Fundraiser honours plane crash victim
Rifat Tawfig spent his life giving back to others.
In his death, the family and friends of the 25-year-old Niagara Falls man have come together to honour him by continuing that legacy.
Tawfig, an instructor with St. Catharines Flying Club, was one of three young men from Niagara who died in an Oct. 16 plane crash in mountainous northern Pennsylvania.
Also killed were students Ben Jeffries, 19, of Niagara-on-theLake, and Corey Mijac, 18, of St. Catharines.
The trio was returning from a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., with the St. Catharines Flying Club when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lost radio contact with the plane.
Wreckage of the aircraft, a small Piper PA-28 Cherokee, was discovered by search-andrescue crews the following day.
After news of the tragedy broke, a GoFundMe campaign was created by one of Tawfig’s close friends to see a well built in his name in Sudan, where his family is originally from.
In only two days, the online fundraiser received enough support to surpass its $10,000 goal.
The target has since been increased to $15,000, which as of Wednesday afternoon was only $150 shy of being achieved.
Ahmed Daoud, a longtime friend of Tawfig, said their families have been close since both moved to Canada from Sudan in the early 1990s.
He was always moved by Tawfig’s willingness to help others and to do what he could to contribute to the close-knit Sudanese community.
“He was just a great guy. If anybody needed a ride, even if he was going the opposite way, he would take them,” Daoud said. “He would never say no.
“He always put people ahead of himself.”
As a child, Tawfig had an unabashed love for planes.
“When he was younger, he always wanted to be a pilot,” Daoud recalled.
It was through Daoud’s father, a former pilot, that he got his first introduction to the world of flight.
He would often come asking for advice about potential paths to take that would lead to him becoming a commercial pilot for a large airline.
It was as a result of those discussions with Daoud’s father that Tawfig pursued a position as a flight instructor with the St. Catharines Flying Club.
With about 400 flying hours under his belt, he hoped to accumulate enough time in the sky to achieve his dream of working for Saudi Arabian Airlines.
His parents, while originally from Sudan, are currently living in the Middle Eastern nation.
It was Tawfig ’s sense of adventure that Daoud believes drew him to aviation.
That dream didn’t come without hesitancy from his parents, who had hoped he’d take a path similar to his father and pursue a career in medicine.
But those concerns were cast aside when they realized Tawfig was not only happy, but also quite skilled at being behind an aircraft’s controls.
Tawfig and his mother were extremely close, Daoud said.
“Every time he flies, he calls her.”
The day of the crash was no exception.
When the aircraft made a routine fuel stop in Richmond, Va., Tawfig made sure to pick up the phone and dial his mother.
“He said, “Mom, just pray for me. There’s some bad weather in the area. Pray for me that everything will be OK,” Daoud said.
When his mother learned sometime later that Tawfig’s plane had disappeared from radar, she immediately booked a flight to the U.S.
The crash is being investigated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Daoud said the family, including Tawfig’s parents and three sisters, has been “trying to hold up,” but is understandably having a hard time coping with the loss.
“He was so close to his family. Everybody, they were proud of him. His dad was really proud of him.”
The Sudanese community, members of the local mosque in St. Catharines and members of the flying club have been a strong source of support, he said.
Condolences, as well as donations, have poured into the GoFundMe page in Tawfig’s name, created by close friend Mawia Janoudy.
On the website, Janoudy, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, describes Tawfig as “one of the most patient and considerate people I have ever known.”
He reminisced about experiences the pair had shared over the years, and about how they said their future children would someday play together.
“You died doing the job that you love,” Janoudy wrote. “I’m proud to have grown alongside such a gentle and patient soul.”
“Let us strive to be better people in Rifat’s memory.”
The money will be used to build a 45-metre deep well capable of supporting 1,000 families with water daily for the next 15 years. It will be built by Muslim Aid, a U.K.-based charity.
Funds exceeding the initial goal will be used to support other well projects in Ghana, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
To donate to the GoFundMe page, visit www.gofundme.com/rifattawfigsadaqa.
A funeral service was held for Tawfig at the St. Catharines mosque on Geneva Street Wednesday, followed by a burial at the Islamic Cemetery on Yokom Road in Niagara Falls.
Services were also held Wednesday for Jeffries and Mijac at George Darte Funeral Home in St. Catharines.
In a statement provided by Daoud, Tawfig’s family extended gratitude to Niagara Regional Police, the Sudanese-Canadian community in Niagara, Sudanese Community Association of Ontario, Islamic Society of St. Catharines and the St. Catharines Flying Club for their concern and support.
The family also “send out their deep condolences to the families of the other two young men,” he said.