| |
Back to Index
Eileen May Sawyer: 31 March 1927 - 10 August 2012
Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum and Legal Resources Foundation
August 20, 2012
Eileen May Sawyer
(nee Thomson), passed away on Friday, 10 August 2012. She was born
in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 31st March 1927. She was the
last surviving child of four daughters and two sons. Eileen married
the late Sidney Stanford Sawyer, a former Parliamentary Secretary
to the then Ministry of Defence, Economic Affairs and Power, in
Roy Welensky's Federal Government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,
in 1970. Sidney died in 1981.
Eileen was a
social worker by profession. She studied social work at Rhodes University
in South Africa. After completion of her degree, she worked as a
social worker in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1961, Eileen emigrated
to (then) Southern Rhodesia to set up the Southern Rhodesia Council
of Social Services (later to be known as the National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations or NANGO) and
the Citizens Advice Bureau (precursor to the Legal
Resources Foundation), which provided legal and practical advice
to ordinary people. Eileen, with the assistance of the Law Department
of the University of Rhodesia (and the pro bono services of many
leading law firms) established the Legal Aid Clinic, which is still
in existence today as the University
of Zimbabwe's Legal Aid clinic.
During that
period in history, Eileen and other like-minded individuals recognised
an acute shortage of legal assistance to the common man and to combat
this insufficiency, the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) was founded
in 1984 with Eileen as one of the three founding Trustees. Eileen
was appointed the National Administrator, becoming the National
Director in 1995, a position she held until her retirement from
the LRF in 2002.
Eileen May Sawyer
(nee Thomson), passed away on Friday, 10 August 2012. She was born
in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 31st March 1927. She was the
last surviving child of four daughters and two sons. Eileen married
the late Sidney Stanford Sawyer, a former Parliamentary Secretary
to the then Ministry of Defence, Economic Affairs and Power, in
Roy Welensky's Federal Government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,
in 1970. Sidney died in 1981.
Eileen was a
social worker by profession. She studied social work at Rhodes University
in South Africa. After completion of her degree, she worked as a
social worker in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1961, Eileen emigrated
to (then) Southern Rhodesia to set up the Southern Rhodesia Council
of Social Services (later to be known as the National Association
of Non-Governmental Organisations or NANGO) and the Citizens Advice
Bureau (precursor to the Legal Resources Foundation), which provided
legal and practical advice to ordinary people. Eileen, with the
assistance of the Law Department of the University of Rhodesia (and
the pro bono services of many leading law firms) established the
Legal Aid Clinic, which is still in existence today as the University
of Zimbabwe's Legal Aid clinic.
During that
period in history, Eileen and other like-minded individuals recognised
an acute shortage of legal assistance to the common man and to combat
this insufficiency, the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) was founded
in 1984 with Eileen as one of the three founding Trustees. Eileen
was appointed the National Administrator, becoming the National
Director in 1995, a position she held until her retirement from
the LRF in 2002. Under her custodianship, the LRF adopted a multi-pronged
approach, which sought simultaneously to maximize the scant legal
resources available in the country, to improve the quality and the
reach of the available legal services and to improve public awareness
of the rights to which individuals are entitled as well as the means
to obtain those rights. She also spearheaded the expansion of the
LRF, which initially had one centre in Harare, to five provincial
centres and 21 district legal advice centres.
It was also
during her stewardship, that the LRF, in conjunction with the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), produced "Breaking
the Silence, Building True Peace: A Report into the Disturbances
in Matabeleland and the Midlands, 1980-1988", a report that
exposed gross human rights violations that took place in the Midlands
and Matebeleland provinces of Zimbabwe during the 1980s. She, along
with Mike Auret (formerly of the CCJP), was instrumental in ensuring
that the report was published, mostly against the inclination of
the Catholic bishops at the time. The report has become the preeminent
publication on the Gukarahundi era and has been widely and regularly
quoted to date.
Upon her retirement
from the LRF, Mrs Sawyer chose to continue her fight for human rights
in Zimbabwe but in a different capacity, as the (first) executive
director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum). It
is fitting to note, that as director of the LRF, she had been party
to discussions about the setting up of the Forum prior to its actual
formation in the aftermath of the Food Riots in 1998.
Eileen worked
tirelessly and selflessly as a human rights defender, researching
on and documenting cases of organised violence and torture and facilitating
the provision of legal advice and assistance to victims of organised
violence and torture in Zimbabwe. Credibility, honesty, integrity
and professionalism were her strongest virtues.
The Forum too
grew from strength to strength under her supervision, increasing
its membership from 8 to 19 human rights organisations working in
Zimbabwe in the areas of women's rights, children's
rights, right to education, freedom of expression and the media,
prisoners' rights, anti-corruption, good governance and peace-building
and nonviolent ways of conflict resolution. She stepped down as
director in 2008, but remained on, diligently working for the protection
and promotion of human rights in Zimbabwe at the Forum, as a Consultant
and Personal Adviser to the Executive Director.
Koffi Annan
once said, "To live is to choose. But to choose well, you
must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to
go and why you want to get there." If Annan is to be believed,
then Eileen lived very well. She chose to stand for the protection
and promotion of human rights and she didn't do it in a very
public manner but as the tireless and faceless backroom person cajoling
and mobilising those key for her to achieve her goal. She was that
rarity in our field; a giant whose humility, fervour, stubbornness
and generosity knew no bounds, yet she refused to be treated as
the giant that she truly was. Eileen was more than respected; she
was loved. Her kindness, willingness to mentor, frequent laughter,
and humble nature endeared her to the many who have worked with
and against her.
In celebration
of the life of a woman who dedicated almost her entire life to the
struggle for access to justice for all, a requiem mass and funeral
wake will be held on Tuesday 21st August 2012 at 10am at Our Lady
of the Wayside Catholic Church, Mt Pleasant, Harare. The Church
is situated at the intersection of the Chase and Pendennis Road.
May Her Soul
Rest in Eternal Peace
Visit the Legal
Resources Foundation fact
sheet
Visit the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
