The passing on of Mr. Opoyi
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Martin Chiteri
Oct 6, 2010, 10:40:29 AM10/6/10
to millennium-seminarians
Hello classmates,
I got word that Mr. Opoyi passed away over the weekend. I do not have
the details of the occurrence though I know that details can be found
on an event on Facebook. I thought it would be O.k to make a mention
of the news here so that the people not on fb can get in the know. May
the good Lord rest his soul in eternal peace.
Regards,
Martin Akolo.
beric kiplimo
Oct 7, 2010, 9:42:44 AM10/7/10
to millennium-...@googlegroups.com, martin Akolo
ohh sorry for that,our good swahili tchr, may the good lord rest his soul in peace,
humble regards
Beric,
--- On Wed, 10/6/10, Martin Chiteri <ako...@googlemail.com> wrote:
kip ruto
Oct 9, 2010, 6:59:31 PM10/9/10
to millennium-...@googlegroups.com
I spoke with obbo and he said that opoyi was fine . It was sudden death. He went to his third wife and felt ill and did not make it to the hospital. He had an history of hypertesion and high blood pressure and this was the cause of death .
|
THE MASS WILL BE CELEBRATED BY BISHOP CORNELIUS KORIR AMONG MANY OTHER PRIESTS.THEREAFTER THE BURIAL IN BUDALANGI ON TUESDAY 12 2010.
|
James Bitok. class of 2002
P.S- Obbo wasn't arrogant for once ...lol.
Let's all help out if you can . it might be the last opportunity to show appreciation to him ....Together we can
From: Martin Chiteri <ako...@googlemail.com>
To: millennium-seminarians <millennium-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, October 6, 2010 8:40:29 AM
Subject: The passing on of Mr. Opoyi
Chiteri
Oct 19, 2010, 3:30:42 AM10/19/10
to Mother of Apostles Minor Seminary (ELDORET) - Class of 2000
Hello people,
Our great teacher Mr. Joseph Opoyi was laid to rest on Tuesday 12th of
October, 2010. Wamalwa Philip wrote a note in his honor which was a
very humble tribute to our beloved Mwalimu. Most of us agree that it
should have been read as part of the eulogy that day. All the same, it
is a work that besides arguing the case for Opoyi before Saint Peter
at the gates of heaven, it showed the mastery of our very own Orator
and Writer, mundu Wamalwa. For those who didn't / missed the note from
Facebook, hats off ......
`` Mwalimu Joseph Opoyi would have been a priest; a much loved priest,
a priest of the people, an eloquent, inspiring, Godly priest. If he
were a priest, he would easily make a bishop, a fatherly bishop, one
of saintly faith and demeanour. If he were a bishop, opportunities for
him would have been innumerable. He was none of these by the second he
took his last breath on the 3rd of October 2010. And his life by the
very same second of his passing on became a testimony that the world
despises genuine talent, that it abhors and alienates pure goodness,
ridicules and finds merriment in the exploitation of the qualities of
humility and meekness, it relentlessly refuses to forgive errors of
men of faith, punishes them with vigour and zeal akin to the scorching
of Christ at the pillar and rejoices in their seeming continued
powerlessness. Yes. Mwalimu’s life is a monument of one error, just
one error: an error of admission of guilt, of confession, of
confessing a wrong no one knew about. An error made in the innocence
of goodness, an error resulting from a refusal to lead a double life,
to say that one is what he is not or that he is not what he is, an
error that declined to compromise the absolute, truest and
unadulterated worship of God, an error in accordance with the
strictest of the teaching of the Catholicity and Orthodoxy of the
Church that rebukes the temptation to serve the holy priestly ministry
of Christ Himself in deceit and unrighteousness even at the risk of
the sacrifice of one’s own life and bodily comforts. It was a virtuous
error, a Godly error, an error that is born of an undefiled fear of
God, from which streams courageous wisdom that finds it better to
henceforth live an ignoble, inglorious, injurious, inconspicuous,
painful, pitied, poor, lowly, uncelebrated and unsung life on earth
than to court the wrath of the heavenly Father through obdurate non-
repentance and leading a pretentious, pharisaic life, an error that
deeply satisfies the soul but punishes the body. It was his choice. It
was a hard choice. It was a good choice.
