Canadian was a ‘passionate’ teacher

Tammy Chen had been finishing her PhD when Burkina Faso attack occurred

Tammy Jane Mackay Chen, one of two Canadians killed during a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso, is being remembered as a “passionate, charismatic and diligent” teacher by her former students and colleagues.

Chen, 34, was killed alongside her husband in an attack on a restaurant Sunday night in Ouagadougou. She was six months’ pregnant and a newlywed who was living in the country while finishing a doctorate at the University of Cambridge in England. Chen and her husband, Mehsen Fenaiche, who was a Senegalese citizen and a Muslim, were married last month in Ouagadougou.

Eighteen people were killed in the attack, which is being treated as a terrorist incident.

Chen taught at Glen Ames Senior Public School until 2013 when she left for the University of Cambridge, the Toronto District School Board said in a statement Tuesday.

“Not only was she respected and well-liked by students, parents and colleagues, she was always willing to go the extra mile to help students,” the statement read.

Katrina Yablonski said Chen taught her Grade 8 French at Glen Ames, and it became one of her favourite classes.

“I was never really good at French, but she made me really excited to go to class,” Yablonski told the Star. “You could tell she was so passionate about teaching.”

She said Chen’s teaching style made the students interested in learning the course material and that it also brought the class closer together.

“She was super fun, she would always be making jokes with us. She made sure everyone felt included and welcome.”

Chen, who was from Montreal, had previously taught at Swansea Junior Public School.

The other Canadian killed in the attack was Bilel Diffalah, who had been volunteering since November 2016 as a hygiene and biosecurity adviser with a local organization known as the Interprofessional Poultry Organization, said the Montreal-based Centre for International Studies and Co-operation.

On Sunday evening, assailants arrived at the restaurant on motorcycles and began shooting randomly.

Local authorities say other foreign- ers killed include two Kuwaitis and one person each from France, Nigeria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Seven Burkina Faso citizens were also killed and authorities said three other victims have not been identified.

Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

It shares a northern border with Mali, which has long battled Islamist extremists. With files from Allan Woods