Job 1:20-22
Then Job stood up, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, bowed very low and exclaimed “I left my mother’s womb naked and I will return to the Lord naked…”
“The Lord has given and the Lord has taken. May the name of the Lord be blessed….”
We can only agree with Job fully in these circumstances, having lost a dear father whom I have known for over five and half decades!!
My Dad was a soft-spoken Christian, loving Father as well as a hard-working, disciplined, tolerable and very accommodating person, but also a disciplinarian.
He was selfless (even to a fault). Excellence was his hallmark. He was an epitome of Christ likeness and naturally a born priest. I cannot forget our having to call out residents in Kwabenya Village to come to the infant Methodist Church in the late 1970`s on several Sunday mornings. He made Christianity attractive such that evangelism was a way of life.
Daa, your life can be summed up simply as a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
Being your first born son among many other adopted ones, you encouraged me to live up to my responsibilities as a leader. Daa, I can only assure you that we whom you have placed in responsible positions will not let you down. Da, as an educationist, you were our mentor encouraging us to attain the highest level in our academic pursuits. You impressed upon us to work out our “academic salvation with fear and trembling” which resulted in us gaining admission to Presec, Achimota, Wesley Girls and Aburi Girls without you influencing because you would not employ any ways and means as some parents do. It is not by accident that we all now work in Universities and Para Church following your career path. We are most grateful.
Hard work was your virtue. You and Ma taught us for long to work in the farms in Legon and Kwabenya which did us more good than harm. Indeed, it was my experience on the farm in 1980 in the USA that enabled me earn my first income in US dollars at age sixteen!! To a large extent our backyard garden served us well even in the drought in the mid 1980’s during when I became a consultant in charcoal making on the University of Ghana where we lived.
Long before you were commissioned as a Minister and Priest, you, as the spiritual family head, inculcated in us the need for family altar, with Ma supporting you. Even after all of us left your nest, the year’s ritual of gathering together for family worship and prayer stayed on. The last one we had with you was on the 25th December, 2019 at Ofankor. It dawned on me then, could this be the last in your presence? Your visionary role in the extended Kudadjie family committed us all to family unity.
One cannot give this tribute without recollecting the events of Tuesday 21st January, 2020. It was no different from the many Tuesdays we had accompanied you to the hospital for your routine checkup. That day, despite the fact that all the family was with you, you refused to come back home as always. Indeed, you decided to take a flight back to that better home for your eternal rest. Your last polite words were “can someone please organize some malt for me?” Your request for your favorite malt drink a few hours before you passed on was one request we had to accede to and we are glad we did. My having to set aside my original six-page tribute for this one is an attempt to live up to one of your attributes of considering others before yourself. “Loving your neighbor as yourself.” This was too stringently applied by you such that you often deferred to others when you needed more attention at the hospital, much to the chagrin of medical staff who patiently waited to attend to you.
Da, let me confess that one cannot find enough tears to shed, maybe because I am in total denial that you are gone. The calm and peaceful expression on your lifeless body when the doctor told me to confirm your demise falsely impressed upon me that you are still here. We however find comfort in one of your favorite hymns, Methodist Hymn book (MHB 608), which we will sing soon
Captain of Israel’s host and Guide
Of all who seek the land above
Beneath Thy shadows we abide
The cloud of Thy protecting love.
Our strength, Thy grace our rule Thy word
Our end the glory of the Lord.
By Thy unerring spirit led,
We shall not in the desert stray
We shall not full direction need
Nor miss our providential way
As far from danger as from fear
While love almighty love is near.
For all of us, whether dead or alive, we are on a pilgrimage needing God`s guidance and persevering Spirit as we journey to the deserved rest. Da, my last words to you when we arrived at Korle-bu was “Da wa su Korle-bu” in that heavenly Dangme language, to which you confidently nodded your response.
Since you passed on not too long after that, now I believe that you understood my statement as meaning “we have arrived in Heaven.”
Da, rest in peacefully in the bosom of our God, till we meet again.
“wo ojogban”
“mo ya wo saminya”