[Image: A black woman in a white hat, looking at the camera]
Part 35 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Marjorie Vital, from the 16th floor of
Grenfell Tower
Marjorie Vital came from Soufrière in Dominica, and moved
with her parents to London in the 1950s. She had eight siblings, and was a
mother figure to the younger ones, braiding their hair and fixing their school uniforms.
She was a talented seamstress and spent a lot of her life doing that
work. “My mother was always working, busy creating a home
environment, and she had a full-time job,” her surviving son, who didn’t want to be named by the media, told the Grenfell inquiry. “She was an ambitious woman, but she put her ambitions aside for her children.”
Marjorie’s sister Paula told the inquiry that she had loved living at Grenfell.
“She loved living in the tower and was very proud of her
home which was always clean and tidy. Mama and Papa used to tease her, calling it ‘Marjorie’s Tower’”
Her family also had released an earlier statement speaking of her
personality and loves.
“Marjorie was 68 years old and she had worked in the textile
industry for many years. She was a beautiful, joyful, independent, intelligent, kind-hearted, sensitive individual who dedicated her life to her children. She carried herself with dignity and extended her warmth to family and friends.
Through her creativity and joy of life, she was an inspiration to many of us. She has been prematurely and dramatically taken from
this world and will be sadly missed by family and friends, both here in the UK and abroad.”
Marjorie was found with her son, Ernie, who lived with her. “There’s
some comfort in knowing they were together,” her son said.
Majorie’s and Ernie’s ashes were scattered at sea, in
Dominica.
[Image: A Middle Eastern woman looking at the camera while surrounded by greenery and white flowers]
Part 34 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Fatemeh Afrasiabi, from the 18th floor of Grenfell Tower
Fatemeh Afrasiabi, cousin of Sakineh Afrasehabi, was visiting her flat on the night of the fire. She had arrived to Britain as a refugee in 2013, originally being from Iran.
She had five children. All of them lived in Iran and she would FaceTime them constantly. Her daughter Raheleh spoke at the Grenfell inquiry about what kind of person her mother was.
“My mother had a passion for painting, she was a very good
painter. She used to make very beautiful paintings, creatively …
I wish I still had your kind and warm embrace.”
Another daughter, Sara, showed the inquiry a doll her mother had made for her. Fatemeh absolutely loved art and creating, and would always make her family nice things with her sewing machine.
A friend of Fatemeh’s also spoke at the inquiry:
“She was a great woman, she was not like the ordinary people.
She was very kind, the sympathy she was showing to everyone was incredible… An image I can’t forget is her smiling face.”
There was one family member who was not present, Fatemeh’s
husband. His visa was denied. His son decried this at the inquiry:
“I wanted to take this opportunity to remember my father,
who could not come to the UK, his visa application was refused, and he says that ‘I am spending my days and nights by the thought of my children and I want to be able to visit my wife’s grave’.”
A petition was started to get the whole family visas, it gained over 2000 signatures, but now it has gone.
[Image: A Middle Eastern woman with glasses, in a black and white dress, standing by some pink flowers]
Part 33 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Sakina Afrasehabi, from the 18th floor of Grenfell Tower
Sakina Afrasehabi, a former nursery worker, stood even less chance of escaping the tower as she was disabled – partially blind and unable to walk without aid – and yet housed on the 18th floor.
“Every day, again and again, as our mind tries to make
sense of this disastrous tragedy, we come to the conclusion that it was not
only the horrifying fire that took my mum’s life that night.
The discrimination and failure in duty of care by the
housing allocations team which resulted in a vulnerable, physically disabled and partially sighted pensioner being housed on the 18th floor of a tower block equally took the life of my mum.
The very people who said, years before, that she was not to be housed above the fourth floor of a lifted building.
“She couldn’t go down 18 floors of stairs on a good day, let alone in a fire. Her human right to escape was denied even before the fire happened.”
However Sakina made the best of living in Grenfell Tower. “She had got used to her flat at the 18th floor,” her daughter Aklani said. “She used to say: ‘It’s as if I’m on a plane, I can see the whole of London
from up here.’”
Sakina was fond of the Queen, her daughter told the Grenfell inquiry, and on receiving British citizenship had told her “Elizabeth’s my queen now.” She also loved Portobello Market, sewing, and helping those who were in need. During the Iran-Iraq war she had stepped forward to shelter
members of her family.
