Eulogy given at Our Lady of the Wayside, Pendennis Road, Mountpleasant
By David Coltart
21 August 2012
I am deeply honoured to speak today. Eileen was a dear friend but more importantly one of the finest Africans this continent has produced.
It will be difficult for me to improve on the superb tributes published this week by Tony Reeler, Bev Hargrove, and Ian Donovan.
Her outstanding contribution to the promotion of human rights in Zimbabwe for over 40 years has been well recorded by them.
I first met Eileen as a young lawyer in 1983, she became a close friend and she had a profound influence on my life.
What struck me most about her was a deep compassion for the downtrodden, her compassion gave the lie to those who argue that the pursuit of human rights is some imperialistic or neo colonial agenda.
Her compassion was rooted in her deep and sincere faith, it was demonstrated in a consistent campaign and unwavering commitment to advance the interests of the marginalised of society.
Sadly, there were few whites who consistently stood for human rights under white and black governments.
Eileen never sought the limelight, she was a principled humble person and yet at the same time a superb and meticulous administrator. To illustrate this I have one anecdote:
In 1987, we travelled to Ottawa together as part of Canadian support to LRF, her baggage ended up in Mumbai, and all she had to wear at the conference was what she had on. She was completely unphased by that and endeared herself to the Canadian hosts and in the process made a statement about servant leadership. Her obvious integrity had such a profound impact on the Canadians that they remained core supporters of the LRF for decades.
We in the LRF, and human rights family here, lost two human rights icons this year. Paul Chizuze disappeared on the 8th of February 2012, now Eileen Sawyer has died.
In many ways they were similar people and I know that Eileen would be more than satisfied with me mentioning Paul today.
Paul was like Eileen, a man of absolute integrity, a true patriot, whose commitment to human rights was deeply rooted in his faith.
This loss this year and especially Paul’s disappearance reminds us of two things.
1 – The struggle for human rights so wonderfully waged by both Eileen and Paul continues
2 – Both contrived to promote human rights until the very end of their lives, there is no retirement for those in human rights
Eileen’s magnificent example to us all – makes today a celebration – a celebration of a life lived well. My prayer is that as we celebrate Eileen’s life, we shall be inspired to take the baton from her and continue her work to ensure that human rights and dignity are respected in Zimbabwe.