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Tribute and Words of Condolence to the family of Gabriel Gwelekaju
FUNERAL SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WEBSITE AND INFORMATION - GABRIEL GWORLEKAJU
Post Your TributeFrom: kjeppoe2003
As I came across this news, I broke in tears! The name "Gabriel Gwelekaju" is a house whole name in Liberia. But as a good old saying goes, "The God that Gaveth, is the same God that taketh." Regrettably, the cold and frigid hands of death has taken away our friend, brother, father, husband, uncle, colleague, countryman, cousin and nephew. Yes! Deaths are unavoidable; but not at this time when you are an icon people are looking up to. I know it's hard to let go a mentor like Gabriel but some times it is also hard to question God "WHY "for He knows it all. The Liberian community in Windsor, Canada is sad about this news. We express our full condolences for Gabriel and the bereaved family who has lost a great man indeed. I prayers and hearts goes out to the bereaved family and those that know Gabriel! Francis Jeppoe ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: tanah98 I am shock and taken aback to learn about the death and subsequent burial of Gabriel Gworlekaju. I first met Gabriel in his capacity as press officer at the Liberian Police Headquarters when I was a reporter and I found him to be cordial and resourceful in pointing me in the right direction in my search for information. At different stages of my role as a reporter, I interacted with Gabriel and I still carried a fresh memory of his pep talks and his warm handshake. To his family, I am deeply sorry for their lost and pray for God's guidance through this difficult time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Steve.Kenneh To the Gworlekaju family, please accept the condolences of my family to yours. While in the Diaspora, we could not keep in touch as much as we loved to but got in touch when we needed to. And as we mourn the home going of our colleague, workmate and friend, let us remember this Irish Blessing:" May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand." Peace my brother, peace. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tribute to Gabriel S. Gworlekaju, Noted Journalist and Veteran Police Officer By Gabriel I.H. Williams The Book of Common Prayer in our Anglican Communion states that “in the midst of life we are in death.” However, Hebrew 12:2 in the Bible instructs us to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith… It is, therefore, my very sad duty but great honor to pay this deserving tribute to my best friend, Gabriel S. Gworlekaju, Jr., a noted journalist and veteran police officer, who served his country and humanity with dedication and distinction. Gab, as we affectionately referred to one another, passed from labor to rest on Sunday, January 2, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He was in his 40s. Gabriel had been in coma since he was involved in a terrible motor accident that occurred during the early hours of June 19, 2010. I was in California, which has been my home away from home since fleeing Liberia during the civil crises, when this tragedy befell my beloved friend. Upon return to Washington, D.C., where I am currently posted as a diplomat at the Embassy of Liberia, I flew to Atlanta and visited Gab in the hospital, accompanied by another colleague and friend, Roger Seton, who also lives in the Atlanta area. Standing over his bed-side and looking at him lying there motionless was so painful that I broke down and wept like a child. Unlike those days when there would be so much noise and laughter as we physically interacted or chatted on the phone, this time all the way that I called out to him as loud as I did, my friend remained still and unresponsive, which was a frightening reflection of how fragile and uncertain life can turn out to be. Upon return to the United States after spending more than four years working in Liberia, the last time Gabriel and I saw one another was April 2010, when I was part of a Liberian Government delegation to conduct a town-hall meeting with the Liberian community in Atlanta. We hugged and talked for as long as was necessary until I retired to my hotel late that night, and had to catch a flight out of Atlanta early the next morning. It was less than two months following my reassignment from Liberia, where I served as Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. In my new capacity as Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the Liberian Embassy, Gabriel, who was trained and well knowledgeable in information technology, had offered to provide the necessary technical expertise, free of charge, to improve the information technology capacity of the Embassy’s Press and Public Affairs Department. It was owing to his knowledge in information technology that Gabriel led the charge as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of RunningAfrica.com, an internet print and broadcast media network. RunningAfrica.com, which is in partnership with AfricaTV One, is one of the leading Liberian-oriented internet media in the Diaspora. Other colleagues who partnered with Gabriel in the management of RunningAfrica.com, which also broadcasts on radio WRAR-96, are noted broadcast journalists Emmanuel Abalo and Patrick Manjoe. Prior to his untimely demise, Gabriel had discussed extensively with me regarding his plan to establish a