SOURCE

Building a coffin

The children of the Iederwijs school in Someren are building a coffin for Mrs. Eri van den Biggelaar, one of their teachers, and one of the founders of this Iederwijs school (a type of school comparable to Sudbury Valley School). Mrs. Van den Biggelaar (40) is currently in the final stages of an agressive form of cervical cancer. It may be a strange sight, but in the middle of the classroom stands a coffin. The children have been working on making it for weeks. The coffin is constructed from more than a hunderd pieces of wood, and is almost ready. Only the lid need to be made. The children don't think it is scary or lugubrious. Quite to the opposite, the have become used to making the coffin, in which their teacher will be buried. And if they are not working on it, they climb inside and pretend it is a submarine. The teachers don't think it is a problem that they play with it. Mrs. Van den Biggelaar had to laugh about it. It was her intention that the children would deal with it so naturally. Her own children also attend the school and participate with the construction of the coffin. The design for the coffin was made by Eric van Dijk, an industrial designer, one of the teachers of the school.

Wow, that's pretty fucked up. At least they're learning to accept death... I guess.

Hear say it's made of Popsicle sticks.

Hey, I'm doing a music video for a middle school in Zwolle (around September). Now thanks to this story, I might have the teacher off himself.