We have bid farewell to Dina: 'The case is entrusted to us'

Click to read the article in Turkish

"They have put her in a bag, placed her in the coffin, and siliconized around it, we cannot open it..."

These words by the mortuary affairs officer are translated first to English, then to French. Explained to Dina's mother.

The mother, Jessica Sandra Makemba Panga answers each sentence with the same question, "Will I not be able to see my daughter's face? I want to see her..."

We were in the İstanbul Alibeyköy ghusl room yesterday evening (May 24, Wednesday).

We were with Jeannah Dinabongho Ibouanga's mother and father. Ibouanga's dead body was found near the Filyos River on the Zonguldak-Karabük road on March 26. She was a university student there, aged 17. 

Her family will be receiving her body, in order to bury her in Gabon after a ceremony to be held according to their belief. 

We are in the courtyard. We met for a child from Gabon, murdered at the age of 17. We are not so many. 

The number of racist and anti-immigrant posts that I come across browsing social media just then is much more.

The weather is cold, it is almost dark, and different groups, not knowing one another are there, together to share a pain. We wait silently. 

We wait. African women and men. Dina's friends. Dina's mother and father. Volunteers from the International Migrant Women Solidarity and from the We Will Stop Femicides Platform...

"What if another dead body is given to us?"

Now and then we hear Dina's mother's voice. She says that she wants to see her daughter's face and that they have promised her that she would be able to. The official tells her that this is impossible and that the coffin will not be allowed on the plane according to international rules if it is opened. 

The mother wants to see Dina's face; of course, this is because she cannot trust, "What if another dead body is given to us?" she questions. 

We are sad and angry both for Dina and for her mother. Everyone is both silent, but at the same time they are expressing their solidarity against anti-immigrant movements and against male violence. Everyone there is silently saying "We share your pain." 

Hours later, all procedures are completed. The officials take us to where the coffin is. 

The women lay a purple cloth over Dina's coffin, and place a t-shirt on the cloth, "Justice for Dina" written on it.

The family circles Dina's coffin and bid farewell to their daughter according to the Gabon traditions. 

They lament in their language, Dina's mother's hand on the side of the coffin. Her father has difficulty standing, her aunt holds her mother. Everybody cries as the mother cries... 

Dina’s friends, and those who have come to bid her farewell talk about her. One of them says, "You should not have come here like this and you should not have gone from here like this." 

“Look, your mother is not alone"

Her mother speaks out and says, "You thought your mother would be alone here, having come to take you from here, didn't you? Look your mother is here and she is not alone. Your sisters and brothers are here, they have not left you alone. Your mother is not alone Dina." 

"What did you think, running towards the river Dina?"

“We did not know that this could happen when we sent you here. You felt alone, running to that river that evening, didn't you? What did you think Dina? You ran to God that night Dina, and God took you that day. And God has not left your family alone."  

"I want justice"

Dina’s father Guy Serge Ibouanga Panga also bid farewell to his daughter by speaking a few words:

He said, “I want justice for my daughter. I thank everyone who follows her case." 

Firdevs Hoşer from the Feminist Case Following group also spoke.

Hoşer said, "We know that there is male violence behind each suspicious death of women. Therefore this case is very important for us. I want to tell Dina's family and everyone who came here that we will do the best we can. This case is entrusted to us."

Greg Kebıla, the chairperson of the İstanbul Gabon Association also said that women's solidarity has empowered their society and Dina's family.

All speeches are over. The ceremony ends with the African people singing their laments. 

Women and men, from Turkey, Gabon, and elsewhere in Africa, who do not speak each other's languages, and who do not know each other unite again around Dina at the courtyard. 

Believe me the voice raised against male violence and anti-immigrant hatred is stronger this time. 

"Dina, your case is entrusted to us..."

What happened? 

The dead body of Jeannah Danys Dinabongho Ibouanga (17) a student at Karabük University in Turkey was found in the Filyos River on March 26. Six people were taken into custody, three being foreigners, while the police teams were evaluating that Ibouanga could have been taken to the forest area in an automobile.

On the night that she got lost, Dina had gone down to take a charger from a relative living downstairs around 11:00 pm. But it was found out later that the security camera of one residential complex shot Dina running without any shoes on her feet on the street for an unknown reason.

*Dina's dead body is being taken to her country today (May 25, Thursday). (EMK/PE)