Message by Helen Odera

Dear Mrs. Tibaijuka,

I once read somewhere that silent gratitude isn’t of much use to anyone. That is why I have to express my sincere gratitude for positively influencing my life at various levels. When I first came to UN-HABITAT in 2005, I never imagined I would meet the person who would equal my mother in instrumentally influencing my life in a positive direction. It has certainly been an honour and pleasure working in UN-HABITAT with you at the helm. I shall not forget that as I began my duty in UN-HABITAT it was just another ‘job’ to make ends meet. I thought all I had to do was show up at 8:00 and leave at 5:00 and that was it. UN-HABITAT’s 20 GC, was my first encounter with your sense of duty. I left the office at 9:00 pm thinking – what a day? You rushed past me towards the office and I was told your day had just started. I have been in organizations where the ‘commander’ is the first to leave because the ‘foot soldiers’ are keeping watch. Your work ethic inspired me to look into what I was doing as opposed to sitting by the sidelines and performing my duties with the apathy of an ox ploughing a field. Thank you reigniting the sense of duty that lay dormant in me.

Several attributes in people have endeared them to people and made them their role models but it is pretty difficult when you have you have admiration for someone whose virtues the English vocabulary appears grossly insufficient to describe. When I think of all those famous and not so famous women before me who paved the way and laid the foundation for all women to achieve great things, have impact on others and to make the world a better place for women to achieve their wishes, hopes and desires, I can’t help but think of you. Your achievements have silenced prejudiced voices that claimed that women cannot have it all – a stable family and a career, this has made it much easier for me to walk past the chides of society who refuse to acknowledge that as sure as time moves, it also continues to render their notions null and void. Thank you for challenging the status quo.

Few people possess characteristics and practices of passion, innovation and creativity, drive, resiliency, influence, persistence, communication and the power of collaboration to achieve extraordinary results. More so, it is difficult to do all these and be humble enough to recognize that thus far the Lord has brought you and that He should be glorified for His blessings by trying to live according to his will. In your difficult walk, you always tried to treat others the way you’d want to be treated (Matt. 7:12), you weren’t quick to judge others but forgave them (Luke 6:37), and demonstrated humility (Phil. 2:3). Thank you for keeping the faith.

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. Albert Schweitzer

May the road rise up to meet you; May the wind be always at your back; May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home May God hold you in the hollow of His hand And may the hand of a friend always be near …….. May God be with you and bless you: May you see your children’s children. May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward. Mama, Karibu kwetu Kisumu

Best wishes

Helen Odera

Posted by Noel Mubeya on Sep 21 2010. Filed under Constituency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry