Damien Gugliermina 1972-2008

This Elegy for my friend can not be a very long one.

I love him and he loved me, and I was made so much richer by his caring for me.

When I first met him, in Late 2004, in Asmara, I was struck by a man with integrity, devotion and a creative approach to the vast arena of a very bloody Horn of Africa. I used to tease him for being a UN paper pusher, but Damien was one of a rare breed of folk who believed in the United Nations and who devoted himself the essential core of being a humanitarian. He supported me through difficult times and often defended the controversial decisions that I took in my own career in the interest of the most marginalized of communities.

When I met him in Congo, first in Kinshasa in a noisy, whore filled bar on the Boulevard I laughed and reminisced with him about friends and experiences in Eritrea, but his heart was already in the Kivus.

By chance, I wound up coming to the Kivus (like a whirlpool in a bathtub, we all ultimately seem to end up in Goma), and on my first evening in town, the first person I bumped into was Damien, a bit browner, just as skinny and just as handsome as when I had left him in Kinshasa. He made Goma feel like home for me, he welcomed me; he helped me to understand this particularly grizzly context. Our second conversation concluded with my understanding that the tragically flawed Stabilisation plan for the Kivus was, well tragically flawed. We moved on, to discuss the women that we shared in different conflict zones; and that set the tone: extreme wit, sharp analysis tempered with a cynical bitter sweet lust for life.

And now he is dead, and he leaves us behind with an enormous task.

I want us to build a memorial for Damien in the Kivus.

We owe it to him to live his life, to fulfill his mission for the sake of peace and for the sake of all those who have waited so long for justice. Can we not lay aside our differences, our egos, our NGO flags and work together? Our tears will make us strong, and we must insist on the truth: he gave his life for peace, now we will live our lives (and on his behalf), to bring peace to DRC.

Sometime when I am feeling emptied by this terrible loss, I ask that you will help me to have courage and to follow Damien in the path to peace. I would offer this last tribute to him, Einstein talking about Gandhi (….although there are some parallels between Damien and the Mahatma that would just not mesh, especially the whole sexual abstinence thing!):

“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this, ever, in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”

Goodbye my big brother.