Yet, he never lost to the world, the world lost to him. For as Okumu
McKenzie faithfully reports, such was the cacophonous multitude at his
Requiem Mass this 11th Day of October 2010 that it would make no
difference were he a bishop or of a greater position. Perhaps it would
hardly be the same if he were a bishop; all these people have come
only because they loved him, they are genuinely and deeply grieving,
they are enduringly indebted to him; they have seen his goodness, they
have lived on his generosity, they grown from his wisdom, laughed at
his humour, been uplifted by his encouragements and learnt from his
life. They have come to mourn him, his essence, not his eminence,
influence, affluence or titles; since he was but a teacher. They are
his lovely wife and children, they are his cherished students – in
their thousands he taught, they are his peers, fellow teachers he
mentored, parishioners who listened to his musical compositions at
Mass, the faithful he taught, friends whose lives he touched indelibly
and many others. They are his people. For the God and His Church he
served so diligently are ever alive; the bishops, the priests, the
nuns, and the laity of all descriptions came in throngs to cheer this
life. They were quiet when his tribulations only multiplied, but they
saw his deeds and had nothing to do, for the jurisdiction of rewarding
and comforting was not theirs. The Lord of Good Works now has taken
over. When therefore the choir sings the song “Priestly people, holy
people, God’s chosen people, sing praise to the Lord!” Mwalimu will be
in the right company, for he was a priest in all ways except that he
was not consecrated. Alas! He who lived in such self-effacement is
such exalted in death! Alas! So it is true that the faithful, the life
of the Saint begins at the hour of his death! Indeed, the light of a
well lived life shines greatest, and is most crystal clear to all at
the time their frail bodies succumb; for the grandeur of the world,
which lacks authority over the body and the soul departed, looks up in
defeat. This was most plain to the Roman soldier, who, standing under
the feet of the crucified Christ, cried in amazement at the death of
Christ; that, “this truly was a man of God”. For at the time when the
enemies of the Word thought they had at last dealt a blow to the
Author, unbeknown to them, the Word had only become unconquerable! So
Mwalimu's body is interred tomorrow the 12th October 2010, but his
legacy only begins to live on.
Now, when the evil one decided to make harsh the life of Mwalimu, he
excelled himself immensely. He remained firm in the Church. Without
formal specialised training, he took with zest the teaching in Mother
of Apostles Seminary of Kiswahili (outdoing himself in the discipline
of Fasihi and Ushairi), Christian Religious Education, Music and
martial arts (of one form or the other, so long as one would kick the
enemy to oblivion). He quickly became the indisputable favourite of
students, their true champion, at the same time, earning the respect
and dependence of his peers, colleagues and the Seminary leadership.
He took up many functions, including training the seminary choir where
he featured with his signature rhythm guitar. In those good days (for
the Lord knows they were good days!) in the period between 1998 and
2000, he established and was patron of a colourful outfit named
variously as “Orchestra ya Maisha/Maji Matamu (or Mazuri)” which
grouping made numerous appearances that left audiences mouths agape
with merriment. In one of the performance, Mwalimu reworked the
popular song “ninakupenda ewe mwokozi wangu, rafiki yangu, daima siku
zote” into quite an interesting semi-secular rendition, which was
completed in performance by the Congolese style of a “sebene”, a fast
paced danceable ending, where Mwalimu did a rendition of the then
popular “ndombolo” as the band members shook the legs (and all other
shakeable parts). He prepared students for artistic competitions
including music and public speaking competitions. In those good days,
I harboured pretentions and desires to be a musician, largely a
drummer and perhaps a guitarist. In the year 1999, having performed
under his supervision and that of Mr. Omamo, the team proceeded to
nationals, featuring especially in the category of African drums
ensemble, class 937J and African drums solo, class 936J. Antony Situma
represented for the class 936J. Class 937J featured at the time the so
called “mpanguso” of Stephen Gitahi, the first drum of Gabriel Otieno,
the second drum by myself and the mixer drum by Calvin Mwalo. A team
of others including Brian Ombiji, Chelule, Mabuka and Collins Barasa
represented for the Kiswahili chant “ngonjera”, in a composition by
Brian. Those days! Such was the inspiration of Mwalimu. Yet each
class, and they are many, remembers with nostalgia one or several such
incidents. According to legend received by 1997 when we joined the
Seminary, there was a day when the Seminarians were in a riotous and
“murderous” mood; they didn’t want to listen to anyone especially from
the leadership. But they were ready to listen only to Mwalimu. And
when Mwalimu spoke, he did not mince his words, he did not cow in the
mumbling of dishonest flattery and fawning, he told the angry students
that notwithstanding their grievances, they cannot strike in a
seminary; and they listened. I know that if there was to have been
such a moment during our own time, he remained the person with such
power.
