Guest Post: A Tribute to Absalom "Bimbo" Mutere

You Never Said Goodbye

Mutere! You never said I'm leaving,

You Never Said Goodbye

You were gone before we knew it,

And only God knew why.

You told us you’re going to Lusaka.

We expected you’d come back to class.

But you diverted your way to heaven

Before you filled our minds

A billion times we needed you,

A billion times we cried.

If our love alone could have saved you,

You never would have died.

Ndugu! Could you come back?

To complete your job?

To strengthen media?

And to lead Afrocentric?

You Comrades!

Do not grieve for me, for now I am free.

I am following the path God has laid, you see.

I took His hand when I heard His call,

I turned my back and left it all.

I couldn’t come back to Tz and say good bye;

I could not stay another day in Zambia,

To laugh, to love, to work or play;

Tasks left undone must stay that way

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joys;

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss, a read, a pray,

Yes, these things I did to avoid stress.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I savored much:

Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.

Don’t brood upon undue grief;

Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee.

God wanted me now; He set me free.

And I found peace at the break of day.

If you want to remember me

To remember me, my fellow Africans,

Think about football and media's future.

Fight against corruption and be honest;

Think about other’s needs and take action.

To remember me, my dear brothers and sisters,

Work hard to unite Kenyans and build strong Nations.

Let Kenya lead the way towards strong democracy.

Let others learn from our nations about Umoja wa Kitaifa

To remember me, my dear media scholars,

Work on Yaoundé Declaration regarding media policy;

Conduct research and find solution from the bottom up.

Spend your time teaching and be fair to all students

Count for your students and not for class statistics.

I mean let your students perform well, Yah!

No mater how many classes or years you teach,

You’re only praised for your qualified students.

To remember me, my dear Students,

Translate my lessons into action.

Use football and your pen for the brightness of Africa.

Promote love, peace and sustainable development.

That's all about by DevCom and Conflict Communication

Take action to remember me:

Study and work hard to reach your goals

Use your pen positively and kick the football.

Remember me in such a way Ndugu!

Let’s me rest in perfect peace

If you want me to rest in perfect peace,

Please stop grieving for me and take action now.

Connect the unconnected from Kakamega to New York.

Read Pambazuka and use my route to reform Afrocentric

To let me rest in the perfect peace, please!

Use my network to include the excluded,

Use my cell phone to remember the forgettable,

Use any means reach the unreachable,

And finally, fill the gap…pulling them up!

By Kaanaeli Kaale

Mass Communication Student

St. Augustine University of Tanzania

I'm Kaanaeli Kaale from Tanzania. A student of Prof. Absalom Mutere. Please if possible publish my poem to your website. I could come to Kenya to pay my last respect to him.