By Dr Ernest L. Molua (Chief of Service, National & International Cooperation, University of Buea. This was writen by E.L. Molua on behalf of the Research and Cooperation Divisions and the Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon)
We want to wail out loud about the loss of our boss, a dearest friend and a mentor, who we shall miss every day for the rest of our lives. We are here today to remember a man who stood high and tall among men. He was the closest of our bosses. He was our foreman. He was our mentor. We are not quite sure if there are enough words that can describe our mentor. Mentors come in all shapes, sizes and ages. Dr Herbert Nganjo Endeley was the biggest of them all, knowing that he made us believe in ourselves by boosting our confidence, providing guidance, encouragement and opportunities. He was a boss who abhorred all forms of discrimination, believed firmly in and practiced justice in his services. He loved and respected all God’s creations.
Dr Hebert Endeley fought big fights and drove this campus with enormous energy and zeal, thus contributing in no small way to the growth of this institution from a fledgling Anglosaxon university to an institution of world repute. This University campus will always remain here for viewing as a legacy imbued with a great man’s talents. In his work, Herbert was a meticulous worker and perfectionist. He wouldn't let a piece of writing out of his office until he was completely satisfied.
However, the biggest fight was his fight to stay alive. When Dr Herbert Endeley reported to us his closest collaborators that he was diagnosed of heart ailment, he looked robust and agile. Little did we suspect that the end was so close! In a short period of declining health and strength, he was still able to accept visitors and fulfilled his administrative duties beyond official working hours. Even as his health declined, he generously provided a sounding board and consistently gave wise advice. We had to persuade him to leave the office as late as 4pm on Friday 24 November 2006.
We now count our blessings that we were lucky to be in the path of this man. He was not only a foreman in University of Buea’s garden of excellence, but an excellent gardener with foresight on how to transform our institution through his own personal contribution and through the training and empowerment of personnel of the institution put under his leadership. As a foreman, he took the raw material and refined it with encouragement, humor, life lessons and the strength to do what was right for others. He was generous with gift items and love. He taught his collaborators that you can do very well by doing good. Through his quiet leadership, educated foresight, and in some instances of outright scolding, he exhorted us to be first class administrative assistants and advisors. Our greatest hope was that everyone has a mentor like him. We are convinced, if he had the opportunity to make last minute plans, he would have considered donating his body to the University of Buea’s new Department of Medicine, for research, in a selfless act, striving always to better the lives of others and uphold the ideals he fought for in research, teaching and building. But God has other plans.
God’s plans are bigger and better. So a hero is fallen, a community servant has departed. The memories of his sterling qualities as administrator and mentor however remain with us as a precious inheritance. An inheritance which we hope to put to the service of our community and nation with the same zeal that he did, God being our helper.
Together in grief we join you mourners, for Nganjo is now breathless. He is leaving us. Herbert is fallen, bearing our debt in grief. In life where oxygen is free, with no monthly bills, yet snuffed out of a giant, a mammoth man, a teacher par excellence, on the foothills of mount fako. Here lies our mentor, Nganjo, lifeless and breathless. Adieu Dr Herbert Nganjo Endeley. Good-Bye, Sir. May Your Soul Rest in Perfect Peace.
Written by E.L. Molua and read during the Academic Honours of Late Dr Herbert Endeley, Friday 12, January 2007 by Dr Josepha F. Tendo, Head of Division of Research, on behalf of the Research and Cooperation Divisions and the Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon.
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