A Tribute written by Nchumbonga George Lekelefac, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany, Good Friday, April 2, 2021
Pa Peter Alemanji re-locates to heaven (Goes Home) to be with the Lord forever (25.08.1941-27.03.2021),
1. Introduction
Ever since I was informed by Patience Awungacha on March 27, 2021 of the death of Pa Peter Alemanji, I have been struggling to put my feelings and emotions into writing to express the tremendous vacuum that his absence will cause, not only to the Alemanji family, but to the entire Lebang.
One week after his death, I have been able to use the right words to write a tribute on this great man who has gone to meet the Lord to rest and rejoice with him forever.
In the shadow of the celebrated residence of Pa Peter Alemanji at Kumba, there lies a man whose promotion to Glory should claim, from every conscious Cameroonian, the tribute of a thought. For if the Wind of Change sweeping through Cameroon today goes down as the revolution which more than anything else put a mark on the nineteenth century, Pa Peter Alemanji, Cameroonian citizen from Lebang, celebrated Soban and exemplary family man.
His passing is the passing of a great Africanist, man of culture, energetic Catholic lay Christian in society to the marrow.
I feel pulled between the poles of honour, humility and trepidation to write this tribute. For a man to have stood firm by his moral principles, to have fought for them from youth to the extreme of age, is proof enough of a back-bone of granite. But power of emotion and a will of iron would be but blind and passionate obstinacy, or even destructive wrongheadedness, if they were not enlightened.
2. Christmas Holidays with Pa Peter Alemanji (1997)
The year is 1997, the month is December. The day is on the 19th, when I spent my very holidays with Pa Peter Alemanji. He received me as if I was one of his sons. My cherished aunt, Mami Kumba took me to the farm. We went by train. That was how I enjoyed my very first holidays at Kumba with the Alemanji’s. I was formed there to be brave. I still remember vividly as if it was yesterday. I was far from home, but not far from love and care. I did not miss my home at all, because Pa Kumba’s home was totally hospitable.
I consider Pa Peter Alemanji a father because I spent most of my holidays in Kumba at his residence, and he treated me like one of his children with no discrimination whatsoever.
I enjoyed polishing his “British shoes” every morning and I loved to hear the “diplomatic sound” his shoes made whenever you walked into the house due to the iron which was under it. He always dressed like a gentleman with a British hat whenever he was going to the office.
3. Pa Peter Alemanji: Man with profound Faith in God
During my holidays with him in 1997, Pa Peter always went for Mass on Sundays. We went together as a family for worship. He loved the Church and practiced his faith. He believed in God and always insisted that all his children take their spiritual life seriously, and all of them did understand him and emulated his example.
Recently, during my stay at Yaounde at the residence of my cousin, Vivian Agbor, I was thrilled when she took me for Mass at Mount Febe on Sunday, October 4, 2020, where I was pleased to meet Fr. Jervis Kebei. That moment brought unforgettable memories of my first holiday at Kumba, and made me remember how Pa Peter Alemanji used to say with that his sweet voice: “Let us go to Church”. His children did not forget that example of the need to have a profound relationship with the Lord.
4. Pa Peter Alemanji: Man of Unity
As a young boy growing up, I still remember that when my brothers were travelling abroad, Pa Peter Alemanji always travelled all the way from Kumba to come to Mbalmayo to attend the send-off party. This example depicted his love for extended family members and his interest in family unity. Unfortunately, this family unity which existed no longer does and it is my fervent wish as a neutral person in the matter, that both families take this moment of Pa Peter Alemanji’s death, to seriously contemplate and reflect profoundly for a solution to this family problem which has continuously divided the family and made the younger ones not to enjoy the family unity which we enjoyed. The time is now for a radical u-turn and conflict resolution to be done. We must use this occasion as Christians and as a family to make lasting peace by saying no to the devil’s evil plans of materialistic possessions which do not take us to anywhere but instead deviates us from Jesus Christ, who is the way, truth and life. This is therefore an urgent and serious question to be examined thoroughly after Pa Peter Alemanji's burial, without ruffled emotions, without anguish, but with total and complete coolness of head and heart.
