The family of Faye Mooney, the aid worker who sadly died in Nigeria in April, have paid tribute to her.
“We are heartbroken as a family to share the news that Faye Mooney died during a gun attack on the resort of Kajuru Castle in the Kaduna region of Nigeria on 19 April. She died alongside her partner, Mathew Oguchi, also an aid worker and a Nigerian national.
“Faye was our loving daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece and friend. She died far too young.
“In her short life Faye had achieved so much, and was destined to achieve a great deal more. At the time of her death Faye was working as a Communications Specialist for Mercy Corps in Nigeria, and had been closely involved in a range of humanitarian programmes to prevent hunger and disease, and to promote conflict resolution across the country.
“Growing up in Manchester, Faye attended St Catherine’s Primary School, Trinity Secondary School, and Loreto Sixth Form College. After gaining a first class honours degree in History at University College London (UCL), Faye completed an MA in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE). During her postgraduate study years in London, Faye undertook paid and unpaid work for a number of civil society organisations including Amnesty International, St Mungo’s Housing and Big Society Capital.
“A committed internationalist, Faye embarked on her international development career as a lecturer at the University of Soran in Kurdistan, North Eastern Iraq, where she designed and taught courses to encourage tolerance and equality. Then, in Kosovo, Serbia, she led an innovative project to build peace and co-operation in the region through the creation of a new cross-cultural University in the city of Mitrovica.
“With Mercy Corps, Faye had recently instigated and organised a ‘Hackathon’ conference in Lagos to tackle social media hate speech in the run up to the Nigerian national elections in February 2019 She had also helped to develop Mercy Corps’ new three-year country strategy for Nigeria.
“Faye was not just a hard and dedicated worker, she was selfless and humble, and possessed a rare capacity to combine her very serious work with a great sense of fun and joy. She managed to be able to carry people at all levels along the journey with her, leading by example and delivering real and impactful results.
“Faye was a very well-travelled person, and her loss is felt deeply by a wide network of friends and family stretching across the globe. She loved life, loved people and, despite being allergic to pets, she loved animals too! She was very funny and had a mischievous, infectious laugh, and with an insatiable appetite for good conversation, to be in her company was always an absolute pleasure.
“As her family, we could never have enough of Faye. We held precious her all-too-infrequent visits to the UK, and we treasured every moment. She was greatly loved by her many friends also, and despite living and working abroad, she managed somehow to nurture a vast number of strong and meaningful friendships in the UK and beyond.
“The outpouring of love and the many tributes paid to Faye since her death are testament to a life fully, wholeheartedly and purposefully lived. With her partner Mathew, who she loved very much and who was tragically killed alongside her, Faye’s life was about to enter a new and exciting phase.
“Though cruelly and senselessly taken from us, we are so immensely proud of Faye and all she achieved, and the many lives she touched. Her memory will live on and we hope to be able to make a positive contribution to her legacy through the many donations that have been so kindly given.”