physical edition of RunningAfrica newspaper in Liberia, similar to Frontpage Africa, and he had solicited my assistance in whatever way I could be helpful. Handsome, young and very intelligent, Gab was an accomplished broadcaster with a commanding voice and a radiant personality. Following in the footsteps of his father, Col. Gabriel Gworlekaju, Sr. who served for decades in the Liberia National Police and trained hundreds of officers, Gabriel joined the police force and became a rising star. He was co-producer of the popular daily “Police Report” program on state-run LBS radio, and was trained at the Criminal Justice Institute of Atlanta University in the USA, with emphasis in community policing. He was also one of the youngest instructors at the National Police Academy in Paynesville, Liberia. Following the November 12, 1985 attempted coup led by former Armed Forces of Liberia Commanding General Thomas Quiwonkpa against military ruler Samuel Doe, which led to massive bloodshed and thousands detained, Gabriel was also detained and had his life threatened for a BBC interview in which he offered an analysis of the security situation in Liberia at the time. He was kept in the same cell with several prominent Liberians, including Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman, President of the University of Liberia – Africa’s first woman university president - who was a very strong advocate against dictatorship. As Liberia gradually descended into chaos following the outbreak of the civil war, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), of which I was the Secretary General, convened a special meeting of its membership in early 1990, to decide upon a common course of action. This was in light of what happened during the failed Quiwonkpa military coup, which resulted to one journalist being killed, while several others were brutalized and jailed. Gabriel was among majority of the journalists who voted to mandate the PUL leadership to take a position to not recognize or support any faction or group that attempted to seize state power by force of arms, and that those who wanted power should submit to the democratic process through free and fair elections. Given his experience from the Quiwonkpa tragedy, Gabriel tried his best to not be seen as supporting anti-government elements. But as the insurgency spread, individuals perceived to be anti-government were being eliminated, while on the other side the insurgents were killing anyone suspected to be associated with the government. Caught between the rock and the hard place, Gabriel started complaining of receiving death threats. Eventually, he fled to Sierra Leone, but was among a group of journalists who returned to Liberia several months later with the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU), led by Dr. Amos Sawyer. He then took up assignment with LBS as a producer. However, because of the program, “Ecomog the Peacemaker” he produced on LBS, he received death threats from a warring faction that was hostile to the West African peacekeeping force and fled to the U.S. in 1994. Even though Gab never returned to Liberia until his death, he remained actively involved in the struggle to end the brutal civil war and dictatorship, and to bring about freedom of speech and of the press in Liberia. In this regard, he was a founding member of the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA), an organization established in exile in 1998 by mostly Liberian journalists who fled the country in the wake of the civil upheaval. ALJA, for which I was the founding secretary general, relentlessly advocated against the regime that had reduced Liberia to a failed and criminal state, by helping to draw international attention to the state of affairs in the country at the time. Throughout those very difficult and dangerous years especially during the war, amid shifting alliances and allegiances, when once close friends and relatives betrayed one another or were at each other’s throat for a share of the “elephant meat” that Liberia had become, the friendship between Gab and I remained trusting and stronger by the day. We never did anything to bad-mouth or undermine one another. We both were never driven by the desire for transient material gains over the common good. The friendship between Gab and I started in the early 1980s when we both were reporters of a program called High School Special – intended to encourage journalism in various high schools - which aired every Saturday on LBS radio. He and I were among the pioneers of the program when he reported first for Tubman High and later Monrovia Central High and I reported for D. Tweh High School. Another well-known pioneer of School Special is veteran broadcaster Patrick Manjoe. As I reflect on the life of my beloved friend, I am reminded by Solon, a renowned Greek philosopher, poet and statesman, who once said: “No man should consider himself truly happy until he is dead.” The great philosopher believed that it is at the post of a person’s life that the verdict is given as to how well the individual lived during the course of his or her life. That verdict is basically how we all remember a deceased. Once we hear about the death of a person that we knew, we often reminiscence on the individual’s life on the basis of how he/she extended kindness to others and supported the common good of society or whether the deceased was a treacherous person who manifested acts that negatively impacted the commonwealth. Gab may not have lived long enough as we would have wished, but there is no doubt that he lived a productive and humane life. And this is why, as the psalmist says, “The sorrows of death encompassed me…” as I reflect on his life. