Thursday 1 May 2025
Tribute to My Adored Mother, Therese YEMBE: A Force Tranquille & Peace Catalyst
by Eugene Omboli
My much-adored Mother, the late Therese YEMBE was born around 1942 in a village called Oyendze in the district of Ngoko within central northern Congo. She was snatched from the love and affection of her four (4) living biological children as well as relatives, friends and acquaintances on May 13, 2024 in Brazzaville at 82 years old.
In the midst of ongoing unprecedented geopolitical dynamics, I chose to pay a heartfelt tribute to my late Mom through the lenses of Humility, Humanism, Harmony and Honor.
Regarding Humility, my late Mother lived a life of Respect for cultural traditions and obedience to one’s parents and community elders. This led her to heed to her father’s decision to marry her while a teenage to my father who was much older in order to elevate the friendship between two grownups into a family relationship that produced Me. It is my Mom’s natural modesty that empowered her to safely liberate herself from that arranged marriage in her early twenties and start a life of her choice with little to no negative repercussions on the friendship converted into a family bond as stated earlier.
She traded life with my father who showered her father with gifts while spoiling her and treating her right by prevailing mores for the pursuit of a life of her own after her dreams.
My Mom turned her life around upon giving me to my Father’s custody at his demand. My Dad raised me from the tender age of 5 up to primary school completion at age 12. He invested in my successful completion of junior high school under the care of my paternal aunty Elisabeth Kawami, and my maternal aunty Catherine Mvoulalea. My Beloved maternal Grandma Marthe Somboho picked up the torch by raising me through High School up to my departure for study in Eastern Europe.
Throughout my academic experience, I saw my mother on few occasions since she moved far away into the hinterland and struggled to build her life with five mouths to feed within unstable partnering conditions. On these instances, Mom managed to host me during her short visits to Brazzaville and my school breaks. She leveraged these opportunities to pour her selflessness and conciliatory nature into my humane make-up. Moreover, she instilled in me the softer skills and molded the feminine side that balanced the nerdy side and go-getter attitude imparted by my beloved Father. In spite of unfortunate setbacks, I can attest to the power of her unconditional love and unwavering support through family messengers and other intermediaries. I received vibes from her constant prayers for my success and an eventual miraculous reunion in better settings.
And by the grace of The Almighty, that MIRACLE happened in the 1980s during my return home from study in Poland undergoing martial law during Solidarity Unrest with the menace of Soviet intervention. I reconnected with My Mom in Owando in the summer of 1981 thanks to my oldest half-brother with whom we bused up to our Mom’s domicile.
The Adult First Son she never saw for decades was standing in front of her in flesh and blood. Just imagine her emotions raging from pure disbelief to joy, euphoria, jubilation and everything in between. She just kept on “bellowing” various nicknames she has for me from “Magenie” (meaning my Genius) and “Hani” up to those that her father (my maternal grandpa) loved to call me by like “Obamobenge” or “Epini Mwere Ofula Tsina.”
From then on, we connected the dots and renewed a mother-elder son relationship that managed to bring us tremendously tighter. I went on to move her back to Brazzaville and look after her two-bedroom apartment plus foods, clothing and necessities including medical and other expenses from 2008 until her passing in the spring of 2024.
In terms of Humanism, my Adored Mother lived in the service of God with authenticity, integrity and love at heart for her fellow humans. Like my father, she also valued people with beautiful souls and mainly those who held her hand the day she needed it the most. My Mom would also advise people to learn the best from everyone who edifies their spirit and to befriend people who enrich their soul, enlighten their mind and help them blossom to their best potential. Above all, she always promoted the respect for human life and the resolve to be one’s brother- or sister-keeper in livable communities.
Concerning Harmony, my Mom would always seek to amplify mutual understanding, genuine connection and real collaboration to individual learning advantage and collective growth benefit across family and community ecosystems. She would not only strive to find common grounds between opposing parties, but also assist in navigating the rough waters of disagreements in order to influence a durable peace that most people are longing for.
As to Honour, my Mom took pride in keeping her words and acting from a position of Honesty, Compassion and Generosity towards fellow humans. She valued Empathy and Solidarity with people in need of support across communities she cared to join.
So dear Mother, please accept my deepest gratitude for your sacrifices during the first five years of my life with you from gestation and throughout the nine months in your womb. Thanks Mom for enduring growing pains from my birthday up to the day you transfer custody of me to my Dad around age 5. Thank you Mummy for setting me up to succeed in my childhood and adulthood with Daddy, my caring aunties and Grandma.
Above all, thanks Mom for both your resiliency through adversity and the opportunity to in turn take care of you in your golden years. I cherish the fact you loved to jokingly say that “although your body was physically in Brazzaville, your vital organs were all with me in Ottawa.”
I miss chats with you almost every weekend through WhatsApp video calls and fondly reminisce the moments we spent side by side every time I went back home for a visit.
Happy Mother Day to all the Moms of the world, alive and in heaven! Thanks for your constant love, sacrifice and investment in our success, from gestation and childhood to adolescence, maturity and golden age. You are God Blessings!!!
Eugene OMBOLI OBAMOBENGE
Gratitude. What a legacy!