Kwa Heri Baba Yangu!

 Kwa Heri Baba, Uwe na Mungu Sasa

(Good-bye Daddy, Now You Are With God)

Charles Michael Fuda, Sr.

March 23, 1937 – January 20, 2011

What does God require of those who truly want to serve Him?  He wants us to serve Him with our whole heart, our whole soul, our entire being.  He wants us to give Him no less than our life.  To give up a house, a car, a job is not easy, but it is nothing compared to the pain of letting go of the ones we love.

Mark 8: 34 If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall save it.

I knew it was coming.  I could sense it.  I made inquiries about flying home in March during my break from school.  I wanted to see my father again.  I wanted to help him find his peace.  Then the call came and I knew that he was gone.  Now I would definitely go home.

As I began to prepare for my journey, the enormity of my impact here overwhelmed me.  It has not just been an adventure, a mid-life fling or “do good to feel good” sort of game. These are real people and through me, God has changed their lives.  He has given them hope.  He has given them courage and strength to face whatever the future brings.  Most importantly, He has let them know love, and truthfully, I love them.  It was difficult to say good-bye.  There were lots of tears and most of them were not mine. I am so sorry that I will not see them graduate.  I am so sorry that I will not be there each morning to encourage them as they take their exams.  Form six may be gone before I return and I will never see them again. God brought me here to Mkuu for a reason, but now He has heard another person crying and He wants me to comfort her.  I am going home to see my mom.

John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

When I was a child, I thought that my dad could do everything.  If anything was broken, he could fix it.  If we needed a room added onto our small house, he could build it.  He taught me to ride a two wheeler when I was only three.  I remember him running behind me as I pedaled furiously down the middle of the road.  He helped us catch butterflies and fireflies and spittlebugs as we played behind our house.  Sometimes we even stopped to collect hickory nuts that had fallen from the enormous tree near the old pig pen in the field.  He took us sledding, skating, fishing, (ok I preferred reading to touching slimy worms), and for Sunday afternoon drives.  We climbed fire towers and swam in creeks. We had impromptu picnics as well as organized family vacations.  He stayed up to play monopoly with us on New Year’s Eve.  We watched fireworks on the fourth of July.  He was a good father, so kind, so gentle, and so patient.  He may not have expressed it in many words, but he really loved his family.  I used to secretly like it when he worked the night shift, because he would often stop at the bakery on his way home.  I can still remember the taste of those hot buttered hard rolls and sweet powdered donuts dripping with jam. But what was his most important gift to me?  Self-sacrifice.  He had to be tired after working all night (he was a New York State Trooper) chasing bad guys, dealing with so many people problems, or maybe even just sitting in a car in the dark doing nothing at all.  However, on Sunday mornings I would wait for him to come home and then I would ask him the big question, “Daddy can you take us (me and my older brother who probably thanked me with a pinch) to Sunday school?”  He would almost always say “yes” and then we would stay for church as well. We belted out hymns together.  Thank you Dad for helping to build the foundations of my faith.

Philipians 2:1 Your life in Christ makes you strong and his love comforts you.

Isaiah 41:9-10 Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

My dad was not an emotional guy; there were only a few times that I saw him cry.  However, one was on my wedding day.  I was leaving the nest and moving south.  I never really returned home again.  Another was on the day I left for Africa.  Tears streamed down his face as he hugged me tight.  He told me he loved me and he said to take care of myself.  I remember thinking that my big dad had somehow become so small.  Maybe that was just a premonition of what was to come.  The following September I barely recognized him when I visited him in the nursing home.  I just thank God that I was able to be there the morning that he returned home.  The last image I have of him is him sitting on the couch in the living room with light shining once more in his eyes.  He was happy to be home.

How do you prepare to say good-bye to a parent?  Even though I know that it is just a passing, a transition from bodily form to spirit, it hurts to say good-bye.  He is in another place now, a place where the living cannot go.  He has found his peace, but I will miss him.  Kwa heri Baba!  I will always love you.

Isaiah 41:28-31 Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.  He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.  They will mount up with wings like eagles.  They will run and not get tired.  They will walk and not become weary.