Tom Remembered In Holland

Monday, 11 June 2012 10:55

Written by T.K. Sannah

Friends and former associates of the late Tom Kamara in Holland, where he was welcomed as second home, held a memorial service for him on Sunday at St. Andrews Cathedral in Heerlen.

Hundreds of sympathizers from the Missionary Center where Mr. Kamara worked while exiled in Holland in the early 90s, as well as foreign journalists and writers who valued his works over the decades, attended the memorial service for his peaceful repose.

Versatile Liberian journalist, publisher and managing editor of the New Democrat newspaper, Mr. Tom Kamara, 63, died Friday morning in Brussels following a brief illness. He was undergoing treatment at St. Luc University Hospital.

Presiding cleric, Ft. Gerald Bless of St. Andrews Catholic Church, who knew Tom for many years and supported his campaign for social justice using the might of the pen, paid a glowing tribute to the insatiable late journalist and writer.

He said the most befitting tribute to the memory of the late Tom Kamara would be for those following his footsteps to ensure that his  “work and struggle for social justice live on.”

Journalist Jacqueline Maris of Public Radio in the Netherlands, who visited Liberia several times since the Carter Camp massacre in 1993 and featured Tom Kamara, attended the memorial service.

She said the Tom Kamara was a “fearless hero who resisted all temptations and intimidations during his struggle for social justice in Liberia.”

Paying homage at the solemn candle-lit service, Jackie said Tom pursued his fearless struggle for social justice despite being jailed by the Samuel Doe regime for “refusal to sacrifice the truth to the detriment of society, especially the small people, the ordinary people.”

She praised Tom for the “courage he had in resisting temptations, including financial, material and high-paying jobs in a country of abject poverty, to remain independent and practice a very high journalist standard.”