During the Grenfell inquiry, her daughter Nazanin said that Sakina’s death had been caused by “corporate negligence.” “Grenfell was gross criminal negligence. If we settle for this, we deserve it,” she told the audience.
Her son also said some words about the night Sakina died.
They were distressing and very emotional:
“The night when she was burning, she told me not to come,
tried to look out for me even though she was being burned by fire and smoke, she told me not to come. In one sentence she taught me something I couldn’t find in any books – the meaning of life …If you want to know the meaning of love – unconditional love – look on the face of your mother.”
Like her cousin Fatemeh, Sakina had five children.
Part 33 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Vincent Chiejina, from the 17th floor of Grenfell Tower
Vincent Chiejina was 60 years old and from Nigeria. He moved
to Britain with his family when still a child, and looked after his younger
siblings whenever his mother was out at work. He loved science fiction and Star Trek, which he “watched religiously,” his family said.
He was a great student and his parents were given a grant to
send him to St Augustine’s College, where he won an award for mathematics. Later, he went to Sheffield University where he studied electrical engineering.
He was a religious person who attended St Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, and who devoted himself to doing good for his community. In older age he volunteered for the charity Open Age, which helps elderly people socialise with others.
Vincent’s sister Obi paid tribute to him at the Grenfell inquiry. He was a kind man who would always offer his chair up to other people, she said. “He was good at looking after vulnerable people and would never reject anybody because they were less privileged than himself.”
[Image: A white man in a yellow shirt, standing in a blue apartment]
Part 33 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Steven Power, from the 15th floor of
Grenfell Tower
Steven Power, 63, was an Irishman and a father of five. Reports claimed that after getting his daughter out of the building he refused to leave his dogs behind and died alongside them, although his daughter later said that wasn’t the case:
“Our dad lived in that block for so long that he would have experienced more than one fire there. I don’t know if that was why he was reluctant to leave that night and unfortunately we will never know.
I do know that my dad wasn’t in the tower when the fire started, but he came back to wake me up out of my sleep.
“Some of the news reports state that my dad didn’t want to leave because of his dogs, but this is not true.”
There was no doubt he loved his dogs, however. “Some people are famous in a block for loving their dogs,’ a Grenfell neighbour told LRB.
“There was this guy on the 15th floor, Steven Power, he had two bull terriers, you know those dogs? Loved them, he did. Would’ve died for those two dogs.”
Steve was a retired lorry driver who loved fishing and DJing. His daughter Sherrie described him as “nothing short of a character… he left some sort of impression on everyone.”
His ex-partner Claudia Davies spoke about him at the Grenfell inquiry:
“He had this twinkle in his eyes. He could just smile at me and I’d crumble. He was clever, too. He was always a quick thinker, one step ahead of everyone else in the room – able to crack a joke to wind someone up and start everyone laughing. He never lost that charm.”
After her speech, she turned to the chair of the inquiry,
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and said, “Sir Martin, You do right by us all, and you
do right by my children.”
[Image: A vertical picture of a black man looking directly at the camera]
Part 32 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Raymond “Moses” Bernard, from the 23rd floor of Grenfell Tower
Raymond “Moses” Bernard, aged 63, lost his life while helping his neighbours in Grenfell Tower. He was born in Trinidad, but moved to Britain in 1969 and became an electrician. In 1973 he got married, and three children followed: two daughters and a son. At the time of his death he had lived in Grenfell Tower for 30 years, sharing his flat with his dog, Marley.
The Grenfell inquiry heard that Raymond sheltered people in his top-floor flat as the fire raged. His sister Bernadette said,
“Ray was a kind, gentle, compassionate man, a leader and adviser. He always said life is too short, try and be happy. He had lived on the top floor of Grenfell for over 30 years where he tragically lost his life.
The positioning of Deborah, Jessica, Berkti and Biruk were on my brother’s bed with my brother resting beside the bed on the floor. This shows the respect he gave to those who lost their lives that night and we know that he would have given comfort to each of them before they took their last breaths and departed this world.
