April 2006
During the past year, Promessa Organic has for the most part turned
outward towards the world, creating new contacts, and strengthening
the ones already established.
Much time has been devoted to travel and visits in, among other
countries, Holland, South Africa, England and Germany, and the already
considerable international interest demands more travels.
In mid-April this year, four people from Promessa visited South Korea,
and in June there will be a trip to Toronto, Canada.
Meanwhile, a couple of organisatory changes have taken place, while
the development of the technology is proceeding.
In England, the interest for promession is growing, and Susanne has
visited the country on three occasions. A well-received talk was held
at the yearly seminar in Torquay in June 2005, where the method was
presented to the representatives of the cremation business.
— I was given a sparkling reception, and the method was very
well received. The whole talk, by the way, has been published in the
spring issue of Thanos Magazine, says Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak.
At a ceremony in the British House of Commons in London on November 8,
held by the Green Organisation, the Promessa Foundation received a
gold plaque, "European Gold Award", for its innovation with the
justification "Environmental best practice".
This is the eleventh year the Green Apple Award is handed out, and it
is today established as one of the most prestigious environmental
awards in the world.
In February this year, a visit was paid to Crewe-Nantwich, the
first municipality in England that wants to start using
promession.
In Crewe, Susanne held two talks about the method of promession and
burial. According to the organizer, every fifth municipality in
England had sent a representative to the seminar, which attracted over
200 people.
In the municipal building, yet another talk was held, after which the
elected representatives posed two questions to the audience: whether
they liked the talk, and whether they thought that the municipality
ought to continue preparing for promession. With 100-percent
affirmative answers to both questions, the municipal management will
not need to have any doubts about the continued development.
Interest is very large in the whole of Great Britain, where no law
changes are required for promession to be utilized.
In August 2005, a visit was paid to Port Elizabeth, South Africa,
after an invitation from IERM, the Institute of Environment and
Recreation Management, a public sector which mainly works with
cemetaries, crematories, public parks, recreation areas and the like,
and which comprises about 100 municipalities.
Over 200 people were given a presentation about the thoughts behind
the method and the technology. The meeting participants were impressed
and regarded this as the solution to their problems with respect to
burials. A group took the initiative of beginning work towards an
amendment to enable burial with promession, and already before the
turn of the year there existed a draft amendment, free to use for
those municipalities that so wish.
On April 17, 2006, a group of four people from Promessa went to
Seoul, South Korea on invitation from The Christian Evangelical
Church. The purpose was to present promession for invited guests at a
symposium as well as for the Koeran media on a press conference with
about 40 invited journalists, which was one of the items on the
agenda.
The Christian Evangelical Church has never accepted cremation, which
is an important reason for their interest in promession as an
alternative to today's form of burial.
Discussions were also conducted with people who had expressed an
interest in acquiring licence rights for promession in South
Korea. The country has about 50 million inhabitants, of which 40
percent are Catholic Christians. The remaining 60 percent are mainly
buddhists.
More world news: an invitation has arrived to Promessa from
ideaCity06 in Toronto, Canada, about giving a talk and
informing about the method in mid-June at a large international
three-day seminar.
About 50 invited innovators, writers, musicians and others from the
whole world will give talks about their respecive innovations and
thoughts, before an audience of about 500 people.
ideaCity06 is a
very large and recognised international seminar, with a starting point
in innovation within all areas and businesses in the world.
During the year, a few changes have been made in Promessa's organisation.
In February, 2005, AGA Gas AB chose to assume a new position in
Promessa's organisation, and now remains as a preferred supplier for
future gas delivery.
All the while, the organisation has been reinforced with an
international and strong partner which we will introduce in a
subsequent newsletter. This means that Promessa further strengthens
its international base and its connections.
As the technology development showed good results during 2005, the
work on the first facility has begun. With the improved organisation,
we have been able to proceed and start building the first
facility.
The first promator will be finished this fall, but it is still unclear
where it will be located. However, the goal still remains to have the
first promession facility installed in Jönköping.
The interest for composting and promession also increases
domestically. For example, the municipality of Gothenburg has had an
education day for Kretsloppskontoret, where Susanne participated and
spoke about compost and composting.
Informing and educating about organic cycles, where humanity is an
important part both in life and in death, is one of the Promessa
Foundation's most important tasks, and many book talks in connection
to their education days.
In Germany, many states are preparing for promession by amending
their respecive laws.
Nieder Sachsen decided to amend in December, 2005, and Nord Rhein
Westfalen, the state with the highest population in the country, also
adjusted their laws.
Also the state of Brandenburg, with Berlin as its prime city, is
planning for amendments. More than 30 million people, or close to half
of the populace of Germany, live in these three states.
In December, 2004, a film team from Austin, Texas made the
documentary "Lasting Images", which is about different thoughts and
methods for taking care of our deceased. Promession is one of the
described methods, and the one that has received the most appreciation
in the debate in the USA.
The film had a very positive reception at the film festival in Austin,
Texas in June, 2005, and has been nominated for a prize in the class
"Documentaries" at the film festival in New York in May this year.
The English TV channel Sky News made a segment about Promessa and
promession, which was sent over the entire world on January 3 this
year. Sky News showed the three minutes long segment each hour in its
global news broadcasts during the day in question.
Many interested got in touch, and the Australian Discovery Channel
contacted Promessa in order to make its own segment for its
viewers.
The interest from TV companies and media from all parts of the world
is still very large, and doesn't show any signs of calming down.
Further international attention comes from the 2005 edition of
Current International Yearbook, which was released by the end
of December that year.
Among the more than 200 people portrayed in the book, there are two
Swedes, Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak and the president of FN's general
assembly, now also the minister of foreign affairs, Jan Eliasson.
Current International Yearbook collects information about
people outside of the US, who have in one way or another contributed
to the social development in a global perspective, and whom the
editorial staff want to highlight.
This was a short summary of what has happened, and some of what will happen in the near future. We are tirelessly working on having a promession facility finished as soon as possible, and we are ever closing in on this goal.
Promessa Organic AB
