Happy Father's Day- Tribute to daddy

Today i wd like to pay tribute to daddy, seeing as we r approaching Father's day & i am clearly not going to be able to celebrate with him. My dad, Prof KJB Keregero, in Morogoro, he is known as Prof, heck at some point i actually thought my dad's name was Prof, it took me time to realize this was a title rather than a name. Anyway, back to the tribute, my dad, born n bred in the city of Musoma in the Mara region, north of Tanzania. His father died when he was a baby, hence grew up not knowing his father, was schooled by his brother (my uncle/baba mkubwa, babe lomkhulu), May his soul RIP. Grew up in the humblest of beginnings, somehow worked his way up through school, Somehow ended up in the US for his PHD, somehow came back to Tanzania with a Malaysian wife who he met in the US (University of Wisconsin) while she too was doing her PHD. She is famously known as the mzungu/mlungu wife of the Prof 🙂🙂🙂. Anyway, i digress. I am yet to establish what she saw in him that made her give up her life in Malaysia and move permanently to Tanzania, but they say love can make you do ridiculous things.

The result of this union was 3 extremely gorgeous girls. My dad, a Tanzanian, a typical African man, raised us to be principled, to value education, be respectful to ourselves, to society & especially to the elders, my dad taught us to celebrate life, to celebrate even the smallest of victories, taught us to travel. We were never rich at home, but we were not poor either, my dad showered us with love, and to date continues to do so, he always took us out on Sunday afternoons after church, i never saw sense in it back then but i see it now coz i love doing it too & those childhood outings remain as the greatest memories. The way him & my mom treated each other at home, as a child i cld swear to u that my parents never fought, they were forever in love, as an adult i realize, they probably only fought somewhere behind close doors, never allowed us to witness them fighting. My dad valued education so much, he did his best to take us to the best schools given the resources he had at the time, i understand it now coz as i think back, going to Nguzo primary school, which at that time in Morogoro was probably one of only 2 english medium schools, attended mostly by your Indian & Arab businessman's kids, it must've been costly, but he ensured we schooled there.

In 1994 we moved to Swaziland because he got a job here, my dad is one of the few i wd say unusual men more especially ur older lecturers who has a wife in formal employment, more especially a Professor too as a wife. Most of your older lecturers' wives do not work, either because husbands refuse for them to work or whatever other reasons. I appreciate him for that one aspect that as a black man, he saw it fit that he & my mom contribute equally to the growth of our home, shared, assisted & supported one another in growing this family. Most men esp from my dad's generation, preferred having housewives. Because of him, we grew up in a house full of love, a house full of support, a house full of memories, laughter. I repeat, we were not rich, but we had everything any child wd want. He was/is the head of this family & led/leads with grace.

He ensured & to date still tries to support relatives back home wherever he can, our home was home to many of our cousins & many other relatives who he made an effort to put through school. My dad taught us that the world does not owe u any favours, he always said, the world does not owe u any sympathies just coz u're going thru tough times, keep your head up, keep smiling. He taught us never to conform, to be happy with who we are and where we come from & that we shd never feel the need to be ashamed or cover up our backgrounds, he emphasized on the need to associate ourselves with pple who hold the same values as us, genuine & respectful people, people with whom we wdn't feel the need to be fake with. He taught us the value of saying please and thank you, he said, being polite and courteous to people will never hurt you yet at the same time taught us to be firm. He taught us to always remember family no matter how much we think we have made it in life, he teaches us to always stay connected to our people because they remain our roots no matter what else changes in us, though we may falter in this department, we certainly constantly get the teachings from him to never forget where we come from. He has never made it a secret the love he has for us, he was never the type to always say "i love u", but his actions were always louder than words. I remember one time in my childhood, a much older cousin must have beaten me, my dad didn't realize immediately that i was crying, coz he was having his dinner in the dining room, when he realized what had happened, all i remember is that my cousin had to leave the next day. Another time we used to have extra classes at home, a teacher from our school was hired temporarily to assist us, dad wd get transport to fetch our teacher from his residence to come home to teach me, this one time this teacher comes to our house drunk, shouts at me, i can't remember if he beat me, all i remember is that i managed to sneak out briefly to my dad's bedroom where the landline was, called my dad's office, luckily found my dad, quickly whispered to him that the teacher is drunk & isn't nice, i can't remember where our helper was during that time when this was happening, anyway, my dad, within 5 minutes was at the house with the driver, chased away the teacher & threw a tantrum from hell.

In 2006 he & my mom moved to Lesotho again for work purposes where both are currently employed, he remains the same humble, proud, joyful, loving, supportive father he has always been. My dad has always been the type of person you worry about when you leave him on his own, coz sometimes u wonder if he can even operate the microwave, actually we fear to even leave him with the kettle on coz we don't know whether he wd know where to turn it off shd the need arise, when my mom is away either on business or sick in hospital, she worries more about my dad, & we too end up worrying about him, yet we forget that when my mom is sick & its just the 2 of them in Lesotho, he is actually the one person that takes care of her. He has basically now stepped up to take care of duties we as the kids shd be the ones taking care of. One of the most memorable advises he ever gave me was some 2 years ago when i got a job offer i had to decline, he told me "Kwizi, life is NOT about money, it is about how happy & satisfied you are in the environment u spend 8 hours of ur daily life in", he further said "you can have all the money in the world, but not be happy", he said, what matters in the workplace, is your happiness, the rest comes second.

I wd like to thank God for the greatest dad in this world, my hero, grandfather to my kids, father in law to our husbands. He remains the greatest blessing to me. May you have a Happy Father's day even though we won't be there. I am thankful that Luntar & Gontse managed to make the trip to Lesotho today. I love u dad.