Durban mourns loss of GBV activist
A champion of the GBV cause, Tamsyn Elaine Allison spearheaded a gathering at the Durban City Hall last year.
WELL-KNOWN anti Gender-Based Violence (GBV) activist and Durban North resident, Tamsyn Elaine Allison passed away on 28 April in hospital due to post birth complications.
A champion of the GBV cause, Allison spearheaded a gathering at the Durban City Hall in September last year, in the wake of slain UCT student, Uyinene Mrwetyana.
She is remembered by her partner Devan Deyzel, five children, friends, fellow activists and the host of GBV survivors she fought for and assisted over the years.
“Tamsyn was so much to so many people, it’s hard to summarise who she was. To us she was a mother, the one who knew what to do in an emergency, the one who coordinated almost everything, the idealist in the family who taught our children about what is right and wrong in the world. But lastly she was my beloved, as I was hers, the one I shared everything with, the one nothing felt unachievable with,” said Deyzel.
Allison’s 10-year-old daughter, Jasmin Allison added: “She was a very special woman in my life, she showed me how to be myself, she showed me that I was strong and that I can be who I want. I wish she were here to hear me say ‘I love you mom’.”
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Close friend, Cookie Edwards met Allison in 2017 in a planning meeting for the Total Shutdown march on GBV and femicide.
“Her love for people was boundless because she would drop everything and assist someone as best as she could. We worked together assisting survivors of gender-based violence and sometimes got frustrated with the lack of services and resources available. Tamsyn touched people’s lives that once you met her you never forgot her,” said Edwards.
Emma Kennedy added: “Tamsyn changed lives through her activism, which grew out of her way of living authentically. She was a firebrand with a huge heart. And she did all this while being witty, raucous and hilarious.”
Another close friend to Allison, Sheraine Reddy of Incredible Minds Therapy Centre recalled how Allison was proudly autistic with gifted intelligence and a progressive view of education.
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“She ensured that her children were not confined to conventional learning. She loved teaching sustainability, self-sufficiency and a consciousness for the environment,” said Reddy.
Allison was also known for her work with Conversations for a Just SA and Collective Action where she arranged money, food and shelter.
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