Remembering Dieudonné Kone

Dieudonné Kone 19th July 1986 – 25 August 2023
Bobo Dioulasso

Friends, it’s with great sadness and shock that we learned of Dieudonné’s untimely death last week.  He had been taken seriously ill with complications from malaria and died with his family around him late on Friday evening.

I got to know Dieudonné in 2015 when I first travelled out to meet the team. We developed a firm friendship and partnership that was able to move our project forward with increased support. He was a thoughtful, kind, considerate, and intelligent young man. We readily laughed at our own mistakes and misdemeanours, and he willingly forgave my cultural clumsiness. He persuaded me to initiate the maternity unit project and more latterly the expansion of the classrooms at La Bonne Nouvelle school. It was his skill in the administration of the medical centre and latterly other projects in Burkina, that gave partners confidence. We fail to comprehend why this has happened, but we give thanks to God for the steadfast race he ran.

Please pray for his widow Nafi and their two children Leslie (9) and Prince (6), as well as his parents Pastor Jean and Rachel, Esaie, and Tabitha, the wider family, and the community of Bobo that will dearly miss him. If you would like to write a letter to send to his loved ones and the IN team, please send this to our office marked for Dieudonné and we will compile all communication from everyone. We have also created a special page at remembr.com/dieudonne.kone on which you can share messages of condolence or your own memories of Dieudonné.

Danny Morris

CEO and Executive Director International Needs UK

Dieudonné in 2015

Dieudonné in his office, 2015

Dieudonné in 2016, overseeing a new maternity ward

Dieudonné standing outside the maternity ward construction, 2016

2017, Dieudonné stands with Danny outside the new, functioning maternity ward

Dieudonné holding plans for four new classrooms at La Bonne Nouvelle School, 2018