When you were young you were a policeman. The kind that rides a horse, because where you were from, horses where a better way to cross the hilly unpaved roads than a car. But one day, they asked you to work in a remote town as a teacher. Nobody else wanted to work there because it was a two-day hike through the mountains. “that made me angry”, you said. “my dad is from there, it is my people!”. You wanted to work there, because you knew that even though people live far away in remote villages, that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve education. They lived in the middle of a conflict zone, an area controlled by militias and an area under constant threat of killings, bombings and kidnappings. And because the militias were anti-government, you certainly knew that it was not the safest place to work for a former policeman – a government official – the enemy. But you went anyway. You packed your bags, you walked for two days and you started to work. For your people. You started to teach where nobody else wanted to teach. 

It didn’t take long however, before the militias found out you used to be a policeman. They assumed you were an informant and there was only one way they used to deal with that: death. They kidnapped you, tied you up and took you to a tree on top of top of a hill to kill you. They gathered the people of town to announce the execution. But the people knew you were their teacher. They needed you. They opposed the execution and in an act of divine mercy they decided to let you live. You escaped death. Two months later they let you go and because it wasn’t safe for you to stay anymore you had to go to the big city. However, you had this aching feeling, you just couldn’t leave your people alone. So you risked your own life once again and returned. But it was right at that time that there had been a big confrontation between the government and the militias. Five of them had been killed. And this time they were sure it was you that informed the army of their location. It didn’t matter you weren’t even there. The order to kill was already issued. “this time, they were going to tie me up, and wait for me to kill myself”. But you didn’t let it get this far. You fled. You left your home, for once and for all. 

“I took off to the mountains. I spend three days in the jungle. During the day I hid under the shadows of the threes and at night I ran”. You went to the big city once again and even there your life wasn’t safe, so you had to move even farther away to the capital, trying to escape death. It was there that you started your new life. It was there that I met you. 

The first thing I remember was your smile. Your smile lit up the entire room and it brought hope and happiness on everybody that was there. You told that when you arrived you started the process of rooting. And 20 years later, this was the place where you had built a new home. A home that you loved and where loved. However, this place wasn’t all roses either. Even though you technically lived in the capital city, the government was not present here either. Informal settlements, they call it – not formally part of the city and therefore not the administration’s responsibility. No protection, little education and no political participation. And because the government didn’t ensure any of these human rights, you decided to step into their place. Again, you started to teach where nobody wanted to teach. You provided protection to those nobody wanted to protect. And you stood up for the rights of those that nobody wanted to fight for. 

It was especially a dangerous place for young boys. The gangs used to recruit the boys for drug trafficking and other crimes, taking advantage of the little opportunities they had in life to receive proper education, find a job and be able to take care of their families. If you mother is sick, or your little siblings are starving because there is no money to feed them, an offer to earn enough money in one day, to feed them for a month, is hard to refuse. All you have to do is sell a few small packages. But you told me, “once the kids start getting into trafficking, they easily turn to stealing, robbing and sometimes even homicide”. Among young boys, there is the highest number of imprisonment and death. All because of a lack of opportunities. But that is where you decided to make a difference. You became their example, their role model, helping them envision a future without crime, without poverty and without suffering. You showed them the power of music, dance, art, and love. Taking kids off the streets, taking the weapons out of their hands, and replacing it with a microphone, a guitar or a pair of bongos. One of your students told me: 

“I’m a musician and I want to be a professional. I want to go forward with my dreams. I thank God he gave me this special talent. I thank God I’m in this school, where they help me with my talent, with my music, and make my dreams come true”. 

You showed him and many others the possibility of dreaming for a better future. You protected them and taught them the power of love, resilience and believe. You took them out of the hands of the gangs.

And your work didn’t go unnoticed. The gangs started to feel threatened. You were decreasing ‘their’ potential labour force. The gangs flourish because there are no other opportunities for young people and there is no law enforcement, giving them free way to do whatever they want. And that is what they did. You endangered their position of power. You endangered their business. And so, they eliminated the factor of risk. They killed you. 

I recently found out about your murder. And I cannot quite make sense of it. Sometimes life is just unfair. Your whole life, you only wanted to help others. You protected the most vulnerable. You taught the most abandoned. And you brought light the darkest places. But after everything you survived, everything that you brought to the world, they took you away. It is not fair.

But the damage is already done. Your legacy will live on forever. Your lessons, your encouragement, your light, is already planted in all of those that you have taught, those lucky enough to cross paths with you. Not the least of all, me. You showed me what a single person can do in a world so big and so full of misery and suffering. You showed me how, and now it is up to me to act. It is up to all of us to continue your legacy. They took you away, but your light will always shine. For you it is time to rest. You deserve it. For us, it is time to get up and continue your fight, your dreams and your light, and stand up for every, single, human, right.

Rest in Peace, my dear friend

Sincerely, C. te Riele