Na Tigie Jawara - she was a rock to many in Kabala, Sierra Leone

Bonnie and I paused for a photo with Robert and Na Tigie Jawara when we visited their home in Kabala, Sierra Leone in December, 2013. Their granddaughter Tigos, who has just turned six, is with them.

Students at Kabala Christian School enjoy the shade under a giant mango tree on their school grounds in Kabala, Sierra Leone.

Update: The Jawara's three children who live outside Sierra Leone (two attend university in The Gambia, and one is working in South Korea) are now on their way back home for their mother's funeral, which will take place Sunday. Na Tigie's death has had a huge impact on many people there, as she was well-known in so many circles and well-loved by many.

Just under three years ago, my wife Bonnie and I had the privilege of travelling to Sierra Leone and Ghana in West Africa. Our daughter Christina (Chrissy) first went to Sierra Leone in 2008, when she was in Grade 12 at Fraser Valley Christian high school in Surrey.

She spent most of her three weeks there in Kabala, a scenic town in the northern part of the country. About 30,000 people live there.

While there, she stayed with a wonderful family, Robert and Na Tigie Jawara, who became her first introduction to a country that she has come to love and feel very passionate about. On her return home, she told us that she was planning to sell her horse (horses had been a big part of her life since about Grade 5), attend a course at Capilano University on global stewardship and ensure that young Sierra Leoneans had access to some of the same opportunities that she had. She also planned to move to Sierra Leone, where she is today teaching at a Montessori school in the capital of Freetown.

After picking ourselves up off the floor, we assured her that we would back her dreams and do what we could to help them come to fruition.

To get to the point, she did go to Capilano and she founded a non-profit which is now a registered charity on Canada, The Peoples Foundation Of Sierra Leone. With a great deal of generosity from people in Canada and the U.S., the foundation has set up seven chapters across Sierra Leone, where young people meet and assist each other with school and life issues, hold educational seminars and health clinics, and have the opportunity to apply for scholarships so they can go to university. About 12 young people are now attending university on TPFSL scholarships, and will be leaders in the country in the future.

We went to Sierra Leone in December, 2013 to see the country for ourselves, meet the people who meant so much to her, get to know some of the TPFSL students and visit Kabala.

Of course, we met Robert and Na Tigie and were as impressed with them as Chrissy had been. Na Tigie did not speak English, but we were still able to communicate very well.

They had helped her so much. Robert worked for many years with CES, an aid agency of the Christian Reformed Church, and was one of several excellent resource people in Kabala who were helping her get the foundation established.

On Wednesday night, we got the shocking news that Na Tigie had died overnight, after sustaining a coughing spell which left her unable to breathe. Robert had taken her to the clinic in Kabala on his motorcycle, but she died on the way there.

She and Robert have four living children and lost at least one during the lengthy civil war that lasted for more than 10 years – a spillover from instability in Liberia. They also lost their home and all their possessions and were forced to live in the bush for some time, hiding out from the people who were shooting civilians and, in some cases, raping them and/or cutting off their hands.

They started over in Kabala, and had a nice home and a fertile piece of property. They were among the first in the community to have solar power – there is no electricity. Na Tigie was the rock of the family. She not only brought up her own children, but always had four or more other children or teens living in her home, so that they could attend high school.

She and Robert were was also raising their granddaughter Tigos, a beautiful and confident girl with a personality so much like my own granddaughter, Nakai, who is just a little bit older.

She and Robert were important parts of their church community, Kabala Christian Reformed Church, and were involved in many aspects of community life.

Several years ago, Chrissy was back in Canada going to university and working at the Clova theatre in Cloverdale. One day, we were eating lunch when she told us she had just got a message from Robert. The roof on his home had blown off in a fierce windstorm, and all their possessions were in danger of being destroyed when the heavy rains came.

We discussed the message and she said “I know what I’ll do. I’m going to start a campaign to build a roof on his home.”

She let Robert know, but he said “I can’t accept any help because my neighbours are in the same boat. They don’t have roofs either.”

Chrissy said “Fine. I will raise enough money to buy material to rebuild all the roofs.”

She enlisted the help of her boss at the Clova, Craig Burghardt, and got the word out to Clova patrons and other members of the community. The Cloverdale Reporter had published a story about her foundation before, and she sent the newspaper a thank you letter after people dropped in to the Clova to help out. In less than a week, enough was raised to replace all the damaged roofs.

We met one of Robert’s neighbours who was helped by that campaign while we were in Kabala. A Muslim, he was at first surprised that his Christian neighbour would be so willing to help. There had been been some past dispute over land. With help from generous members of the Cloverdale community, everyone in that neighbourhood who needed a new roof got one.

Chrissy posted a beautiful tribute to Na Tigie on Facebook after her sudden death that is worth sharing: “I will always remember the two most important things you taught me: how to be strong, and how to let go, even when it hurts. One of our greatest front porch conversations was when we were talking about the war, and you calmly said that sometimes you have to stop crying and not allow the pain to consume you. Right now I want the pain to consume me...but I know you wouldn't let me do that if you were here. You would tell me to be strong.
“I will miss you every single day. Thank you for being my second mama. May your beautiful soul rest in perfect peace. I love you Na Tigie, my nntoma...you gave me your name "Tigie" as my Kuranko name before I left Kabala and I will carry it proudly for the rest of my life. I hope we can all make you proud, even when you're way up there."

Sierra Leoneans are a very resourceful and resilient people. They suffered tremendously during the civil war, and more recently in the horrific Ebola epidemic. One of the greatest attributes that we noticed is their ability to pick up the pieces and move on. They appreciate life as a gift from God – and know better than most of us that life is a gift that can be gone suddenly.

We are heartbroken at Na Tigie’s sudden departure from the midst of her family in Kabala, and from her community. We know this will be incredibly difficult for everyone who knew her. We are so glad we met her and Robert, and pray that the Jawara family will weather this storm and emerge in the strong manner which she would want.

May God bless all of those who grieve for her, and in particular give comfort to her family.