But why this profuse of praise now when the man is dead? Why not
publish this at the time of his living? I do not know. It is the irony
of life. Ventures such as this inescapably come only in retrospect, it
makes sense that way. You do not know what you have until it is taken
away, and now that Mwalimu is taken, can we still be cold to his
legacy and refuse to celebrate his life even when it has been so clear
in his death how glorious it was? Even if such celebration would be
considered inappropriate, I hold as goodness itself the ability to
identify and cheer goodness, at whatever time, since goodness does not
go stale. For by doing so, we interrogate ourselves. And so that this
piece does not become only a worthless belated flight of eloquence, I
sincerely pray, that the Lord will teach me how to live like Mwalimu,
for I admit like he did, that I have lived a double life, one for the
public and one for the private; that the Good Lord will show me how to
refuse to compromise on truth in favour of bodily and worldly
comforts, and to choose displeasures, pain and humility in the fear of
Him only. For that is the life of Mwalimu I am celebrating in
accordance with his favourite song he so tirelessly taught; “Go out
and teach all nations about the Son of God, and that is the way to
teach them how to be free, go out and teach all nations about the Word
of God, and the Word of God will teach them how to be really free ...”
``
Thanks.
Martin Akolo.
Our great teacher Mr. Joseph Opoyi was laid to rest on Tuesday 12th of
October, 2010. Wamalwa Philip wrote a note in his honor which was a
very humble tribute to our beloved Mwalimu. Most of us agree that it
should have been read as part of the eulogy that day. All the same, it
is a work that besides arguing the case for Opoyi before Saint Peter
at the gates of heaven, it showed the mastery of our very own Orator
and Writer, mundu Wamalwa. For those who didn't / missed the note from
Facebook, hats off ......
`` Mwalimu Joseph Opoyi would have been a priest; a much loved priest,
a priest of the people, an eloquent, inspiring, Godly priest. If he
were a priest, he would easily make a bishop, a fatherly bishop, one
of saintly faith and demeanour. If he were a bishop, opportunities for
him would have been innumerable. He was none of these by the second he
took his last breath on the 3rd of October 2010. And his life by the
very same second of his passing on became a testimony that the world
despises genuine talent, that it abhors and alienates pure goodness,
ridicules and finds merriment in the exploitation of the qualities of
humility and meekness, it relentlessly refuses to forgive errors of
men of faith, punishes them with vigour and zeal akin to the scorching
of Christ at the pillar and rejoices in their seeming continued
powerlessness. Yes. Mwalimu’s life is a monument of one error, just
one error: an error of admission of guilt, of confession, of
confessing a wrong no one knew about. An error made in the innocence
of goodness, an error resulting from a refusal to lead a double life,
to say that one is what he is not or that he is not what he is, an
error that declined to compromise the absolute, truest and
unadulterated worship of God, an error in accordance with the
strictest of the teaching of the Catholicity and Orthodoxy of the
Church that rebukes the temptation to serve the holy priestly ministry
of Christ Himself in deceit and unrighteousness even at the risk of
the sacrifice of one’s own life and bodily comforts. It was a virtuous
error, a Godly error, an error that is born of an undefiled fear of
God, from which streams courageous wisdom that finds it better to
henceforth live an ignoble, inglorious, injurious, inconspicuous,
painful, pitied, poor, lowly, uncelebrated and unsung life on earth
than to court the wrath of the heavenly Father through obdurate non-
repentance and leading a pretentious, pharisaic life, an error that
deeply satisfies the soul but punishes the body. It was his choice. It
was a hard choice. It was a good choice.
Yet, he never lost to the world, the world lost to him. For as Okumu
McKenzie faithfully reports, such was the cacophonous multitude at his
Requiem Mass this 11th Day of October 2010 that it would make no
difference were he a bishop or of a greater position. Perhaps it would
hardly be the same if he were a bishop; all these people have come
only because they loved him, they are genuinely and deeply grieving,
they are enduringly indebted to him; they have seen his goodness, they
have lived on his generosity, they grown from his wisdom, laughed at
his humour, been uplifted by his encouragements and learnt from his
life. They have come to mourn him, his essence, not his eminence,
influence, affluence or titles; since he was but a teacher. They are
his lovely wife and children, they are his cherished students – in
their thousands he taught, they are his peers, fellow teachers he
mentored, parishioners who listened to his musical compositions at
Mass, the faithful he taught, friends whose lives he touched indelibly
and many others. They are his people. For the God and His Church he
served so diligently are ever alive; the bishops, the priests, the
nuns, and the laity of all descriptions came in throngs to cheer this
life. They were quiet when his tribulations only multiplied, but they
saw his deeds and had nothing to do, for the jurisdiction of rewarding
and comforting was not theirs. The Lord of Good Works now has taken
over. When therefore the choir sings the song “Priestly people, holy
people, God’s chosen people, sing praise to the Lord!” Mwalimu will be
in the right company, for he was a priest in all ways except that he
was not consecrated. Alas! He who lived in such self-effacement is
such exalted in death! Alas! So it is true that the faithful, the life
of the Saint begins at the hour of his death! Indeed, the light of a
well lived life shines greatest, and is most crystal clear to all at
the time their frail bodies succumb; for the grandeur of the world,
which lacks authority over the body and the soul departed, looks up in
defeat. This was most plain to the Roman soldier, who, standing under
the feet of the crucified Christ, cried in amazement at the death of
Christ; that, “this truly was a man of God”. For at the time when the
enemies of the Word thought they had at last dealt a blow to the
Author, unbeknown to them, the Word had only become unconquerable! So
Mwalimu's body is interred tomorrow the 12th October 2010, but his
legacy only begins to live on.
