Thank you Domi

More than seven years ago Dominique Saillard came back from what she calls her 'WRI exile'. As many of you know, Domi had been on the staff of WRI for several years in the nineties, forming a dream team with Howard. When Howard became chair in 2006, WRI didn't have a treasurer. So as one of his first tasks as Chair he said "I know the perfect person to ask to be treasurer - it is Domi! I just need to convince her..." At the time we didn't know how successful Howard's persuasion of Domi would be, but he regularly reported that he was making more and more progress in getting WRI a treasurer. Finally in 2007 he announced that Domi was going to join the next meeting of the Executive Committee in London. Those of us on the Exec who yet didn't know Domi were full of curiosity about who this person that Howard praised so highly was. As we were getting ready for the Exec, the news came that Domi actually was not going to be able to join us, as part of a mountain had fallen on her house destroying a large part of it - luckily no one was hurt. So we had to keep on waiting to meet Domi, and that happened at the next Executive Committee, when Domi finally came back from her exile. At that first Exec, Domi suddenly received the call that back home her goat had died - so you can see we were not having the best of starts - first the mountain collapsing and now the goat! Finally Domi decided that maybe best was to bring the Exec - and not just the Exec, but also the whole Council - to Bilbao, where she lives. Domi hosted and fundraised the 2008 Council almost single-handedly, showing the level of commitment and work that she was willing to put as treasurer, doing work for WRI at all crazy times.

From then on it was clear that she would be more than a treasurer: WRI now had a part time worker, and for free! It is impossible to describe the amount of work that Domi has put into making WRI financially viable - last year was the first year without a deficit! The conferences in India and South Africa were particularly intense times. Domi was clear that these conferences would not touch WRI's reserves and ideally would bring in money, and that is exactly what happened. At the conference Domi was many times working behind the scenes. Actually it was Domi that made a lot of it happen. Without her it would have been a completely different story.

These nearly eight years have not been without difficulties, and losing Howard was the most heartbreaking of all. Domi was the first person at WRI to be informed about Howard's passing, and she had the impossible task of informing many of us,. You wouldn't have wanted to hear the news from anybody else. Howard and Domi shared a strong friendship and also an understanding of WRI: not just as a network of organisations and individuals, but of friends and a community where we care for each other. In this sense Domi was someone you could trust to go to to talk through difficult issues, and trust she would deal with them thoughtfully. Domi's warmth meant you felt safe and protected by her. Like most of us, Domi also enjoys a good laugh, and most importantly Domi had the capacity to laugh when things were looking more grim, which kept the spirits up.

Domi has started a new very much deserved exile from WRI, but this time we will not have Howard to persuade her to come back. We will need to find another tactic in future to lure her back into this community that she is a big part of, however much she needs another exile right now!

As staff we don't have enough words to express our feelings for Domi, we can just say that it has been the best to have you as one more of the team and we will miss you.

Big hugs,

Hannah & Javier