09-06 2020 22:52
wrote:
Dr T (as he was affectionately known in our circle) was many things to many people. I wouldn’t want to say I knew him as a boss. He wore so many hats: a colleague, teacher, mentor, father figure and in some instances, a friend. I spent time traveling with this man, taking meals with him, engaging in all sorts of conversations from home construction, work experiences to life decisions Much as we had our differences, we understood each other. I had respect for him and appreciated the wisdom he shared with me so freely. Things that I am sure of:
He LOVED his family. His wife was his number one. He would always buy a gift for his wife whenever we traveled. I remember on our last shopping spree we went hunting for a rice cooker because she needed one. I had no idea that would be my last shopping trip with him.
He loved his children. His daughter, the one who has an entrepreneurial spirit (he enjoyed talking about her online store), his son: the one who’s in finance but is a tech guru ( follow your dreams), his other son ( he was proud of the man you are). He loved his children greatly, there was no doubt about that.
He was generous (I would always get packs of Malawi rice on request)
He enjoyed sport. He would always tell me stories about how he played different sports in his heydays.
He always had a story. I often admired how he had managed to work in various fields from hospitality, media, the NGO sector... his vast experience and the stories he shared with me were also learning points for me. He will never know it but he helped me see how interesting life can be.
He was a free spirit and he loved music. I recall him telling me about his side hustles. The music equipment he owned and how he would collect music from the different countries we traveled to. He had a whole collection that I envied and I would always threaten to get music off his laptop if ever he left it unattended.
He was slow to anger. I know there were moments when I would probably annoy the life out of him. I ask a LOT of questions and sometimes I never got the answers to some, but he allowed me to be me.
He would always smile. Even when things were hard, he would be optimistic and cheerful and tell me everything would be fine.
He trusted me. We had a cordial, complicated and at the same time understanding working relationship. He would allow me to do certain things, sometimes against his better judgment. And because of that I always made sure that whatever decision I came up with wouldn’t leave him embarrassed. This allowed me to grow.
Sometimes we had to make decisions together and stand by them as a team. His commitment to the work that we did was admirable. He was a gender champion. He would often talk about how his respect for women stemmed from his childhood where gender roles were never an issue when he was brought up. He believed in women’s power to make change and we hope we can uphold his legacy.
Sometimes I felt like he worked too hard. I would often tell him to find a personal assistant or someone that could help him manage certain things. Sometimes I felt like he needed to take a break. Sometimes I would tell him... delegate some tasks. But because of his commitment and unwavering work ethic, he always felt he had to get things done.
In my last conversation with him, we laughed about how my continued talk about using new tech platforms for our project management was something that he just wasn’t keen on exploring. He stated that it was all getting more complicated by the day. And I understood him because change is never easy. My words to him were: “you pride yourself in learning new things, this will be one of the new things for 2020”. He was always open to a challenge and never stopped learning.
Words cannot express the man that he was to me. I was waiting eagerly for the details on elections in Malawi because we always had time to discuss the ridiculousness of our politics. I was also waiting for our next meet up in person to tell him about all the progress I’ve made personally. For years he would ask me when I was going to visit Malawi. Our journey was filled with lots of ups and downs, we experienced losses together, we celebrated wins, we mourned and recovered, I never once thought that I’d be here writing a message like this for him, mourning him and at the same time knowing he would want us to celebrate the life he lived.
My last message to him was from
Psalm 34:19-20 : "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken." I thought he was better...
He is in God’s hands... it is hard to accept but as a believer, I know that it is in the time in which he was alive that we ought to think about the happy moments we had.
For his guidance, I will be forever grateful. The moments we had will be cherished. I thank God for the life that he gave us in Dr Tikhala Chibwana. May his dear soul Rest In Peace.
09-06 2020 22:52
wrote:
Dr T (as he was affectionately known in our circle) was many things to many people. I wouldn’t want to say I knew him as a boss. He wore so many hats: a colleague, teacher, mentor, father figure and in some instances, a friend. I spent time traveling with this man, taking meals with him, engaging in all sorts of conversations from home construction, work experiences to life decisions Much as we had our differences, we understood each other. I had respect for him and appreciated the wisdom he shared with me so freely. Things that I am sure of:
He LOVED his family. His wife was his number one. He would always buy a gift for his wife whenever we traveled. I remember on our last shopping spree we went hunting for a rice cooker because she needed one. I had no idea that would be my last shopping trip with him.
He loved his children. His daughter, the one who has an entrepreneurial spirit (he enjoyed talking about her online store), his son: the one who’s in finance but is a tech guru ( follow your dreams), his other son ( he was proud of the man you are). He loved his children greatly, there was no doubt about that.
He was generous (I would always get packs of Malawi rice on request)
He enjoyed sport. He would always tell me stories about how he played different sports in his heydays.
He always had a story. I often admired how he had managed to work in various fields from hospitality, media, the NGO sector... his vast experience and the stories he shared with me were also learning points for me. He will never know it but he helped me see how interesting life can be.
He was a free spirit and he loved music. I recall him telling me about his side hustles. The music equipment he owned and how he would collect music from the different countries we traveled to. He had a whole collection that I envied and I would always threaten to get music off his laptop if ever he left it unattended.
He was slow to anger. I know there were moments when I would probably annoy the life out of him. I ask a LOT of questions and sometimes I never got the answers to some, but he allowed me to be me.
He would always smile. Even when things were hard, he would be optimistic and cheerful and tell me everything would be fine.
He trusted me. We had a cordial, complicated and at the same time understanding working relationship. He would allow me to do certain things, sometimes against his better judgment. And because of that I always made sure that whatever decision I came up with wouldn’t leave him embarrassed. This allowed me to grow.
Sometimes we had to make decisions together and stand by them as a team. His commitment to the work that we did was admirable. He was a gender champion. He would often talk about how his respect for women stemmed from his childhood where gender roles were never an issue when he was brought up. He believed in women’s power to make change and we hope we can uphold his legacy.
Sometimes I felt like he worked too hard. I would often tell him to find a personal assistant or someone that could help him manage certain things. Sometimes I felt like he needed to take a break. Sometimes I would tell him... delegate some tasks. But because of his commitment and unwavering work ethic, he always felt he had to get things done.
In my last conversation with him, we laughed about how my continued talk about using new tech platforms for our project management was something that he just wasn’t keen on exploring. He stated that it was all getting more complicated by the day. And I understood him because change is never easy. My words to him were: “you pride yourself in learning new things, this will be one of the new things for 2020”. He was always open to a challenge and never stopped learning.
Words cannot express the man that he was to me. I was waiting eagerly for the details on elections in Malawi because we always had time to discuss the ridiculousness of our politics. I was also waiting for our next meet up in person to tell him about all the progress I’ve made personally. For years he would ask me when I was going to visit Malawi. Our journey was filled with lots of ups and downs, we experienced losses together, we celebrated wins, we mourned and recovered, I never once thought that I’d be here writing a message like this for him, mourning him and at the same time knowing he would want us to celebrate the life he lived.
My last message to him was from
Psalm 34:19-20 : "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken." I thought he was better...
He is in God’s hands... it is hard to accept but as a believer, I know that it is in the time in which he was alive that we ought to think about the happy moments we had.
For his guidance, I will be forever grateful. The moments we had will be cherished. I thank God for the life that he gave us in Dr Tikhala Chibwana. May his dear soul Rest In Peace.
