In Memory of Hazel Large (1961-2021)
/The poet Walt Whitman famously wrote, “I contain multitudes.” And as we attempt to honor the memory of Hazel Large, this fact becomes our stumbling block. How do you remember someone, when every person is so much more than even the sum of their multitudinous parts?
Hazel Large was born in 1961, which was both the year that the UN General Assembly condemned apartheid in Hazel’s home country of South Africa, and also the year in which the Berlin Wall was built, dividing East and West Germany.
So Hazel lived through times of great cultural and political upheaval—through the ending of apartheid and later the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. On a personal scale, though, she had a life with family and friends and a rich inner world, complex beyond the capacity of anyone’s ability to know and quantify.
A human life cannot be quantified.
Hazel Large cannot be quantified.
Nonetheless, everywhere a person goes they leave indicators of who they were. An action, a kind word, a work of art—all these leave a mark that in turn becomes a part of those who experience them.
In 1985, when Hazel was only twenty four years old, she crossed an ocean to Waxhaw, North Carolina to attend a course that would help her help others into Bible Translation work. While there, however, she felt called to join in that work herself.
When she applied to join Wycliffe, one of her references had this to say about her:
“Hazel has an amazing gift in being able to reach out to people, particularly the down-and-outs and homeless.”
This recommendation/memory of Hazel is not Hazel, but it is a part of her. It shows that she was a person known for her friendship with the marginalized people she loved to serve. A woman who would sit on the curb with an un-housed friend and just talk. A woman who was known for her warm and uncomplicated love of the people around her.
Hazel spent three years in England, training for an assignment with Wycliffe and completing her BA degree, with distinction in linguistics.
This, too, is a part of who Hazel was: a lifelong learner.
After her BA, Hazel worked as a Graphics Artist in the Communications department of Wycliffe UK, where she used her talents in writing and drawing both in aid of the work, and as gifts for friends and colleagues—sharing cartoon drawings, pencil sketches, and oil paintings.
Hazel continued her studies in preparation for becoming a literacy consultant, doing her Master’s research on a topic that was close to her heart, “Digital Media in Literacy: ebooks and the development of reading for pleasure in a West African context.”
This focus of hers on “reading for pleasure” is another indicator—another mark she left behind of who she was. Hazel wasn’t working with Wycliffe because she wanted the people of Africa to become like her; she was doing it because she loved them and wanted the best for them.
In 2004, Hazel joined SIL Niger, where she served as the Zarma Literacy Coordinator until 2014. This is a panoramic fact about a decade in Hazel’s life, but for a more personal snapshot we might look at a line Hazel wrote during this time, in one of her endearing newsletters to her support base at home:
“I need to learn the Zarma language and culture,” she said, “so that I can understand the people, but actually, my main job is to love them.”
Let’s pause on that quote for a moment.
Let’s take a moment to think about what it means.
In a world where there is constant pressure to focus on projects and statistics and “metrics of success,” Hazel Large made loving people her priority.
The following tribute to Hazel was shared in a condolence message from the General Director of SIL West Africa, Sharyn Thomson:
“Hazel worked with SIL in West Africa from early 2004 when she joined the team in Niger, mainly facilitating the Zarma literacy program. When SIL West Africa was formed in 2016, she joined the team in Mali as a literacy consultant in training. She recently spearheaded the Begin with Books project for Mali; a project that aims to create 200 books in two Malian languages, and 20 videos in Malian sign language. She also contributed to a World Bank-funded programme in Niger, helping to create a curriculum to introduce reading skills in two Nigerien languages for use in primary schools. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues and friends around the world, but especially by those in Mali and Niger. Hazel always made time for people and her caring nature was greatly appreciated.”
Although it would be impossible to put Hazel in a box, it’s clear that there is a theme that ran through her life and work—an uncomplicated love of people.
It was on the All Children Reading - Begin With Books project that our path at SIL LEAD intersected with Hazel’s. And although it would be impossible to quantify the impact Hazel had on the project as a whole, we’d love for you to take a look at a few of the books that Hazel directly created:
· an informative book on Covid that Hazel illustrated
· a book Hazel wrote, which was illustrated by a local artist in Mali
· a book Hazel wrote and illustrated about emotions
Each of these books is a piece of Hazel.
Each book is a mark she leaves behind, on a platform that will continue to be accessible to people not just in Mali, but all over the world. Her books are available to be translated and repurposed by other language communities.
Due to the health risks of Covid, Hazel went back to her home country of South Africa and remained there, continuing to work on the Mali project until her passing this past year.
So...
How do you measure a life?
How do you measure a person?
The simple answer is that you can’t.
But we are grateful to have known and worked with Hazel Large, a woman who contained multitudes that were, again and again, marked by love for the people around her.
So we’ll finish with the words of Karen Floor, who knew Hazel well, sharing another excerpt from one of Hazel’s newsletters:
“Hunger would not be your first thought when driving past small lakes and green millet fields. This is deceptive. About a third of Niger’s population is hungry. The millet will only be harvested in three months and last year’s food is finished already.”
Karen went on to add that:
“Hearing about this, a friend sent Hazel a gift of $600 to use as she sought to help the people of three villages near Ouallam, where the SIL Zarma Literacy Project had classes. Hazel and a local friend quickly put together some milk and vitamin enriched cereal to give to vulnerable children. Getting there meant travelling on very bad dirt roads, so they were hoping there’d be no rain. After the first 4km the sky darkened, becoming black and then brown - a sure sign of a storm in the Sahel. Taking shelter in the village clinic, word spread that this had become the distribution centre. Most of the children they saw were malnourished. People were very grateful for the help. One mother’s eyes met Hazel’s, and said with her eyes and a whisper on her lips, ‘Iri saabu’ (‘We thank you.’)
From all of us at Wycliffe and SIL [and SIL LEAD] who have been touched by Hazel’s gifted creativity, who have been inspired by her courage to go where few would dare to go, let alone live, and who have been warmed by her warm and uncomplicated love, we say ‘Iri saabu, Hazel. We thank you.’”