This is the tribute Raila Odinga Junior gave his dad during the launch of his autobiography on Sunday.
Tribute to DadBefore I tell a story about my Dad I wanted to relate to you a bit about the strength behind my Dad – my Mom. As a son I’ve come to realize the dedicated love that she has had for my father. As her children we realize the quiet, selfless, caring loving way of affection that Mom has for Dad that we know and appreciate – THANKS MOM!! – but this story is about my Dad so ...
As I’ve been thinking about my Dad this past week, I thought “How can I tell a story of my Dad that conveys the message of what his love and strength has meant to me (and us ALL). Like my Dad, I guess I’ll do it by telling a kitendawili… (no I’m only joking)
I first came to meet my dad when I was 9 years old this was when he first came out of detention in the 1980’s, before that what I knew of my father were from stories from my elder siblings, relatives and photos, I remember the day My father was released from detention, it was a whirlwind of activity. we had been brought home early from school that day and the house at Kenya high school was filled with journalists and media from all over. As a child this was a bit overwhelming for me and as this stranger with a heavy beard picked me up and gave me a big hug I wondered to my self what was going on? What is all the fuss about? Who is this man my father who everyone was so interested in?
Home life with my father quickly grew into substinace and as we the children came to know our dad we realized how remarkable and understanding he was both as a parent and as our lifes teacher. We remember our father buying daily newspapers as he drove us to school and having us read out loudly to him the headlines, as he explained to us what was currently happening in the political scene. We remember our father advising us on our choices of subjects to study, but mostly we remember our dad instilling in us the importance of family, not just our nuclear family but our cousins, uncles and grand parents. Our father would insure we keep strong family ties taking us home to opoda Dala at least to every major holiday and making sure we would visit each and every homestead explaining to us our family ties. At home he would sit us down sisters, brothers cousins and lets us know we were 1 family unit he’s great saying was ‘for you to know where your are going, then you must understand where you have come from’
Our father instills in us self discipline and self-preservation as he made us understand from a very early age the importance of ones own hard work.
Our father as we’ve grown up has become our close confidant, mentor and friend. We too are curious of the the details in the book and we also look forward to reading it
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US! Congratulations wuod nya lego
By Raila Odinga Junior
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