Musue (left) holding a camera as usual, ready to photograph a group of kids at Behsao National Cultural village in Bomi, Liberia. Disembarking the vehicle (in photo) is Liberia’s legendary traditional folk singer, Ma-Yata Zoe

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, marks exactly one year since our dear friend and sister, journalist Musue N. Haddad passed away at the nation’s Redemption Hospital located in New Kru Town, Bushrod Island, Monrovia.

Musue, as she was affectionately known, didn’t have any known previous health problem. Thus, the sudden passing of the young, enterprising, and award-wining Liberia’s only female photojournalist, caused shock among her family members, many admirers, including regular readers of her Blog [An Eye On Society]and various newspaper columns, among them, the popular FrontPage Africa Column titled: “Random Thoughts.”

Photo-journalist Haddad was very popular with kids; she loved them all, and it didn’t matter their situation; and whether were Black or White.

Visiting with me in my hometown of Yeala, Lofa County, in early December 2011, a 7-year old boy found to be sick with epilepsy, entered the gathering and walked straight to Musue. Without hesitation she began to cuddle the boy. It was like finding a new friend but soon, the boy’s mother and some sitting by shouted at him and said: “Go away and leave the woman before you dirty her fine cloth.”

But Musue didn’t mind and she continued to hug him more with an apparent feeling this could be her son too. She placed the child on her lap and didn’t let the boy down till it was time for us to leave for ZRTTI. In most parts of Liberia, many rarely interact with people suffering from an illness such as seizure; for fear that they too could contract the disease.

After we arrived back in Monrovia, I had no idea Musue had given money to the boy’s mother so she could take him to the nearby Curran Lutheran Hospital in Zorzor, for treatment. This came to my attention when the mother had called and asked me to extend thanks and greetings to Musue for the help she provided for her son.

It is for this and many other reasons why we remember and celebrate Musue’s lovely memories today; for she treated every child like her own; the friend of the friendless.

Script/photo by James Kokulo Fasuekoi