Tufariji is a mobile-first memorial platform built around the realities of funeral planning in Kenya. When a family loses someone, the last thing they need is another coordination headache - so Tufariji gives them one shareable page where everything lives: the obituary, funeral program, venue directions, photo galleries, M-Pesa contribution details, hymns, tributes, and a livestream link for people who can’t make it in person.
Problem
Funeral coordination in Kenya often happens across scattered WhatsApp groups, phone calls, printed programs, and social posts. Families end up repeating the same information, resending directions, sharing M-Pesa details in multiple places, and trying to keep local and remote attendees informed during an already difficult moment.
Solution
Tufariji gives families a single place to handle the communication side of a funeral. They can build a memorial page through a step-by-step mobile wizard, preview it before publishing, and share it with one link or QR code. Multiple family members can collaborate on the same page, condolences are moderated before they go live, and the whole thing is designed to be set up quickly - on a phone, under pressure.
Engineering Decisions
- Went with a wizard-style onboarding flow rather than a blank form - families are under stress, so reducing decision fatigue at each step was a priority
- Local-first wasn’t an option here since families needed to share and collaborate, so I built around a proper backend with collaborator access and role management
- Chose magic-link auth alongside Google OAuth because not everyone wants to create yet another password, and the audience skews mobile
- Used moderated condolences rather than open submissions - the last thing a family needs is managing inappropriate comments on a memorial page
- Kept the free tier useful enough to cover most cases, with a paid tier for families that want extras like a custom subdomain or extended photo storage
- Designed the share flow around a single link and a QR code because that’s how information actually spreads in Kenyan family WhatsApp groups
Tech Stack
- Next.js, TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Better Auth for Google OAuth and magic-link authentication
- Cloudflare R2 for file storage
- Paystack for paid tier checkout
- Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui for the interface
- Resend for transactional email
- Google Maps integrations for venue directions