Memorial Services for Dick and Enid Eyeington

Amongst those present at the service were the Eyeington's two grown up children, Mark and Louise, as well as a sister each of Dick and Enid. The service began with a hymn, Morning Has Broken, which was followed by a reading by Rachel Were, one of the Kenyan teachers at the school who were evacuated after the murders.

Andrew Moir, Management Advisor for SOS East Africa, and a former pupil of Dick and Enid Eyeington in Swaziland, gave a moving, personal tribute to the couple in which he combined memories of his former teachers with a summary of their accomplishments. Apart from being Principal of the world renowned Waterford School for 11 years, Dick was also director of studies to the young Swazi king, before he joined SOS-Kinderdorf International as the national director for Swaziland. Enid, meanwhile, taught life skills at the school, became involved in conflict resolution and actively involved herself in the battle against HIV/AIDS. "They had a sense of mutual respect and companionship", said Andrew "and worked together extremely well."

Regional Director East Africa, Wilhelm Huber then gave his own tribute to Enid and Dick and said, "They will leave an enormous gap in our lives". He stressed that SOS Children's Villages was committed to continue the work that the Eyeingtons began.

Also present at the memorial service was the Somaliland Minister of Finance, Hussein Adwali, who knew the Eyeingtons personally and gave his condolences on behalf of the people of Somaliland, and the Consular Protection Officer from the British High Commission in Nairobi who spoke on behalf of her colleagues both in Kenya and Swaziland in offering condolences.

An e-mail from Abdirahman Karie, teacher of the Sheikh school, was read out (sadly, he was unable to get a visa to enter Kenya) in which he said that Dick and Enid "would remain eternally in the hearts of the people of Somaliland".

Mark Eyeington then read a short poem before a choir from the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School Nairobi sang movingly in Swahili.

The service was also privileged to hear the singers of 'Kyamba Africa', a group of well known Kenyan male singers, who sang the anthem of all Africans, Nkosi Sikela Africa - a fitting eulogy to a couple who gave so much to the continent. 

A tribute to Dick and Enid Eyeington will be held at 12 noon, Saturday 1 November 2003 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London.

The family have kindly asked for donations in lieu of flowers to be made to SOS Children's Villages UK and to Waterford Kamhlaba.

SOS Children's Villages and Waterford Kamhlaba, Swaziland, are working alongside each other to mark the memory of Enid and Dick Eyeington in tangible and meaningful ways.

The family are very keen to see SOS Children's Villages continue the work which Enid and Dick had so recently started at the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School at Sheikh in Somaliland and donations to SOS Children's Villages UK will be directed to that end.

Donations to Waterford School Trust (a UK registered charity) will be applied towards a bursary, or bursaries, to enable an SOS child to attend Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, in Swaziland.

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Contacts:

SOS Children's Villages UK
St Andrew's House
59 St Andrew's Street, Cambridge CB2 3BZ
United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)1223 365589
fax: +44 (0)1223 322613
www.sos-uk.org.uk


Waterford School Trust
c/o Dixon Wilson
3 Thomas More Street
London E1W 1YX
tel: +44 (0)20 7680 8100