By Marie Pierre Hydara-John

My Dearest Pa

While it’s one year ago that yet unknown cowardly assassins forcibly snatched you away from us, you still continue to live in my heart that I feel I can still talk directly to you.

Not only were you a father but also a very special friend, an adviser, a teacher, a physician, a lawyer, and most of all the best man in my life.

A year has gone by and I still think of it as a dream and that whenever I am awake, you would still be there for me. What a cruel thing for anyone for whatever reason to have broken such a cordial bond that had existed between the two of us! What insensitive barbarism could have been responsible for such a deed – killing our dearest dad on a special day as our mum’s birthday? I now dread wishing her a happy birthday because it falls on a day of your brutal murder. While this is supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life, it has now turned out to be the worst day in the lives of all of us. We however believe in the Almighty Allah and we know that He would not only place you in a comfortable position by His side, but He also has the capacity to see us through this terrible nightmare.

You were a dad who would do anything and everything for his family.

You would fight my battles, kiss my tears away, calm my fears and make it easy for me to even tackle a lion without any fear.

If I had known that 16 March 2004 was going to be the last birthday I would spend with you, I would have celebrated it differently. Although it seems as if you knew it was going to be the last, as you made it the best birthday of my life.

If I had known that 18 March 2004 at the Heathrow Airport in London was going to be the last time I would see the sympathetic look in your eyes, I would have looked into them much longer.

If I had known that warm hug and goodbye you gave me on that day were going to be the last, I would have clung onto you much harder.

If I had known that the warm kiss you gave me was going to be the last I would get from you, I would have prolonged it.

If I had known that 16 December 2004 ( one hour before your murder) was going to be the last time I would hear your comforting voice, I would have reminded you of how I loved you and appreciated you and all that you stood for.

However, despite our loss of a dear father and a mentor, the entire family thank Almighty Allah for having blessed us with such a jewel. That was what you were and still are to us.

I wish to assure you however that you have become even more of an icon than when you were alive and the entire world is talking about you. Those responsible for your killing are no doubt drowned in shame today because they have succeeded in creating an icon and a martyr, whose spirit will live forever. We’re really proud of you, dad.

(The Point, Monday, 19 December 2005)

Reprinted with kind permission