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From Standard Times Press News Paper IN MEMORIAM It is with a very heavy heart that I write this tribute to Victor, my colleague, friend and brother.
My first contact with Victor was over six years ago in March/April 2001, when Freetown was gradually emerging from the destruction visited upon it by the rebels. As peace was being restored to Freetown, an idea came to my mind in London. As many of us in the business of linguistics, language and cultural studies know too well, language is one of the potent indicators of cultural identity and it is not static. Language is like a living organism, which is impacted by what is going on around it. My idea was that if the civil war in Sierra Leone was having an impact on Krio, the effect of the impact must be recorded, studied and documented. I applied to the Department for International Development (DfID) through the British Council (BC) for a university link programme between SOAS, University of London and FBC, University of Sierra Leone. DfID sponsored my colleague, Dr Frances Harding and I on an exploratory visit to Freetown where the BC arranged a weeklong series of consultative meetings with members of staff at FBC in our search for potential collaborators.
It was during these meetings that I met Victor. Unknown to me, Victor had a similar idea of documenting the changes going on in Krio lexicon as a direct result of the civil war and he had in fact started collecting his data. It was as though God was guiding and preparing us independently in Europe and West Africa, and at the appointed time, He made it possible for us to meet and work together.
As from this point onwards, we collaborated, put forward a joint proposal and arranged several research trips, which brought Victor and Raymond De Souza George to SOAS, London and Dr Frances Harding and I to FBC, Freetown. Our collaboration on the link project was between 2001 and 2004. Within the period, Victor saw to it that the monies earmarked for enhancing the education of students in the department of linguistics were used to purchase essential linguistics textbooks for the use of students and members of staff in the department. We wrote a joint paper presented at seminars and international conferences in Freetown, SOAS, London, University of Birmingham and University of Wisconsin, Madison between 2002 and 2003. The article was later published as a chapter with the title: “Representation of Civil War Violence in Sierra Leone Krio” pp. 91-100 in the book entitled Representations of Violence: Art about the Sierra Leone Civil War edited by Patrick K. Muana and Chris Corcoran and published by the 21st Century African Youth Movement, Madison, Wisconsin in 2005. Victor and I have more data that could not go into the chapter. Hence, we planned to use the rest of our data in a book in preparation, on which we are still working until December 2007.
Just after the conclusion of our project, a colleague at SOAS invited me to contribute a chapter on Sierra Leone to a book he is editing on Language and National Identity in Africa. I thought the work would be richer and enhance our collaboration if I invited Victor along in writing the chapter as I very much enjoyed our previous period of working together. Victor enthusiastically accepted the offer and after a period of working together on the project for over one year, we submitted the chapter entitled: “Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration” in 2007. An online version of this chapter is already available at the SOAS online publication repository. The book version is due to be released by Oxford University Press in February 2008.
The other area where I have collaborated with Victor is in helping him with books from my library and SOAS library as he works towards the completion of his PhD thesis. He applied to my department for academic hospitality to enable him come over to SOAS so that he could use the resources at SOAS in working on his thesis. I supported his application and secured the academic hospitality for him. We worked together on his thesis until 10th December 2007, when he returned to Freetown.
You can imagine my shock when Violetta called and broke the news of Victor’s passing to me on Thursday 27th December. As if I did not believe Violetta, I called Mary in Freetown and the same news was confirmed. I have lost a diligent, conscientious, unassuming and forthright colleague. Victor is a man of faith, whose commitment to Christ affected every area of his life. The fact that we share the same faith is probably one of the reasons why I see Victor not only as a colleague and friend, but more importantly, as my brother. I still have text messages, emails and forwarded inspirational messages sent to me by Victor. I will cherish them for a long time to come. My consolation is that Victor has gone home ahead of us to be with his Lord and to rest.
Mary, Vican, Marylyn and Maureen, please take consolation in this. May the God of all comfort console you and by His spirit fill the gap that Victor has left behind.
May his soul rest in perfect peace.
B. Akíntúndé Oyètádé, PhD. Head, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Tel: 020 7898 4378 Fax: 020 7898 4399 Email: ao2@soas.ac.uk © Copyright by www.standardtimespress.net |