I'm a teacher of religion, 34 years old, and we have three little children, with a fourth to be born in '96. I'm writing a book about death and how to prepare ourselves and others for this, the only certainty we have in our lives. I'm sure you can help me a lot with this publication."

This book, Gebroken Wit - Bewust omgaan met de dood, has since been published by Van Halewyck (BEF 820 incl. p&p). The Dutch centre also has available (for BEF 390) a complete Dutch literature list about books on death and dying.

Also on the board of the Natuurlijk Dood Centrum Horizon are Luc Arits, who maintains its website, Mathieu Leenders who helps with the educational work, and teacher Alina Van den Eynde, who is the trainings coordinator.

Since they speak Dutch, they are also getting feedback, support and questions from the Netherlands. And there the Dutch edition of the New Natural Death Handbook has now appeared, entitled Handboek Natuurlijke Dood, published by Educare. J. F. Sprong at Educare wishes to start an organisation modelled on the Natural Death Centre in Holland - he writes that "there are far larger differences in funeral practices between Belgium and Holland than we expected".

There is also a Japanese edition of the Natural Death Handbook.