For your worth is far above rubies
You did good and not evil all the days of your life
You were like a merchant ship that brings food from afar
You rose while it was yet night and provided food for all around and far from her
You considered a field, bought it from your profit and planted a vine yard
You girded yourself with strength and strengthened others
Your lamp never went out by night
You stretched your hand out to the distaff and held the spindle
You extended your hand to the poor and reached out to the needy
You opened your mouth with wisdom and on your tongue was the law of kindness
You watched over the ways of your household and did not eat the bread of idleness
You have been lifted up because you feared the Lord
Considering the fact that our Lord called you on the day he was entering Jerusalem,
it means that He did not want to go alone, thus He found you worthy to walk with
Him. What a joy!
Grand ma, you were a virtuous woman.
Mami, we thank and praise God for your life. You have just completed what God wanted you to do on this earth.
What happened to my energetic, untiring peace loving mother-in-law? Where is the great teacher, the mother who easily accepted me as a daughter in-law.
You touched so many lives and we pray that each day we live up to your expectations of hard work, discipline, love, concern for each other, humility ad faith in the Lord.
Mami you will always be in our thoughts and forever in our hearts. Your absence will remain a silent grief.
Mami, I will always remember your angelic voice. Even when you could not remember anything you still hummed when you hear anybody sing.
Thank you mami for giving me the opportunity to take care of you and also thank God
Almighty for the strength because it was not an easy task.
Adieu mami, adieu, till we meet to part no more.
Your daughter- in-law
My beloved aunt, I can’t believe that I will never see you again after the last time I saw you during my last visit to Cameroon in 2010. I have so many fun memories we shared together good and bad ones.
It finally dawned on me after a very long time that I was lazy doing house work which you tried to instil in me growing up, now I can see that. You always tried to get me out of bed to do my house chores but not without difficulties, sometimes I would even hide under the bed so you will be pleased that I was awake until when you couldn’t find me anywhere in the house.
I also remember your love for the Dikome Balue dialect which you tried to teach me with great difficulties, least to say I am still struggling with it. I remember one time in the Buea road house when one of Doc’s friend came to visit. They had been chatting for a long time and there was no sign of Doc offering his friend a drink and again you used your ‘country talk’ to ask why Doc wasn’t offering his friend a drink and the friend replied that he didn’t want anything to drink and your signature laugh filled the room, ‘ngawrie yeh’ so if na cush you for hear me oh.
Your love for everybody was remarkable, always asking if we have spoken to each other especially those you were most concerned about like your last son, my dearest Big P, give him a hug from me.
Last but not the least, your famous question, ‘what says the time.’ I remember when you came to London in 2003 for my wedding. You would be looking at the time and that famous question would pop out and I always wanted to know why you wanted to know what the time was.
I know you are in a better place, but we will miss you so so much. Rest in perfect peace till we meet again.
Another bird has flown;
Another part of us has been torn;
A mother who nursed her children, equipped them to face the world has now left them.
A sister who supported and led her siblings has now departed.
An auntie who loved and embraced her nieces and nephews has now parted from them.
A grandmother who smiled to behold her grandchildren has gone to rest.
A teacher who taught her pupil and gave them a solid foundation has now completed her task.
You were elegant, practical, strict, hard-working and fair, using both the rod and the staff, just like The Good Shepherd-Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. All who embraced laziness were uncomfortable with your presence.
Your children called you ‘Mami-Miss’.
‘Mami’ for mother and ‘miss’ for teacher because both attributes were inseparable with your personality at any time. As a good mother, your children could not call you just ‘Miss’ when you taught them at school because it did not sound right hence the connotation ‘Mami- Miss’.
Your step-children, nieces and nephews were all your children and you preferred to treat each one as your children and we honour you for this great quality.
You were the ‘General’ everywhere you went in Buea, Limbe, Kumba, Douala, Ekombe, Yaoundé, Edea and you raised your boys to become men today by provoking them towards hard work. We all called you ‘Gance’. This was a name invented by the children in the family to remind ourselves that there must be ‘order’ and ‘no messing or idling around’ when you were present.
I remember during long vacations from boarding school as we tried to catch up with extra hours of sleep, you would come to our rooms early in the morning to wake everyone up and open the windows. If we tried to ignore your morning call to wake up, you would start sweeping the floor and say, continue sleeping while your mother sweeps your room for you’ and everyone would quickly jump out of their beds on hearing this statement and attend to our household chores. Everyone had to participate in household chores because there were no favourites in your philosophy and equality was your motto.
When you visited us abroad both in London and the U.S.A, you were happy to see us again not as little children but as adults each managing their own homes.
God blessed you to see your children grow up, get married, have their own children, so that you could also be a part of each of their lives in Edea, Yaoundé, Douala, Kumba and the United States of America. Brother Victor told us that during the last years of your life you spoke little or no words. This was because you said it all when you were our Mami-Miss, our mother, auntie, teacher, grandmother and eldest of your siblings with an example of modesty, hard work and a rare simplicity.
Thank you for having all these qualities wrapped in one package and for this we celebrate your life, giving glory to God almighty for the gift of you, our MAMI-MISS!
Remembering my beloved aunt Frida Mokube. I had a close relationship with my aunt; she was very kind and caring to me. As a matter of fact, I noticed the caring and teaching was visible in her daily encounter with the family and non-family members.
She taught me my favourite verse which I still use in my daily conversation with the lord. She was a God-fearing person who always made sure we went to church on Sundays and would always ask if I prayed to God. She was a very protective aunt.
When she visited me in Chicago, I remember taking her for long walks along the shores of Lake Michigan which she always liked to do. She was a fun aunt to be around with. I appreciated her occasional but effective and contagious sense of humour. I miss Mami Miss very much.
