We will always love and miss you, our Angel

"why so soon Faith?" A question asked by a bereaved mother as she cries and grieves the loss of her beloved child. A mother whose greatest desire was to see her 12 years old child grow up to become an influential person in society, maybe a doctor, pilot, engineer, nurse, etc, - to make her proud.

This unexpected calamity started on the early morning of Thursday, March 5th, 2020, when Faith Martha Saccoh, a 12 years old girl who after her usual family dinner, kissed her mother and two little sisters goodnight and went off to bed.

Early the next morning, Faith’s mother, Zinnah Sandy, a devoted Liberian mother of three children realized that it was nearly past the usual time for Faith's to get ready for school, and she was still in bed. Like most parents, she went to Faith's room - a room Faith shared with her litter sister to wake her up for school. It appeared as if Faith was still far asleep. Anyway, she proceeded to wake Faith up. After several attempts, she realized that Faith wasn't responding. In a conversation with herself, she asked: "why this little child doesn't want to wake up when she supposed to be going to school?" Nevertheless, she continues in her efforts to wake Faith up for school. After several more attempts still, Faith wasn't responding, which made her worried and concerned, so she immediately called the Swedish emergency number for medical assistance.

In a couple of minutes, an ambulance vehicle and helicopter arrived on the scene to render help. All immediate professional medical attempts to wake Faith up or revived her, proved ineffectual. Faith was then flown to the hospital for further assistance and investigations, where she was later pronounced to be no more.

This untimely occurrence is a heavy burden to bear, the death of a little child who had a unique personality and her whole life ahead of her. According to family and friends, little Faith was an "Angel" who walked amongst us. She was unique, humble, respectful, delightful and a charismatic child to be around.

Since the outbreak of this news, the Liberian Swedish Association, LSA community have been sweep over with great sadness, grief, and confusion over the loss of this child - a youthful member of the community - supposedly one of LSA's future leaders. In the midst of this, the community continues to be supportive of the bereaved families in every way possible.

Sadly, Martha Faith was laid to rest on Thursday, the 26 March 2020 at the Tveta cemetery in Södertälje. Prior to this, a funeral service was held at the Saint Ragnhilds Church (Sankta Ragnhilds kyrka), which was followed by a repass at the Syrisk-Ortodoxa Ärkestiftet in Södertälje.

Despite the disturbance of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people attended to show their love and respect for little Faith, especially people from the Liberian and Sierra Leonean communities in Sweden (Faith's father is a Sierra Leonean national).

Making a remark at the repass, LSA President, David Ford extended words of condolences on behalf of the LSA community to the bereaved family, and presented them with a purse of financial donations from the LSA community members and supporters. This gesture was geared toward helping the family with some of the financial constraints that come with funeral arrangements.

To our little Faith - "We will always love and miss you, little Angel. May you rest in lasting PEACE now and forevermore!"