• 'Being kind and considerate to others can make you stand out in an outstanding way.'
Image: ENOS TECHE
'Bob liked to quote his Excellency John Mahama [former Ghanaian president] who once told him of power and succession; that one must live when the applause is loudest.
Bob left when the applause was loudest.
Bob was a different sort of person.
On Tuesday, as our convoy made its way to Kariokor for Bob's cremation, an elderly gentleman in a bright orange jacket stood on the side of the road, raised his right hand in the air and saluted.
As our convoy slowed down, he shouted, 'Bob, we love you, you have done well. Go well, Bob.'
It's someone that I will probably never meet again. A Kenyan like myself who felt that his duty that morning was to stand on the side of the road and announce to the world that Bob had left a mark in his life, nothing more.'
Kamiru read a speech former Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore gave to young children from 2013.
'I've adapted it a little to suit today's' celebration.
The powerful words in the speech were,
A person is a person no matter how small.
Sometimes all you need to do is speak up when you think something is not fair. Speaking up is the basic idea of activism. Speaking out is one way of making things right, doing what we can is another way.
We can do a lot by being considerate of our friends and family, our neighbours and our little brothers and sisters and our surroundings. We need to remember to see each other. To say hello and to say thank you.
Being considerate means caring, how you treat yourself, others and what's around you. You have to be gentle... He was so big that he couldn't see little people. He was so gentle and this is what saved him.
Being kind and considerate to others can make you stand out in an outstanding way.
As you begin to shine, you'll meet more and more people who will not like you. There will be those who will envy you, those who make fun of you, those who try to make you feel guilty for being who you are. So here's my advice,
Never be ashamed of who you are. Never apologize for what you have. Never let people decide how you should feel about yourself. Be proud of yourself and achievements. Believe in yourself first...'
Ordinarily when we pay respect to those we love we give one minute of silence. Bob has chosen to give us 8 minutes of music. The piece I'm about to play Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber was his request for his memorial and a gift for you all,' she concluded.