Jackie Kirk}’s portrait

Jackie Kirk

  • Died Aug 13, 2008
  • Outremont, Quebec, Canada
This is a page for family and friends to gather, share their memories, and celebrate the life of Jackie Kirk. Please join us in celebrating her life with us by leaving your memories.
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About

Remembering fallen friends...

All of us at CARE are offering our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the humanitarian workers slain in Afghanistan, and to everyone at the International Rescue Committee. The loss is keenly felt by every humanitarian worker around the world.

It was with particular sadness we learned of the deaths of Shirley Case and Jacqueline Kirk. We are proud and privileged to have had them on our CARE Canada team in the past. We knew them. We worked with them. They were part of our family. Both will be greatly missed by the entire CARE family.

These sad events serve to remind us all of the dedication of those performing humanitarian work overseas, often in the most dangerous of environments. Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous and volatile countries for aid workers, with more than 19 killed in the last year alone. Yet dedicated women and men continue to devote themselves to the humanitarian imperative to help people survive and make progress in the impoverished country.

This tragedy also highlights another very important issue in humanitarian work today: the growing role of women, both as the deliverers and the beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance. Shirley Case, Jackie Kirk and Nicole Dial were strong women, out building a better world for other women. Their goal was to give the girls of Afghanistan an equal opportunity for education, to give them an equal share in the future of their country. Women hold the key to ending global poverty. CARE honours the memory of Shirley, Jackie, Nicole and all the women who live, and those who have died, for that belief. CARE will continue to work for the ultimate realization of their dream: the empowerment of all women everywhere.

CARE stands with the IRC and other humanitarian agencies in honoring Shirley, Jacqueline, Nicole and Mohammad Aimal, who lost their lives, and in condemning the continuing violence and destruction in Afghanistan. We call on the international community to renew its commitment to protecting humanitarian space. Without safe passage, aid groups cannot continue to help the people of Afghanistan to raise themselves up out of poverty.

Kevin McCort

CEO

CARE Canada

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Memories

I hope this tragic loss will encourage us

Angélique Verweij Sep 15, 2008

Last year I have met Jackie and we shared ideas on Sudan and Afghanistan.
Girls going to school, women empowerment, it is important for all kinds of reasons...
I hope her death can and will encourage us to continue this difficult struggle.
But right now I just feel the loss. For her, for her husband and for her family. For Afghanistan, a country suffering from violence for so long. For what sake? I truly hope that Jackie and her family can find peace with this tragic loss!

Angélique Verweij, Program officer for Sudan
ICCO & Kerkinactie, The Netherlands

Memory of Jackie Kirk

Dina Paulson Aug 24, 2008

Although I never had the honor of meeting Jackie face to face, she reached out in email after the most recent CIES Conference to share and build community within a share of our work concerning those areas in which she focused, particularly the rights and safety for women in conflict regions and the reverent importance of efforts to reach out to these women through education and a creation of safe and equitable environs for their growth. I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of Jackie's death. Her spirit, warmth, compassion, commitment, and passion for her work and the future were evident and remarkably clear through just a short series of emails. I believe it was a blessing to have been touched by Jackie's professional camaraderie and I can imagine the honor of all those whom have worked with and alongside her during her career and life. Please I am extending towards her husband, her family, and all in her community my deepest wishes for peace for Jackie, and wishes of peace and healing for all who knew her and loved her and were touched by her. As people have written here and elsewhere, may we continue the honor of Jackie's tremendous dedication, groundswell spirit, and profound devotion she showed and shared with the world.

A sad loss for the world...

Cindy Aug 21, 2008

The world needs more people like Jackie, not less. I was very saddened at the news of Jackie's death. She was living my dream, but the good that has come from this; I am even more determined to take her place in this world.

My condolences go out to her family. She is in a better place now, among others like her... Angels.

My Memory

Frans Pakvis Aug 20, 2008

On behalf of Cordaid I would like to express our deepest sympathy and condolences with the relatives, friends and colleagues of Jacky and her colleagues whom got killed as well.
I hope they will find comfort and strength and inspiration to deal with the sadness, out of the dear memories they bear in their hearts.
Again a great loss of people who are prepared to work and struggle on the frontiers of civilisation and bring along with them one of the most basic elements in our work: hope to those without, regardless themselves.

Frans Pakvis
HR officer Cordaid
The Netherlands

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