New ZJC Virtual Cemetery website

August 15 2025 – Announcing the launch of a new virtual cemetery site for the Zimbabwe and Zambia Jewish communities.  The first version of a new vitual cemetery site has been created with a number of advanced features and benefits.   

The following is detailed explanation of the features and benefits of the new site with a link at the bottom to view the site (currently external site) :

I am pleased to advise on the progress in developing a new virtual cemetery website to cover 13 cemeteries in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

After a few months of attending courses and experimenting I decided to take the plunge into using AI to build this new site.
 
One of the main challenges was getting AI to automatically OCR (scan) all the headstones and extract all the text as accurately as possible and in a structured format.
 
The site has the following main features and functions :  
 
  1. It is based on the concept of creating individual memorials for each grave including image of gravestone, date of death, first name, last name and importantly inscriptions in Hebrew and English. 
  2. The site offers search via a number of options including words within the inscriptions.
  3. It is also offers registered users to the memorial to upload images of the person as well as text/biographies.
  4. The memorial also enables registered users to create a Yizkor date reminder and leave a personal message on the memorial.
  5. There is a feature to donate towards the upkeep of the cemetery (visible but not yet activated) and designate the donation
    to a particular cemetery and activity.
  6. The site has a fully functional Backoffice admin facility to add records, correct records, purge records, monitor donations and comments etc..
     
    Currently there are nine (13) cemeteries online with records for a total of 2,260 graves.   In the last year I have managed to locate and have photographs taken of a few small Jewish cemeteries in Zimbabwe that were not widely known (even to the local community) – in Mutare (formerly Umtali), Zvishavane (Shabani) and Penhalonga. They appear on the new website.
     
    I am continuing to add records for several small cemeteries in Zambia which will be finished in the next couple of days.
     
    My plan is to integrate this as a subset of this website for a seamless user experience.
     
    Please visit the draft website at or click on the image below.
  • Remember you are invited to register on the site and add photos or stories of your loved ones for posterity. You can also set a reminder for annual Yizkor.
    
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