Our Beloved Olga - 1981-2025

L-R Dumisani Washington, Valerie Washington, Olga Meshoe, and Joshua Washington in their first meeting, IHOP in Oakland, CA, March 2016

My daughter-in-law was an extraordinary woman whom I met through the work of her extraordinary father, Rev. Dr. Kenneth Rasalabe Joseph Meshoe. Rev is a South African Parliament Member who served with and led an opposition party to Nelson Mandela’s ANC. Rev is also the founder of DEISI, International, a Black South African pro-Israel organization formed in 2013, the same year IBSI began. I first learned of Rev when I saw this YouTube video in which he defended Israel against the false accusation of apartheid and thus began following his work. Olga would go on to become the CEO of DEISI, International and a colleague and friend of IBSI. So, in a way, I owe a debt of thanks to Israel’s enemies for being so foolish as to use the slander of apartheid. Had they never done that, I may have never met the Meshoes.

Through the collaborative work of the Washingtons and the Meshoes, our son Joshua met Olga and was instantly smitten. The feeling was mutual and about 21 months after our first face-to-face meeting (at an IHOP in Oakland, California - pictured above) they were married in our hometown of Stockton (December 2017). The next month, January 2018, Joshua and Olga had their wedding in South Africa. Joshua told me that, according to the Hebrew calendar, they were married exactly seven years and one day. To that union were born our first two grandsons, Ezra Thoriso (6) and Judah Talemwa (4).

Olga was a brilliant attorney who worked in corporate finance when she took on the work of DEISI, compelled as her father was to speak out for Zion’s sake both as a devout Christian who knew her Bible and as a proud Black South African — as she would often say, a “Daughter of Africa.” Olga was also African royalty, literally a princess of the Tswana tribe. Many knew Olga as a gifted speaker, a meticulous organizer, and a passionate advocate. She was all of those things and much more. Valerie and I have five daughters and were honored that Olga became our sixth. After battling illness for several months, she passed away on Monday, January 6th, 2025, two years to the month after her mother, Mama Lydia passed away.

After Olga was first admitted to the hospital, our dear friend Peggy Shapiro of StandWithUs in Chicago began a GoFundMe campaign for Joshua and Olga’s family. Now that fund will be used to both cover medical expenses as well as Olga’s memorial in the United States and her funeral and burial in her/our beloved South Africa. Her body will be laid next to Mama Lydia.

On behalf of the Washington family and IBSI, I want to thank each of you who have called in, emailed, texted, or posted your condolences. We also thank all who have contributed to the financial campaign. We may not be able to respond to all of you individually, but please know you are very much appreciated. We anticipate Olga’s memorial service will be in the Charlotte, North Carolina area in the coming weeks, and her funeral in South Africa will be in late January or February. Once we have the details, we will share them publicly via IBSI’s email list and social media pages.

We are heartbroken. We are devastated. But, as the Apostle Paul said, “We do not grieve as those who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4.13). We will see Olga again. We will see Mama Lydia again. We will see them in the New Jerusalem — in Zion.

Psalm 147.1-3

1 Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.