Velala เวฬาลา

Project Statement

Velala / เวฬาลา is an online tool for an alternative and modern funeral service. It aims to support a group of people who are in need of after-death guidance and funeral cost management with accurate, trustworthy, and free online resources that are accessible anywhere, anytime.

COVID-19 has greatly disrupted, as well as has shed light onto the death care industry, death-related businesses, and likewise the bereaved family’s first-time encountering funeral management, particularly in the Bangkok Metropolitan area. This year, Bangkok holds the highest single-day fatalities rate at 41% of national Covid-19 total deaths (Bangkok Post Online Reporters, 2021). Moreover, the fact that Thailand is approaching a ‘Complete aged society’ will certainly drive the demand for death care services in the upcoming year (Amattayakong, 2016). Some of the unfortunate households will fall into the undesirable situation: holding an expensive event of the Thai Buddhist ritual funeral in the new-normal phase (Srisuwan, 2014). 

This evidence inspired the idea of creating a helping tool to support the user’s pain point of 1) Being unable to find a complete instruction and guideline of funeral management, and 2) undergoing trouble with funeral cost management. These problems were identified from the interviews with users aged around 23-25, who live in the Bangkok area, despite the fact that they may have or have not experienced losing their loved ones and being a funeral host. The difficulty resulted in a disagreement on the funeral budget, uncontrollable funeral expenses, and confusion on the process between each family member or relatives.