TRIBUTE BY SIBLINGS
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him “what have you done”. Daniel 4:35
It is with deep sorrow of the heart and a sense of great loss that we mourn the demise of our big brother Kwaku Godwin Dovlo. Indeed, coming to terms with the fact that he is no more is very distressing to us, his younger brothers and sisters. But who are we to question the creator? He knows best!
While we grieve his sudden and regrettable death, we also grieve all that we had and shared; he was not just the eldest of siblings, he lived up to the expectations of someone as such. Like a buttress, Efo Godwin provided a support system and guidance – generously sharing his resources, time and experiences with us.
Efo Godwin became the father figure in our lives after the departure of our father in 2007 to be with the Lord. He spearheaded every family activity concerning us, including the marriages of some of us. We consulted him on almost every issue that needed a second opinion, and he would constantly call or text to check on us and our nuclear families.
We grieve the future we were supposed to have together; a future where he would have continued to serve as the fulcrum of our unity - bringing us together as a family and providing support and guidance.
We grieve our painful loss because we are never ready to say goodbye. To say goodbye to someone we hold dear! Now our arms are empty, and our hearts are filled with tears and grief. All of a sudden, we find Efo Godwin’s sixty-six years on earth too brief.
More so, as we begin to reckon what it means to lose him – the huge vacuum that his demise has created - our hearts scream silently in pain.
Yet, we are persuaded by the puzzling saying that “Life is a journey, not a destination” and by Ellen Brenneman’s poem entitled: “His Journey’s Just Begun, in which she wrote the following: “And think of him as living in the hearts of those he touched… for nothing loved is ever lost and he was loved so much”.
Efo Godwin’s journey has just begun. He will continue to live in our hearts because he touched our lives, and we loved him so much.
As we lay our brother to rest, we have a conviction that “Death takes the body. God takes the soul. Our mind holds the memories. Our heart keeps the love. Our faith lets us know we will meet again” – Unknown
Efo Godwin, Rest in Peace!
Dzudzor le nutifafa me. Amen.
