Letter from Kim's fried Iliriana in Kosova

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

All of you who had the chance to know Kim in your lives,

I feel so sad to know that when you have all come together here to say the last goodbye to Kim, I cannot be here with you. I cannot say the last goodbye to such a dear and special friend, as Kim was to me.

When I moved to Boston, to study at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, in September 2002, I moved in a house where for the next year I was to live with four other Fletcher students, and Kim was one of them. Even though making friends with all my roommates was not a challenge at all, me and Kim connected right away. The fact that we came from two different parts of the world, she from San Diego and me from Kosova, which had recently come out of war, did not matter at all and we very soon discovered that we were to nourish a friendship for lifetime. We discovered that we both care for a just world, we both cared for the poor and powerless people, and we both wanted to make a difference somewhere somehow, to make the world a happy place to be, and that we had come to the same school with the same purpose To prepare ourselves for making our dreams come true.

I was amazed to see Kim's ambitions and enthusiasms in pursue of this dream. Seeing her hard work, I very often felt that the days should be short for this amazing woman to achieve all she wants to. Nothing stood on her way to make sure that all the essays she wrote were perfect, all the PhD program applications were perfect, and all her fellowship applications were perfect, and ultimately, nothing stood on her way to move on to a higher level of education, to attain more knowledge and expertise in order to make herself a very knowledgeable expert on African development so she can dedicate her life to the continent that lay at the very bottom of her heart.

And beside all these constraints and challenges that she was facing, she always had time to be there for me when I needed someone to talk to, someone to go out with, someone to go out for food shopping, when I needed a friend. In the times when I felt lonely, it was Kim that spared her precious time to be with me, and to let me know that I was not alone.

Kim dear, I am going to miss you for life, where you came to stay and not to go; not to leave me pursue my dream without you being there to listen to me; to listen to my stories of success this time, instead of stories of loneliness; to tell me about your success in making Africa a better place; to tell me how you say my best friend in Hausa language; to tell me that you were TO WALK this summer to get the title of Doctor in Social Sciences and that I should be there to scream out my lungs calling GO KIM GO when they call your name, to tell me sometimes that you were starting a family life, to tell me that you were becoming a Mom, to tell me that your children have an auntie in Kosova, and myself to tell my children that they have an American- Philippino auntie who has made Africa a happy place, and NOT to tell me that you will not be here.

I find it hard to believe that you are not here with us anymore. But dearest my greatest condolence is the pride that I am one of the people who had the privilege to have you a friend, to have a space in your heart, and to have a space in our heart for you, where you will continue to live for the rest of our lives.

Mr. and Mrs. Perez, be proud for having parented such an amazing person who has touched the hearts of so many people around the globe. I am sure that there are many other parents who would wish to have had a daughter like Kim.

Dearest Kim, may Allah's peace be upon you,

Iliriana,
Prishtina, Kosova