A Sad Day for Dr Joseph Onesimus of Chicago Swahili Chapel
Dr. Joseph Onesimus, Lecturer and senior Pastor of Chicago Swahili Chapel has lost his younger sister. Grace Neema Mativo went to eternal REST Saturday the 26th September 2020 in Chicago. Dr. Joseph will be transporting her body to Kenya where her mother and other family members are waiting in grief. The following go fund me account has been established to assist in this effort. We rejoice with them that rejoice and mourn with them that mourn. Please join Dr. Joseph Onesimus and his family in this effort. https://www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-for-grace-mativo?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet.
This is the letter of grief that Dr. Joseph Onesimus posted as he seeks comfort in an event that has brought him nothing but pain.
To Neema (Grace)
Death is a mysterious unseen enemy of mankind. The creeper that strikes like a coward when you least expect. A monster that comes to invade causing deep heartache and pain. It is like sharp needles stubbing a thousand times a minute and weighs heavily on my heart like thousand kilos of metal weight and every time I walk I feel the drugging of my weight beneath me and behind me. As I struggle to walk, step by step, and to keep my posture upright, I hear the sounds of loosened chains behind me and a buzzing sound that originates from the vast emptiness. I do not want to look back. No, it is too painful to turn my neck but I am also focused to reach my presently unknown destination but certain in the near future.
I too look forward to the hope of my fathers. Call my name and I hardly make the connection as I seek to understand and search for answers in this valley of darkness. The emptiness of my mind puzzles me, my brain refuses to connect the dots and the neurons are firing blanks for I can’t make sense of anything. It is like a tornado just passed by me and all I can see are the ruins left behind in my disrupted environment: the ruins, the dust, and the floating pieces of paper floating by as they trickle down to the ground. I hear the sound of a church bell ringing from a distance but the noise of the drugging chains interrupts my hearing ability.
I am empty and stricken by the fog but I am hopeful. I gaze at the beautiful fall leaves and on the horizon, I see a glimpse of light. I am holding on a certain future promised to me by my FATHER. I am hopeful as tears flow from my face and my nose runs like a river. But alas, I remember the promises of YAHWEH. Ye shall have tribulations but ye shall overcome. This is temporal, for death, “where is thy sting and alas where is your victory?” Yes you have disrupted my life, but just for a while, for Christ has risen, the assurance for the resurrection!
I love you, kid sister; you were a fighter, ran with purpose and humbled yourself. You won others by your confident heart. Rest then my kid sister. Rest until another day,
another time, and another place in the presence of our redeemer Christ Jesus the risen Lord.
BBN TV
A Sad Day for Dr Joseph Onesimus of Chicago Swahili Chapel
