We are also running the same race that big Big Kev finished! Death is a passage we will all have to grow through and just like birth, there is pain in losing a loved one.
Big Kev’s widow, Tracy Ombajo was yesterday joined by friends and family at the Nairobi Chapel to bid there loved one goodbye as they all loved him in ways that could not be explained.
Tracy Ombajo however left many in tears after the beautiful message she jotted down to pay tribute to her late husband. She wrote to say;
I cannot believe I am writing this today, but I thank God for the years of love, friendship, shared memories, experience, friendship, business engagements and our beautiful daughter Shana, that we had together.
I met Kevin in the early 1990’s, as I was minding my own business and walking downtown with my girlfriend Mukami Kinoti. Mukami knew him from childhood (they attended Kilimani Primary School). She introduced us. Over the next few years, Kevin and I met and sometimes interacted at the different industry events. Kevin always had his ear on the ground, he showed up at my modeling agency. We hired him for advertising work… and I remember how he was so amused by the experience, and every so often I would remind him, that I first employed him… In 1997, I went to hand the crown to the incoming Ms. Kenya, at the time Kevin and his friends were working for the franchise holder and were running the event. We later on went to work on a few projects in the industry; every so often Kevin would invite me to judge the different beauty pageants.
We met on and off over the years and in 2001 we met at the gym and exchanged numbers. We began to hang out as friends. One day I was visiting with him and as we were going through the newspaper as follow up to a story, we saw a picture of Mercy Myra and they had her age on the article about her.
I remember saying;, “Mercy Myra is my age!” And I will never forget, he turned to me and said “What! You are younger than I thought, he smiled and said,” This changes things” There was something about the way he said it, that I knew I was In trouble…and this was going to change our friendship as I knew it. And sure enough, it changed a lot of things! We started courting (his words) until he proposed 6 months later. We got married on 12th June. What I remember about this time and even thereafter is that we talked a lot..
We just seemed to have a lot to say to each other and that set the tone for our marriage. The most amazing thing about our communication was that we found a way to express ourselves with the strong personalities that we both are.
Talking for hours was our thing, diverse subjects and opinions. We took long walks – we maintained those over the years and really enjoyed time with each other this way. We had
a way we show things, that really tickled us… and we would have good laughs about them.
When Shana came, a new Kevin emerged. Kevin was totally smitten by his daughter and he truly mellowed after she was born. He was an amazing dad – changed diapers, Potty-trained and totally spoilt her by buying her expensive gifts.
And if you ask me, they ate too much junk food on their daddy-daughter dates (they knew that was not allowed at home). Over the years, the 3 of us found rhythm and flow in all things family, with Kevin being really protective about his girls and us tapping into the generous strength that was Kevin.
The first time that Kevin fell ill, the 3 of us were home together. He got a seizure – a grand mal seizure (that is the worst of seizures). He walked into the bedroom from work and was telling us about his day and suddenly he went into the seizure. That day began the long journey that defined so many things for us a family. The surgeries, the days in hospital
and away from home, the travels to India and to numerous doctors and specialists, the change in diets, the varied medication that we had to take with us everywhere – we really had to find a new normal for us as a family.
Kevin was always worried about us even in the middle of what was a very intense time for him. He was constantly concerned that he could not be there for us, as he really wanted to – this was just the man he was.
My husband had a great heart – a most generous, most open, most giving and a good heart.
Family for him was critical and key and he was proud of being a family man – that value got him out of bed every morning even when his health became a challenge.
We prayed both morning and evening together and that became how we began and ended our days. He did seem to always have a different way about him – there was wisdom about him that was profound and totally beyond his years and yet he would seek my opinion for everything around him. Kevin has been known as a leader in the industry and we felt that role as a family as he led us and allowed us to achieve great milestones. He pursued integrity and honoring God passionately. I will really, really miss that about him.
I met a lot of people through Kevin over the years – many whose lives he had impacted or influence or simply blessed. Many of you have continued to be a part of our journey particularly through the tough seasons of his being unwell. My best friend Kevin valued friendship – evident by the way he grew people around him. After he bought his first car, he made sure that his friends and employees bought cars even escorting them to the car yards to make sure they made wise decisions. Kevin had a great listening ear and open heart evident of the many couples we hosted in our home and mentored together. Kevin was very passionate about the people around him having Godly and happy marriages and relationships. He was very wise and a lot of people drew from his wisdom and advice concerning their relationships, businesses and lives
generally.
Our home was always open to anyone who reached out to him. I remember marveling at how wise he was and how he would manage to steer people on the right path. I am deeply grateful for your love for Kevin, and invariably for how you have cared for, supported and prayed for Shana and I and the extended family. I cannot thank you enough for how you have carried us through the many, many ways I cannot enumerate today. My prayer for each of you today is that the Lord would give you back immeasurably more than I can think, ask or imagine for each of your situations and lives in turn. Thank you so very much. Shana and I know that Kevin’s legacy will continue to live through us because of what he deposited in his love for his girls. Babe, we loved you, but God loved you more – you have run the race and fought a valiant fight. May you rest in the Lord’s everlasting peace.
Vera Sidika
