Tributes have been paid to award winning journalist Elizabeth Merab who succumbed to sickle cell on Saturday aged 31.
Merab was a gifted writer and journalist attached to Nation Media Group.
She died in the wee hours of Saturday morning after battling complications from the disease that had occasioned the amputation of her left leg a few months ago.
Nation Media Group Editorial Director Joe Ageyo has eulogized Merab as a focused and solutions-oriented journalist. He told the Nation:
“She was among an increasingly rare breed of journalists who believe in the life changing power of good journalism,”
NMG’s Group managing Editor Pamella Sittoni said: “She will be greatly missed by the Nation family and the journalism fraternity where her affable personality earned her many friends,”
Merab studied English and literature at Kenyatta University graduating in 2014 and two years later joined the media industry.
She earned love and empathy from many as she shared her personal journey on social media from time to time documenting her treatment process.
According to family sources she was diagnosed with sickle cell at the age 10.
“She was everything you’d want in a journalist, keen to detail, steadfast and always passionate to change the world through her writing, we are glad that she has left us with such enriching and sweet memories” a colleague told Presshub Africa.
Journalist Mangoa Mosota wrote: “Her charm and vivacity was mind-boggling despite battling a debilitating sickness for more than 20 years”
Merab’s last article for the Nation was incidentally on sickle cell, focusing on the discontinuation of the search on the sickle cell cure”