Ray being a man and the strongest he was probably the last to die. He would have been so alone. We know from the details shared by the coroner that Ray was a hero on that tragic night.“
Raymond loved music and DJing, and was an avid supporter of the West Indies cricket team. His son Julian also attended the inquiry, but was too upset to read his statement himself. It was read for him:
“My dad had a personality that reflected the temperature of his childhood home in Trinidad, which was both warm and affectionate. He was an admirable man, a respected brother, a valued uncle, son, father, grandfather and friend. My dad was a people person. He could be anyone’s best friend because of his kindness and
understanding.”
[Image 1: A brown-haired white woman smiling at the camera. Image 2: A white woman with colourful earrings smiling at the camera]
Part 31 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Victoria King and Alexandra Atala, from the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower
Victoria King and Alexandra Atala, a mother and daughter,
died together in the Grenfell fire. Unfortunately, not much is known about them. Although a few sources claimed they were British, they were both in fact Australian. “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade can confirm that two Australian citizens died in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017,” a spokesman said in January 2018.
“We were devastated to hear of our sister Vicky’s fate, and
that of her daughter, Alexandra, in the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Some comfort can come from the knowledge that she and Alexandra were devoted to one another and spent so many mutually supportive years together. They died at each other’s side and now they can rest together in peace. We will remember them always.’’
Victoria had turned 71 just a few days before she died.
Alexandra was 40. They were the last two Grenfell victims to be identified.
Victoria’s sister Penny issued a statement to the Grenfell inquiry:
“After losing touch with my younger sister Vicky I spent
many years trying to find her through friends in the UK. Eventually, thanks to the Salvation army family tracing I was able to get in touch with her and my niece Alexandra living in Grenfell Tower.
If this had not been the case no family member would have
known they had perished… the time we had back being in touch means a great deal. I wish it had been for much longer. They were and are still together, and that is what is important. The fire was a tragedy for all of us.”
[Image: A Muslim family standing close together and holding each other’s hands and shoulders]
Part 30 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
The Hashim family, from the 22nd floor of Grenfell Tower
Hashim Kedir, Nura Jemal and their three children Yaqub, Firdaws and Yahya all died in the Grenfell fire. Hashim was a taxi driver from Ethiopia whose siblings remembered him as a very intelligent person, right from childhood up to adulthood. “He used to participate in all sorts of
extra-curricular activities. He used to write poems, draw, do gymnastics, play football and sing,” his sister told the Grenfell inquiry.
One of Hashim’s fellow footballers remembered him:
“He was really respectful, always thanking me for looking after the kids. He was really hard-working, he was driven to make sure he was looking after people: the family, his friends, his neighbours. He was a lovely guy.”
His wife Nura Jamal was also from Ethiopia, but she met Hashim in London and married him in 2002. She was totally devoted to her children, friends said. “She didn’t just drop them off and say hi; she watched and wanted to know how they were doing, what they needed to work on,” her children’s taekwondo teacher said. “She was totally engaged in them as people and was a tremendous support and source of love for them.”
She loved nature and would make videos of whatever she encountered outside. “Her joy was courageous and contagious,” her sister-in-law Assema told the Grenfell inquiry. “Being around her could lighten up anyone’s
day in a matter of seconds. She was sociable, she could befriend absolutely
anyone, no matter who they were, or what they believed in.”
Yaqub, the youngest of the family, was an energetic six-year-old whom everyone adored. He attended Avondale Primary, the same school the Choucairs went to. “Yaqub was a character: chatty, mischievous, lively, but charming, with lots to say,” headteacher Katy Blackler said. Assema
told the inquiry a similar thing:
“He was so full of life and energy and funny. It was impossible to spend a minute without laughing if he was around. He never accepted being the little one; he always tried to show that he could do whatever Yahya and Firdaws were capable of doing.”
Yaqub had once written in a schoolbook that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up, “because I want to save the world,” his class
teacher said.
Firdaws, 12 years old, had participated in a Bill Gates-hosted debating tournament just months before she died. There, she met Channel 4 news anchor Jon Snow, who was serving as one of the judges. He spoke about the impact she had on him:
“I will never forget it. She stood out above anybody else. She was absolutely spellbinding and I thought: my God, that girl is going to go far.
But, desperately, she died high up in the building with the whole of her family and it absolutely breaks my heart every time I think about it.”
Bill Gates sent a tribute too, saying that Firdaws was a girl “who had enormous potential and wanted to make the world better”.
