Allan Duelund Jensen (1967-2016)
A remembrance to friend and colleague Allan Jensen, by LWF staff member Bobby Waddell
LWF has lost a dedicated, well liked and well respected colleague in Allan Duelund Jensen, who joined LWF in November 2014 but lost his battle with cancer on 14 August 2016.
Allan's link to LWF started much earlier, back in the late 1990s when he was working in South Sudan with Church Ecumenical Action in Sudan (CEAS), where he enjoyed much respect amongst LWF and CEAS colleagues. That link with LWF continued when Allan took up the challenge of heading DanChurchAid's Global Funding Unit in 2005. By 2008 LWF had established close links with the DCA GFU and benefited greatly from Allan's leadership, expertise, knowledge and vision.
After a short time in Myanmar with DCA (2013-2014) Allan joined LWF as a Global Funding Officer in Geneva (November 2014) taking responsibility for EU and ECHO fund raising and grants management. He established a great rapport with colleagues in LWF country programs including Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Angola, Colombia and Djibouti as well as with the ECHO desks in Brussels.
Allan was a true gentleman, a fantastic colleague, a husband and father of whom Maiken his wife and Vitus and Sixten his two sons can be truly proud. He was a great colleague to work with--we will all miss him tremendously. He was great at his job, so dedicated and very knowledgeable and someone whom we all respected and learned from. He was a keen cyclist and enjoyed the 13km ride to and from work in Geneva every day. We will miss that smile and wave as Allan got into his cycling gear to head home to spend the rest of the day with his family over the border in France.
He was also a very keen historian. I recall on a visit to Copenhagen in 2010 when Allan took me out towards the mermaid monument and the fortress there, we walked for an hour before the sun went down. Allan's stories and his knowledge of the history of the battles for Copenhagen were so enthralling and impressive - his was a mind full of information, going into the details about the cannon balls embedded in the walls at the DCA office too - he was a true historian as well as a dedicated humanitarian. His attitude, collegiality, commitment and knowledge were second to none.
Maiken, you and your boys are blessed to have had such a fantastic friend, husband and father. Remember and cherish all the best moments and times, keep them with you to give you strength.
A prayer:
Merciful God, we give you thanks for the life, service, and witness of our brother Allan Jensen. You heal the broken in heart and bind up the wounds of the afflicted. Strengthen us in our witness, calm our troubled spirits, and dispel our doubts and fears. In Christ’s rising from the dead, you conquered death and opened the gates to everlasting life. Renew our trust in you that by the power of your love we shall one day be brought together again with our brother Allan. Grant this, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
