• Collymore derived joy from interacting with children
Image: ENOS TECHE
Genuine, generous, humorous and did not love just for public show.
These are the words Ashley Chepkorir, a student at the M-Pesa Foundation Academy, used to describe former Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.
Chepkorir said she considered Collymore to be like a father figure to her.
She paid tribute to Collymore on Thursday during his memorial service at All Saints Cathedral.
Chepkorir, a Form Four student, flashed back to how her father-daughter relationship started with Collymore.
She recounted her first meeting with Collymore on the streets of Nairobi at the Kenya Conservotoire of Music. She approached him as he headed to his car and introduced herself as a student at the academy and requested him to visit the school.
"Surprisingly, he didn't think twice. He enthusiastically said yes," she said.
After the event, she looked for him and asked whether he lived in a cave because he couldn't be found on social media.
"He gave me his contacts and that is how we started out father-daughter relationship"
Collymore told her, "The joy of knowing children like you and all the wonderful children in the academy is immesurable."
During Father's Day, she wrote to Collymore and said that when other students talked about their dads, it is he who first came to her mind.
"He said that was the most heartfelt message he had ever received and that they shared the same father experience and refused to let the past define his future and had chosen to live a deeply fulfilling life"
She recounted how a sports day was organised and he was to attend briefly because of his busy schedule, but he ended up staying for hours.
"His emails always ended with: We all now have to focus on improving those grades as promised. On behalf of the students, his wish will be fulfilled".
Many prominent figures attended the memorial.