Remembering Rafe
“I’ll remember two things about Rafe: his passion and his commitment and his smile.”
“I don’t think he quite reached sainthood but this extraordinarily special human being was certainly heading in that direction. ”
“ The last time I spoke with Rafe, he was calling from Sudan. He had been planning to visit india to spend Diwali with us in Chandigarh, but because he had been given additional responsibility to look after refugees from the civil war underway in Darfur, he said he would not be able to come but would try and come sometime in January.”
“How many children in North Darfur are alive now because of Rafe? I don’t know the exact number, but I do know that little girls in pink dresses mourn Rafe’s death today.”
This note is an attempt to understand Rafe as a person and also as a very significant development worker, so that the Rafe memorial foundation can do justice to his legacy.
“What I particularly remember from the interview was the honest interchange and gentle humour, the ability to get to the heart of issues in a humane and genuine way, free of overstatement or any attempt to create false impressions.”
When I joined Seva Mandir in 1999, the charge of vehicle safety was handed over to me by Rafe.