As I spoke with him during his 77th birthday at Essen, he revealed to me his dying need for peace and reconciliation in the family. Unfortunately, he did not live to see that unity. However, we must take the bull by the horn to fulfill his dying need for peace and reconciliation, for it is our duty to watch the world with scrutiny in order to see, not only situations that have arrived, but also those in the offing, those whose time has not yet come; to collect facts and data, to examine them intensively, extensively, coldly, dispassionately, and with intellectual honesty, without taking sides; it is our duty to scrutinize them with our minds shorn of foregone conclusions, to analyze them without mindless mirth or needless bitterness, and draw, from them, the conclusions that follow with sillogistic rigor. It is my wish, that this dying need for peace and reconciliation among the families which Pa Peter Alemanji dyingly wanted to see be realized after his burial. We must make him happy by fulfilling the peace and reconciliation he wanted to see before his death. I believe, that the intellectuals in the family will see to it that this peace and reconciliation is attained through intellectual honesty.
5. Pa Alemanji’s 77th Birthday Celebration at Essen, Germany (August 25, 2018)
I met Pa Peter for the very last time physically on August 25, 2018, at Essen on the celebration of his 77th Birthday. He left us to join Our heavenly Father on March 27, 2021 at the ripe age of 79. During his 77th birthday celebration, we danced together and we sang with him. He was excited and thrilled.
6. Pa Peter Carried the Cross in Sickness
Pa Peter suffered with Christ. He travelled all the way to India for medication which reduced his pains. He suffered like Christ and with faith and fortitude, he trusted in the Lord Jesus. His life teaches us carry our daily crosses and follows him daily in our sickness, in our troubles.
7. Pa Peter Alemanji: Man endowed with keeness of mind
There can be no genuine radical or progressive who is not at the same time endowned with keenness of mind. For, if indignation is to be a constructive force, it must be led by deep insight; problem must be clearly understood before appropriate remedies for them can be proposed. And yet, merely natural intelligence will not do, it must be intelligence deepened profoundly by study and fed with fact and principle. For if a person is able to get at the truth, right from the start, there is little danger – other qualities being present – that he will abandon the cause before it is won. That is why it is a grave error for a policy or a programme for the welfare of men to be based on airy assumptions. Thanks to Pa Peter Alemanji’s keenness of mind, thanks to his early research and seasoned scholarship at Sasse College, Pa Peter Alemanji got so clear a grasp of the need to be disciplined, the need to work hard, that he never had cause to abandon his course, at least in so far as far as fundamentals were concerned. He educated his eleven children with discipline.
8. A Monument to his Name
Remembering Pa Peter Alemanji therefore, is an opportunity to recall his contributions to laying the foundation for the production of the quality and caliber of men and women of yesterday whose legendary moral fiber still resonates in Cameroon today.
The real challenge for us now is, what really is Pa Peter Alemanji’s legacy? How should we remember him? Who was he for Cameroonians as a community? My relationship with Pa Peter Alemanji would be the stuff of a large book. But there can be no better way of hallowing the name of Pa Peter Alemanji, no monument to his memory more lasting than to take up the fight where he left it and to remain faithful to the principles to the end.
The only genuine way whereby the Alemanji’s family and other families and friends of Pa Peter Alemanji can honour their departed father and hero is to dedicate themselves anew to their task; to resolve that there shall be no compromise with reaction; that they shall strive further an ever closer union and unity with members of other families in true love and openness.
His death reminds us of his love for family unity and should prick the consciences of all for a lasting peace in the family.
His death reminds us of the need to have a profound relationship with God in our daily lives.
The challenge for us now is to review the future and think about how to immortalize this great legend of a man, a man – Pa Peter Alemanji who fought and won many wars of terrible sicknesses and pathetic situations without lifting his finger.
He leaves behind 9 children, a lovely-hardworking wife – my aunt, and so many grandchildren and countless friends to emulate his exemplary life.
9. Conclusion
My prayers for Pa Peter Anu Alemanji are similar to that which was said by Cardinal Ratzinger at the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II in 2004 when he said: ‘Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Like Stephen, may the gates of heaven stand erect till Pa Peter Alemanji has passed through.
May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
This Tribute was respectfully, devotedly, affectionately, and prayerfully written and submitted today, Good Friday, April 2, 2021 for publication.
Written by Nchumbonga George Lekelefac, B. Phil. (Mexico), STB. (Roma), JCL/MCL. (Ottawa); Diploma in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Dutch; [Degrees earned in order to serve mankind better and not otherwise]; Doctorate Candidate at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Katholisch Theologische Fakultät, Ökumenisches Institut, Münster, Deutschland, Europe, Good Friday, April 2, 2021, as a sincere and profound sign of appreciation to Pa Peter Alemanji.