BROOKLYN PARK, Minn – Hundreds gathered Sunday at the Brooklyn Junior High School gymnasium for a memorial service to honor the late Joseph Morande Onyambu. Onyambu died Thursday, August 2 in Kisii, Kenya. He was 72.
He was father to prominent Kenyan-American, Paul Morande, on whose account most came to the memorial service as many did not know Mr. Onyambu personally. Paul Morande is the Executive Secretary of the Minnesota Kenyan International Development Association (MKIDA).
“My grandfather’s favorite color was blue,” his granddaughter Sandra Morande, a junior at Duke University said during the service. “He made me realize where my father’s (Paul) sense of service to the community came from.” A tearful Sandra then gave a moving eulogy of her grandfather narrating the time three years ago when the late Onyambu visited them in their Twin Cities home. “I never had a relationship with him before that”, she said, concluding that his visit was the start of something special.
Laughter seemed to prevail over tears however as community members who came to console the Morande family chose to remember the good times they had whenever they crossed paths with the late Mr. Onyambu.
Pastor Zipporah Bogonko shared the joy the late Onyambu brought to her family during her daughter’s graduation, “he turned out to be the blessing God had planned for us when he attended our daughter’s graduation”, she said. Bogonko’s parents were denied a visa to come for the graduation and the late Mr. Onyambu filled the role of bringing a sense of ‘home’ to the graduation experience.
Several of Paul Morande’s family spoke at the memorial and thanked the community for their support. They said their late father was a great orator and lover of “emebayeno” (proverbs in the Gusii language) who would regale you with endless stories.
Mr. Paul Morande was among those who recalled the good days with his late father. He described his father as enterprising and how he and his siblings were “raised in the back of the store” drawing laughter from the audience as he described the shops his late father had back in Kenya and how the back of the store was the living quarters for the family.
Pastor James Maina of Destiny Faith Ministries delivered the sermon. He preached from the book of Mark 5:25 about the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years and who physicians could not cure. Upon hearing about Jesus, she believed that if she could touch the garment Jesus was wearing, she would be healed which indeed she was as her hemorrhaging stopped immediately after touching Jesus’ cloak.
Pastor Maina told those at the Morande memorial to have faith similar to that of the woman and that “when all the doctors fail, come to Dr. Jesus.”
Mr. Paul Morande and his family are scheduled to leave for Kenya on Monday, August 6 for the funeral.
Note: Read the late Joseph Morande Onyambu’s obituary here.
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About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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