Tribute to Dr. Beth Awuor Rapuoda by Patty OKong’o
March 13th 2008
Today is a day for mourning and remembering the suddern demise of Dr. Beth Awuor Rapuoda , a Medical Parasitologist, in the Division of Malaria Control in Kenya.
We are pained to the core. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. We are all united, not only in our desire to pay our respects to Dr. Beth, but rather in our need to do so since this is truly a national loss, the country is mourning.
Today is our chance to say ‘thank you’ for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came at all. Only now you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are without, and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult.
Your wonderfully mischievous sense of humour with a laugh that bent you double, your joy for life transmitted wherever you took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. But your greatest gift was your intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what under pinned all your other wonderful attributes. And if we look to analyse what it was about you that had such a wide appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives. Without your God-given sensitivity, we would be immersed in greater ignorance at the anguish of Malaria epidemics.
On behalf of the Koduma’s , I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young offspring ; Tilla and Steve so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.
We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.
I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time, for taking Beth at her most beautiful, radiant and above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I’m so proud to be able to call my sister the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Beth whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds. We have all despaired for our loss only the manner in which you lived your life professionally has afforded us the strength to move forward.
Your wonderfully mischievous sense of humour with a laugh that bent you double, your joy for life transmitted wherever you took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. But your greatest gift was your intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what under pinned all your other wonderful attributes. And if we look to analyse what it was about you that had such a wide appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives. Without your God-given sensitivity, we would be immersed in greater ignorance at the anguish of Malaria epidemics.
On behalf of the Koduma’s , I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young offspring ; Tilla and Steve so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.
We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.
I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time, for taking Beth at her most beautiful, radiant and above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I’m so proud to be able to call my sister the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Beth whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds. We have all despaired for our loss only the manner in which you lived your life professionally has afforded us the strength to move forward.
Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue "Your dedication and professionalism have moved to higher celestial.
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