BYE-BYE BA NKOM
These are very sad days for our family and friends, as well as, for our well-wishers and for those who held late Mr. Titus N. Fomuso (Ba Nkom), in high regards. It is my fervent prayer that as the following posthumous love letter to my elder brother goes to wish a most eternal rest to the departed, the words should also serve as a source of comfort for the rest of us, in hopes that the life he led brightly illuminates our paths, and enable us to also plant our strides in integrity, as we march towards the inevitable call of provenance, in Jesus' Mighty Name I pray.
My dear brother, your passing painfully reminds me of difficult times in the past, when our family, village, nation and in fact, our faith world had to grapple with the demise of one of our greats. In each instant, and with your trademark emphatic style, your opening line to me was, "A great tree has fallen!" Ba Nkom, this time around, our family, village, nation and indeed, our wider Faith world, in collective exclamation is yelling, "A GREAT TREE HAS FALLEN!" and the said GREAT TREE, regrettably, is YOU!
I could easily produce a treatise, in fact, a sizable book on how this qualitative attribute relates to you. But for the sake of requisite brevity, however, I'd limit myself to an abridged version of this accounting, no pun intended.
In both our maternal and paternal families, you held a revered place in the hearts of many, because, amongst other things, none, to the best of my knowledge, knew more about our genealogy than you did and readily willing to share the knowledge with any and all that betrayed a thirst to drink from such a rich fountain of knowledge. There were times that, like other relatives, I wondered how you could know so much about such large families, to which we belong, especially viewing that you displayed such a command of intricate details, including the tale of happenings at a time when you were not even born! You are known to so masterfully weave your way through our family tree with such a relish that if oral history were even an elephant, any would love to swallow it whole.
When the occasion demanded that you stretch out and take on the story of the birth and growth of Bali Nyonga, our beloved village, you, equally, tackled the tale with total gusto. I especially enjoyed your take on the topic of our tribal royal succession and how it intersects with the paramount lineage of our maternal family. Oh, such a wonderful storyteller you were and will be dearly missed!
Ba Nkom, as you must have heard from others, firsthand, your contribution to the building of our nation, in the early post-colonial decades, is a sweet and shining story that certainly can construct a book of its own. I'm referring to succulent stories such as your part in building the celebrated National Produce Marketing Board (NPMB), a successful agro-centric corporation that is said to have subsidized the national government of our country, on numerous occasions. Thank you for displaying an unblemished patriotic spirit and for holding yourself to impeccable ethical standards, though you had the trying and troubling task of dispensing your services, during an era that even a saint would be tempted to shamelessly soil self.
As for the things of the Lord, the zeal you exhibited was palpably infectious. Prominent therein, were your very vigorous and vibrant chairman role in a local congregation at Nkwen, in the Cameroons, to your prominent choral activities at Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church, USA, where you had a practice run for the highly coveted heavenly choir in which you now proudly and prominently participate.
On a personal note, my beloved brother, it is with animated, though subdued joy that I pen this final and most important missive to you, thanks to your baby sisters, Mrs. Justine Dzekashu, who befriended me to melodic poetry, right at infancy, and Mrs. Alice Sama, who taught me, in later elementary schooling, the admirable art of using local coloring to bring out the beauty in my creative writing, make it essay writing. As for you, the undisputed linguist, I appreciate you for using your sound strength in the queen's language to deftly drill life and joy into my diction. In effect, thank you, big brother, for the invaluable role you played in the overall improvement of my intellect and benefit. I will forever and immeasurably be grateful for the guardian role that you assumed in my life, when our father passed into glory, in my infancy.
A faith leader that I so admire, nurses the habit of frequently saying, "The end of a thing is better than the beginning." While, all along, I fully thought I understood what he meant by this statement, it is only in the clear context and complexity of our interpersonal dealings, as I now reflect, that the validity and beauty of that truism, jump out at me. Early in our interactions, as you would agree, the joy of siblinghood was nothing to write home about, as is commonly evident in most sibling relations. But our exchanges later in life were so sweet, such that they sure are indelibly edged in my mind. The days that we sat and shared smarts on history, economics, politics, management, and even SPORTS, etc., are now relics that I'd conjure, from time to time, to relive and indulge myself in the good times we had.
The crowning glory, it'll amuse you to learn, is the day you had our brother, Ba Thaddeus Ndanjong, your bosom companion, drive you over to pick me up, in your spiffy drive, so we could go celebrate the new vehicle you just bought. That day, we enjoyed the company of each other, and friends, as I was again chanced to learn one more thing from you, which is, to always carry myself with absolute dignity; YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! Thank you my brother, thank you for your love, as I definitely do declare that I LOVE YOU TOO, if my previous pronouncements were not loud enough.
To say you worked very hard in life, to the very end, would be an understatement. Rest well in the eternal glory of the Lord Almighty, for the rest you now rest, is remarkably well deserved.
Over the river they called you,
friends that were dear to your heart;
now you have met them in glory,
never, no never to part.
Oh yes, until we meet again to part no more,
big brother, REST YE IN PEACE, PERFECT PEACE.
Bye-bye Ba Nkom, bye-bye.