Wambui eulogises Bob Collymore using his own words

Bob Collymore’s wife Wambui has eulogised her husband by sharing personal words from a speech that the Safaricom chief executive gave to a group of schoolchildren in 2013.

"A person's a person no matter how small," Mrs Collymore read her husband's inspiring message to the schoolchildren, drawn from Dr Suess' book.

But before she read out the speech to a congregation of family, Kenyan business and political leaders and global leaders attending the memorial service at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi, she said: “Bob had left when the applause was loudest.”

She said the words were drawn from one of Collymore’s favourite quote he got from John Mahama, Ghana's former president, that “one must leave when the applause is loudest.”

Stranger in orange

During the eulogy, she paused to convey gratitude to a stranger who she said reminded her of the kind of man that Collymore had been.

“On Tuesday as the convoy made its way to Kariokor for Bob’s cremation an elderly gentleman in a bright orange jacket stood by the side of the road, raised his right arm in the air in salute.

"As our convoy slowed down he shouted, “Bob we love you. You have done well. Go well Bob!” she said.

“I’d like to thank this gentleman for reminding me in the midst of my grief that Bob was a different sort of person.”

“It was someone that I will probably never meet again...a Kenyan like myself who felt that his duty that morning was to stand by the side of the road and announce to the world that Bob had left a mark in his life...”

To eulogise her husband, she read out a speech by Collymore that set out to encourage the children to be version of themselves that they could be in spite of their circumstances.

She said the story epitomised the man she had come to know as her husband for the last three years.

In the fable from Collymore’s speech, an elephant is determined to help some little people stuck in a roll of dust -- who all the other animals ignored.

Some of the animals even try to masochistically throw them around for the fun of it.

In the story, the elephant uses its ability as a big animal to help the little people after they are tossed in a field full of clovers by an eagle, and are hard to find.

"The story teaches that even though you can't see or hear small people, 'a person's a person, no matter how small.'"

Upbringing

In the speech, Collymore had gone on to tell the story of his upbringing, and how he had been brought up in poverty at his grandmother’s house together with other children whose parents could not take care of them.

In his narration to the children, he had said how he often woke up drenched up, after one of the kids had wet the bed that they shared.

“Growing up with the little brothers and sisters that I was not related to, expect through love….my grandmother was like the elephant that heard the noise from the small people on the speck of dust.

"She didn’t have much…we were poor.. but she reminded me that whatever little we had we could always share it. She did this because a person is a person no matter how small,” Wambui recited Collymore’s speech.

Collymore had ended the speech by encouraging the children to endeavour to do the best and speak up if they feel that something is not fair.

He advised the children never to apologise for their circumstances, and told them to believe in themselves and stand for what is right.

“Wanting what’s best for this world isn’t just about saving the world. It is also about little things that you can do that make the big difference. It is about helping because you can. The company I work for, Safaricom, helps people because it can.”

“It is a blessing to have a lot….but it is an even bigger blessing is that you can do a lot with what you have no matter your size. You’re never too small to make a difference in this world.”

Welfare projects

He went on to outline the social welfare projects the company has been involved in, to the children saying, “We know that selling airtime has no value if the world is not a better place.”

And then told them, “I look at you this morning and wonder do you want what’s best for the world? Just one of the little people in the speck had shouted for help, and the elephant had heard it.”

He said that was the basic idea of activism.

“Finding a way to call out something that is wrong and finding a way to make it right. Speaking out is one way of righting what is wrong. Doing right is another way.”