Guest Post: Camilla Hallmans

For some time I have thought about contributing to this blog and sharing my memories of Helena. I finally found the impetus to write when one evening I pulled out the book Anne wrote about the Old Town in Stockholm, and when I opened it a photo slipped out.

It was a picture of Helena and I taken during my visit to Milan. It is a trip I remember with true warmth because like so many of you have already described, Helena always made sure one felt at home and saw as much as possible of her new hometown. Our friendship, though, began many years earlier.

The two of us in Milan

Helena out on the town in Milan

Helena and I got to know each other in high school when we were in the same class at Lidingö, a suburb of Stockholm. She was a very good student and on a number of occasions proved that she knew even more than our teachers about the English language and the African wildlife.

Helena took her studies very seriously and I especially remember the time when she did a presentation in front of the whole school dressed in a folk costume. Very few people at that age would have had the courage to do such a thing, and I remember that I always admired her for it.

After just a year together in the same class Helena told me she was moving. This time the moving boxes were headed for Uganda. It was news that struck me very hard. We were going to be separated and Africa seemed terribly far away. Would we ever see each other again?

But through letters we stayed in touch and we always met up when Helena was back in Sweden. I have many good memories of holidays at Gotland where I went with joy to visit every summer.

Helena and I dressed for the medieval week at Gotland

Crayfish party with the Ostmans and friends at Gotland

Ready for a night out on the town in Visby

When Helena then studied and worked in many different places around the world, it was a fantastic joy and privilege to visit and be a part of her exciting life. It was a true inspiration to know a person with such vision and ambition in life. Indeed, this is what made it so very hard to accept that Helena was sick. How could a person so full of life be so sick?

When I received the news that Helena had passed away the feeling was similar to when she told me she was moving away to Uganda. We parted, again. And once again I didn't want to think it was forever.

I miss you Helena. You are always in my heart.