Fare thee well

Highlights

Aging is a blessing that is not afforded all people People console people. Life is best lived when people are together Do not withdraw from us It will be well with us Kiumbe worked well with his own hands Love and express love now

Intro

On Monday last week, Kiumbe sent a text message to say that he was not well and had gone to a hospital in Isiolo. He had taken himself by his own car. He was attended to and left to be asked to get back there the next day. That was Tuesday. On going the following day, the doctors found that the illness had become more severe and had him admitted in the hospital with some life support equipment. On Wednesday, the family found that he was not responding well, and he had to be moved to Avenue hospital in Nairobi. He was there just until the next day when the doctors announced that he had died. The passing on of our brother has been a shock for all of us as a family. We have not seen an illness that has robbed someone of their lives in just about 3 days. You would expect that to happen in a traffic accident or something else to do with a bad injury.

From this kid’s death, we have asked ourselves deep questions that have reflected on the pain of our time. In messages of condolences we have been encouraged and supported by everyone that has reached out to us. This death is particularly painful because Kiumbe was a very young person. Yes, we have heard all about how we cannot complain regarding how young he was. However, we now start to know that aging is a privilege. Getting old is not guaranteed. Do not take it for granted that you are now getting gray hair, wrinkled and old. Many times, people look down on how old they are, and do not get comfortable talking about aging. We should celebrate aging. In this though, Kiumbe lived a full life. I would ask how many years is a full life.

The man

Not many people knew Kiumbe. This is mostly because in his adult life he has not been here in Meru. He has always worked outside of this town. For that I will tell you a few things about him.

Kiumbe was particularly industrious. The he was known to do what it took to get to where he needed to get. He was not one to go around telling everyone what he was doing. He did not speak much. I would like to point out that after his high school education, Kiumbe did not get the score that sends someone directly to University. However, that did not stop him from doing his thing, taking the long route to get to where he wanted to. He took the long route, did his CPA went on to get an undergraduate degree when very few of us knew he was working on it. And when he got that degree, he still did not post a big splashy graduation thing. He just posted a picture of him in a cap and gown and we were all asking, what was that about?

Kiumbe loved his wife and child. He labored to make sure they were comfortable and well taken care of.

Anesthesia

When I first went to the United States in 2003, I had a bad toothache. I went on to see a dentist who examined to tooth and, based on the damage he saw recommended that I have my tooth extracted. He went on to say that based on the location of the tooth, and that it was molar, several things would go wrong if I just removed one molar. All other teeth on the lower jaw would fall out of place the best option was going to be removing all four molars. He went on to say that the last molars are not particularly essential for our living and we could do without them.

Unlike other illnesses where a doctor would go ahead and treat you immediately, I had to set an appointment for a later date to have the surgery done. I was advised not to eat for 8 hours. I was put under local anesthesia by a type of an injection. It would take a few minutes before the tooth would be completely numb. When he started the extraction process, I noticed that he kept adding on the numbing medication. This was because every few minutes the numbing power of the anesthesia would subside. When the process was completed, I was asked to rest for a day, not eat anything except for soft food. After that, if would feel pain, I would take to very strong pain medication. After a few days the pain would go away, and I would be well again. That was obviously a minor loss. See I am still here, and I have eaten well, as you can see for almost 20 years when my teeth have been missing. The loss of teeth is not in any way comparable to the loss of a person. My dental formula was not complete anymore. It was a loss.

Today we are mourning the loss of one of us that has been taken away from us. In this loss, our family has seen incredible support from here and around the world. People have expressed care, love, and compassion for us to help us live through this. Your care and love are very much like the anesthesia that was applied to my teeth when they were being removed. You have helped us cope. I have not seen another time when the presence of people has been so meaningful to us. You have comforted us. You have wiped our tears and allowed us to cry on your shoulders. Like anesthesia, we have been receiving more and more doses of it to help us live through it.

Please never take for granted any opportunity to mourn the loss of someone else. We have valued your presence today.

When you start to see that pain is coming back on please apply more anesthesia.

K