My Dear Brother. By Chika Stella Bob Dike.
5 min read
Brother: we are now boarding for Washington DC
Me: oh that’s quite a short layover. Ijeoma nu! Call me when you get there…
Brother: I sure will….
And that call never came!
At first I thought it was a bad dream that I was going to wake from, at other times I held out hope that a call would come from the hospital and they would say, we got a pulse but I knew all of that was me putting off processing the reality that my most handsome, amiable, kind, generous brother, my friend was no more… I really don’t know where to start talking about my Brother, Chief Prince Jude Chidi Anyaibe. I can’t talk about his handsomeness that would be stating the obvious. Neither would I want to talk about his kindness, I would leave those who have encountered his generosity to talk about that but one thing I can tell you is that when my Brother gives, you will think he is very rich in material things but you wouldn’t know that my brother is rich in love and that is what he gives to people so that no matter how hard or difficult it is at any time anybody asked for his help, he would give even at his own inconvenience.
But I would like to talk about my brother who impacted my life and kept me grounded and protected me from events that would have changed the trajectory of my life as a woman if he wasn’t there like a hawk protecting his young ones. You would wonder why I was this close to my brother, my other brothers left for the US for greener pastures shortly after their high school but Prince was the one who stayed a bit longer, schooled and worked before sojourning to the United States. That happened to be a critical time in my development. He watched over me like a hawk, never allowing me put a foot wrong, always reminding me whose daughter I was, providing me with everything that would have otherwise enticed other kids my age to go astray. In one incident while in Catholic Girls School, Ihioma Girls, he saved me and a few of my friends from expulsion because he made sure that instead of going to places my school prohibited students from going, he brought us straight back to school and all the girls who stepped out that day were expelled from the school: I could imagine what my life would have been if I mis-stepped at that early age. Prince and his group of young friends started Unique Committee of Friends which was a roll call of every ambitious young Umuaka man at the time. Little wonder then most of them moved on to relocate to the US for greener pastures and made the best of their lives. You would have thought that having these young men coming around my brother would impact me negatively but either out of code of brotherhood or a stern warning from my brother, all his friends became my big brothers who would also protect me anywhere even if my brother wasn’t there. And it wasn’t just me, he would protect anybody that was under his care. His students in Umuaka High school can testify to a time he had to personally drive the students back from one of their school outings in St. Augustine Nkwerre because their bus driver had abandoned them at the first sign of trouble because of the unhealthy rivalry between the two schools and my brother had promised the principal that all the boys were coming back with him unharmed. That was the person my brother was!
My dad was reluctant to let my brother travel to US but Prince promised my dad that I and my brothers would be different and from the time Prince was settled in the US and was able to visit home, he had visited home almost every year most of which was during my dad’s birthday in August to honour my dad. Our bond was such that anytime he visited, he would come to my place in Enugu, little wonder he met his very beautiful wife who was living in Enugu with her brother at the time.
On the eve of a very big family event, I heard my brother’s voice knocking on my window and calling out my name in panic, his beautiful wife was in labour. I reassured him having had a few kids myself at the time, and we took her to the hospital in Owerri, held hands, continued to pray until we heard the cry of his first born child, a boy. We hugged, cried, danced and praised God that was the bond we shared! So when my daughter was relocating to the US, it was a no brainer on who would provide her with the protection that she needed. You loved and guided her like you would yours sometimes she asked me does Uncle know I have lived alone as an undergraduate and during my master’s program in UK but he loved and gave of himself and would never allow anything he is entrusted with to fall to the ground. My brother and daughter so looked forward and counted down to his retirement because she made him a promise to take him to anywhere in the world he chose all-expenses paid as a retirement gift but God had a different retirement plan for him.
By far the hardest thing I have had to do in my entire life is to say goodbye to you. I will love you forever; you will forever be in my heart. One day, the tears won’t be as frequent but for now they water the memories we shared! Rest on Nwunem, in the bosom of your maker… we will be ok eventually! Your little girl will be okay.
