About Us
The story behind Eternal Echoes, told by its founder, Sandra Hangi.
My name is Sandra, and I am the second daughter in a family of five girls.
From a very young age, I used to ask my mother about my brother, her firstborn. A little boy I never got to meet, but whom I thought was so beautiful in the pictures… Maybe also because people would often mistake me for him in that particular photograph.
I loved listening to Mum’s cherished memories of her little 18-month-old boy. I loved hearing her talk about him, while also feeling, through her stories, the pain and sadness that she and Dad had carried for so many years.
Dad was at the front during the war when my brother passed away. He was not even given permission to leave and come home to bury his son. He says that is his only regret in life.
Three years ago, when Mum passed away, I was fortunate enough to be there for her funeral. But leaving afterwards and returning overseas, knowing that if all went well, I might come back a year later to visit her grave, felt incredibly heavy.
I remember thinking: In the meantime, I could create a virtual grave. Why not a virtual cemetery? Maybe it could become something meaningful for someone else too.
A year later, I returned, visited my family and stopped by Mum’s grave.
The second year, and then the third, conflicts and an epidemic made it impossible for me to return.
But the idea of Echometry kept coming back to me.
I wondered: Do I dare? With everything that already exists in the world, both positive and negative?
Then I thought: if this idea refuses to leave me, perhaps I should simply start somewhere.
So… this is that somewhere.
A somewhere where, just as in my heart and in my thoughts, the love for my Mum and my brother continues to live.
A place where I can pass by and visit them, even from far away. I can tidy up a little , put down flowers, leave a heart, an emoji, a thought or a memory whenever I want.
Because being gone does not mean that love has to disappear.
Welcome to Echometry — a place where the echoes of those we love continue to live.
Free to remember, with a hope to help
Creating a memorial is free. So are visiting, reading and leaving emojis. The optional extras cost $1.99 once per person, per memorial. My hope is that support from those purchases will help someone in eastern Congo seek medical care before it is too late — as it was for my mum, Marie Salomé.