Alongside Mierna Choucair, she was a deputy head girl at her school. “I’m sure you’ve heard she was brilliant at everything; but she was,” Katy Blackler said. “She was a great singer, and sportsperson, and speaker and all the children knew her. When I told them she had died there were big, big tears rolling down their faces.”
The oldest child of the family was Yahya, who was thirteen. He absolutely loved football, the people who knew him said, and was an Arsenal supporter. But he was also devoted to his religion, Islam, and to his younger brother. His taekwondo teacher remembered their bond:
“[Yahya] was very mature like an adult almost. He was speaking to one of my assistants saying he was getting concerned about his little brother, saying he needs help to focus more.
It was almost like a parent wanting their child to do well. He took looking after his little brother very seriously and there was no hint of disruption or ill feeling towards another person: I never saw even a hint of it.”
His aunt described him as “the most kind, polite, loving, generous, thankful and pure-hearted boy I ever knew.”
Assema’s statement at the Grenfell inquiry ended with a
condemnation. “Some other responsible government department sitting somewhere was just sitting and watching them turn to ashes. The whole world had watched on TV a lady waving a white cloth from the 22nd floor.”
The Hashim
Family Legacy Fund was set up to honour them. It works to support the
children left traumatised by the Grenfell fire.
Part 29 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Denis Murphy, from the 14th floor of
Grenfell Tower
Irishman Denis Murphy was a diehard supporter of Chelsea
football club. “He had three biggest loves in his life: family, friends and
Chelsea Football Club, and not always in that order,” his sister Anne Marie said at the Grenfell inquiry. Denis was also a talented footballer himself, and had trials with Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace.
“The pain, loss and sorrow we feel is indescribable and we have been left devastated with a gaping hole in our hearts that can never be filled.
To us he was an inspiration and an amazing, selfless,
caring person and we feel lucky and blessed that he was part of our family, and his warmth and love will stay with us forever.
What really matters to us is what he stood for – family,
friends, community, loyalty and love – and our lives will never be the same without him.”
In October 2017, Chelsea FC paid tribute to their fan by stopping a match in the 56th minute – 56 being Denis’s age when he died – and giving him a round of applause. A few months later Denis’s nephew, Stevan Racz, started a campaign to give a Christmas present to every child affected by the Grenfell tragedy.
Denis was a painter and decorator who had lived in London for most of his life, and was “like a dad” to his younger siblings. “He had a strong set of principles and values which he adhered to and instilled in us,” his sister said. Once, at ten years old, he saw a sibling had forgotten his bus money, and so handed over his own. At the Grenfell inquiry, his family told the audience that all they had left of him was a handful of recovered coins.
[Image 1: A young black woman looking directly at the camera. Image 2: A two-year-old black boy wearing an orange t-shirt and holding an orange football, also looking directly at the camera]
Part 28 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
The Deen family, from the 14th floor of Grenfell Tower
Zainab Deen, a 32-year-old originally from Sierra Leone, and her two-year-old son Jeremiah both perished in the fire. Zainab was able to tell her brother goodbye via the phone before she died: the details were reported on by the media but are upsetting.
Zainab had loads of friends in London, her father said. She worked at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, and loved her Grenfell flat because it was so open and spacious.
Her father also gave a statement at the Grenfell inquiry:
“We never thought we would be thinking of Zainab Deen as a memory like we are today…
Zainab had it all. She was beautiful, smart, warm, caring and a confident and outgoing young woman. She had a lively personality and her great sense of humour was enjoyed by all who came across her. Her untimely death has left us heartbroken.
We are so proud to be able to call you our daughter. We are grateful for the brief time we were able to spend with you and believe that the angels are rejoicing because one of their loved ones has rejoined them.”
Jeremiah, his grandfather said, was “loved by all, and was very overprotected by his mother who loved him very much.”
“Most of all we are happy that you are with your mother Zainab who loved and adored you …She will keep you safe now as she protected you in life. Even death can’t separate you both. Our hearts break, we love and
miss you Jeremiah. Sleep grandson, take your rest.”
“It isn’t right, it should have been the other way around. We should be being buried, not them. This should not have happened. This should not be life. When you lose somebody, you are able to see the body. Not for us, months passed. It is not normal.“
Zaniab and her son were buried together in a private ceremony.