Now, when the evil one decided to make harsh the life of Mwalimu, he
excelled himself immensely. He remained firm in the Church. Without
formal specialised training, he took with zest the teaching in Mother
of Apostles Seminary of Kiswahili (outdoing himself in the discipline
of Fasihi and Ushairi), Christian Religious Education, Music and
martial arts (of one form or the other, so long as one would kick the
enemy to oblivion). He quickly became the indisputable favourite of
students, their true champion, at the same time, earning the respect
and dependence of his peers, colleagues and the Seminary leadership.
He took up many functions, including training the seminary choir where
he featured with his signature rhythm guitar. In those good days (for
the Lord knows they were good days!) in the period between 1998 and
2000, he established and was patron of a colourful outfit named
variously as “Orchestra ya Maisha/Maji Matamu (or Mazuri)” which
grouping made numerous appearances that left audiences mouths agape
with merriment. In one of the performance, Mwalimu reworked the
popular song “ninakupenda ewe mwokozi wangu, rafiki yangu, daima siku
zote” into quite an interesting semi-secular rendition, which was
completed in performance by the Congolese style of a “sebene”, a fast
paced danceable ending, where Mwalimu did a rendition of the then
popular “ndombolo” as the band members shook the legs (and all other
shakeable parts). He prepared students for artistic competitions
including music and public speaking competitions. In those good days,
I harboured pretentions and desires to be a musician, largely a
drummer and perhaps a guitarist. In the year 1999, having performed
under his supervision and that of Mr. Omamo, the team proceeded to
nationals, featuring especially in the category of African drums
ensemble, class 937J and African drums solo, class 936J. Antony Situma
represented for the class 936J. Class 937J featured at the time the so
called “mpanguso” of Stephen Gitahi, the first drum of Gabriel Otieno,
the second drum by myself and the mixer drum by Calvin Mwalo. A team
of others including Brian Ombiji, Chelule, Mabuka and Collins Barasa
represented for the Kiswahili chant “ngonjera”, in a composition by
Brian. Those days! Such was the inspiration of Mwalimu. Yet each
class, and they are many, remembers with nostalgia one or several such
incidents. According to legend received by 1997 when we joined the
Seminary, there was a day when the Seminarians were in a riotous and
“murderous” mood; they didn’t want to listen to anyone especially from
the leadership. But they were ready to listen only to Mwalimu. And
when Mwalimu spoke, he did not mince his words, he did not cow in the
mumbling of dishonest flattery and fawning, he told the angry students
that notwithstanding their grievances, they cannot strike in a
seminary; and they listened. I know that if there was to have been
such a moment during our own time, he remained the person with such
power.
But why this profuse of praise now when the man is dead? Why not
publish this at the time of his living? I do not know. It is the irony
of life. Ventures such as this inescapably come only in retrospect, it
makes sense that way. You do not know what you have until it is taken
away, and now that Mwalimu is taken, can we still be cold to his
legacy and refuse to celebrate his life even when it has been so clear
in his death how glorious it was? Even if such celebration would be
considered inappropriate, I hold as goodness itself the ability to
identify and cheer goodness, at whatever time, since goodness does not
go stale. For by doing so, we interrogate ourselves. And so that this
piece does not become only a worthless belated flight of eloquence, I
sincerely pray, that the Lord will teach me how to live like Mwalimu,
for I admit like he did, that I have lived a double life, one for the
public and one for the private; that the Good Lord will show me how to
refuse to compromise on truth in favour of bodily and worldly
comforts, and to choose displeasures, pain and humility in the fear of
Him only. For that is the life of Mwalimu I am celebrating in
accordance with his favourite song he so tirelessly taught; “Go out
and teach all nations about the Son of God, and that is the way to
teach them how to be free, go out and teach all nations about the Word
of God, and the Word of God will teach them how to be really free ...”
``
Thanks.
Martin Akolo.
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