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in perfect peace.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: mik11 Gabriel , an inspiring individual , was always willing to help others. I worked with Mr. Gworlekaju at the Liberia Broadcasting System , then operating from the Ducor Palace Hote during the early 90s. His interactions with colleagues was amazing. He worked in Radio , and I was in Engineering.Gabriel operated all Broadcast equipment , including, Transmitters and Generators. When Mr. Gworlekaju walked in the Broadcast Studio and began to lecture , his presence drew everyone's attention. There was always something cheerful that he left with the group. Gabriel's effort to organize and manage a broadcast network - RUNNING AFRICA did not surprise me. His death is certainly a surprise. To the Gworlekaju Family , I am so sorry for your loss, you have my deepest. Sympathy. May his soul rest in peace. IBEYANSi M. KPAKAH MARYLAND 301 466 5103 / 301 379 5564 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: JSiaka A CONDOLENCE:
The Family has released details of the Funeral of our Colleague Gabriel Gworlekaju as follows: ************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Tributes:From: strawally I was in Atlanta recently on tour for the Diaspora Forum with Liberian communities in the US. I met big brother Gabriel. I still remembered things he told me. Simply, he cautioned me to remain a professional journalist and do nothing to cause integrity problem for me. He would do this all the time we connect either thru online chat room or telephone. When I heard about his accident, my world was sad big time. I prayed for his speedy recovery. But God knows why He took him. My heart goes out to the bereaved family. Gabriel was like a big brother and a mentor. He was a big part of my career advancement as a journalist. A vacuum has been created in the Liberian media community. -- Sidiki Trawally
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From: monday10d
Subject: Words of Condolence for Gabriel S. Gworlekaj
Date: January 8, 2011 10:32:46 PM EST
Family and friends of the late Gabriel S. Gworlekaju, on behalf of my family and myself, I write to extend our deepest sympathy and empathy for the unforgettable lost of a man who I used to admire as a young man growing in Liberia and who conducted my first interview on June 5, 2010. The moment I started to get to know Gabriel, the quicker the Lord decided to call him home. His death is a great lost, his spirit is gone but his legendary voice and spirit will remain in our mind and hearts until me meeting again. Like I told him during the interview, "Gab, take your phone call, I am behind my house looking at the environment". I will always remember him because he took the fear of not wanting to be on air for an interview. May the almighty God bless his daughter and family.
Below is the thank you email I sent to Gabriel and never hear from him again.
Show details 6/5/10
Gabriel, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to you, Emmanuel, and Patrick for giving me the opportunity to share my professional experience and skills with the Liberian people and the world, I enjoyed the entire process. In the future, I hope you guys will give me another opportunity so I may discuss other ideas on "Ways the Liberia Environmental Protection Agency can create jobs and increase their revenues".
Thanks again
Randy Darpoh
Environmental Engineer Technologist and Environmental Policy and Management Analyst
Ph: 215 475 9088
Randy Darpoh
Environmental Engineer Technologist
and Environmental Policy and Managemment Analyst
Ph: 215 475 9088
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Mr. Abalo,
Thanks for organizing the Sunday, January 9, 2011 teleconference regarding the funeral of our fallen colleague, Gabriel Gwelekaju and the participation of the US based Liberian Press Corps in the ceremony. However, I wish to note the posting of your conference information coincides with similar initiative undertaking by other Liberian journalists including me.
Our teleconference information was posted Friday, January 7, 2011 few hours before the publication of your planned teleconference. Our conference is scheduled for today, Saturday, January 8, 2011 @ 6:00PM. Prior to organizing the teleconference, several exiled Liberian Journalists and me, had series of discussions regarding contribution and the role of the US based Liberian Press Corps in the funeral.
For the sake of unanimity, I would appreciate if you and your colleagues, could please join us for this evening teleconference instead of proceeding with the January 9, 2011 conference, which has the potential of undermining today's plan.
Let the death of our friend, brother, co-worker and countryman, Gwelekaju, rekindle the spirit of oneness that once existed in the Association of Liberian Journalists in the America(ALJA) instead of creating another internal rivalry. This initiative is not about who gets the credit or who is in control. It is about honoring a fallen Liberian, whose contribution to Journalism in Liberia would forever be remembered.
Thanks
Moses D. Sandy
Exiled Liberian Journalist
302-494-4688
