Tributes to Pa George Mbarika

“We remain very indebted to you…”
“Pa Mbarika, our first encounter with you dates back to the period you served as Treasurer of the ICT University, with Prof. Elizabeth Tamajong, the then Deputy Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs in the same institution. Since then, your qualities of devoted service, cloaked with your outstanding fatherly and caring personality have made an indelible mark, not only to the members of staff but also to the community you affected with your meekness.

On one occasion during the wedding of a member of staff of the ICT University, your sublime qualities of social accommodation shone even brighter. Then came the occasion our families were welded into a closer union through the courtship of our daughter, Nora Awasiri Bessem Tamajong, and your nephew, Calvin Soh. Despite your poor health condition, you still coordinated artfully the “knock door”, traditional marriage, and court marriages which finally culminated to a very successful Church wedding. We remain very indebted to you for this legacy you have endowed on our families.

We miss you greatly but are comforted by the fact that we will meet again in God’s eternal kingdom, where there will be no further separation. Farewell and rest, pa, in God’s bosom.”

Elizabeth and Paul Tamajong

“A man of integrity”

“I met Pa Mbarika for the first time around the mid-seventies when a secondary school classmate Wilfred Teke, of blessed memory, took me to his printing press around Madagascar, Yaoundé. However, I got quite close to Pa Mbarika in the late eighties when we both worked for the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. He was the head of the printing unit. We met quite often, and in most of these meetings, his problem was the mismanagement of the resources of the printing press. Most often, he didn’t come to terms with the fact that they wanted him to acknowledge receipt of printing materials he did not receive. Pa was a man of integrity and could not just accommodate these malpractices.

When I returned to Yaoundé in 2006, Pa was already on retirement. I visited him quite often, and during these visits, he would not let me go and would move from one story to the other. In one of the visits, he repaired my church hymnary, whose cover had gone off, for no price. Also, the receipts booklets and payment vouchers used by the CMF Bastos presently were made by him at a giveaway price. Thank you, Pa, for your services to the church and to humanity as a whole. May our Good Lord receive you in His bosom.”

Philip & Rose Forlemu, PC Bastos Yaoundé

“A very simple but very strict person”

“Pa George Mbarika, I knew you as a young CYF Bastos member who just joined the CMF Bastos Yaoundé in 2011. You were one of those elderly CMF Bastos members who inspired me with your character, humility, respect for one another, and soft manner of reproaching people whenever they were wrong. Even at your age, you hardly discriminated between people, be it in age, class, wealth, or position. You were such a very simple but very strict person that taught some of us the young generation the lesson of humility, and which we are trying to emulate in your example.

I can vividly remember your advice to me a couple of months after I was elected the Evangelism Secretary of CMF Bastos Yaoundé: ‘I shouldn’t rely on my own power nor the wisdom of men to succeed in my God-given task, but rather on that of God, for He who appointed me will certainly anoint me for the task.’ You are gone, but your memories shall live with me forever. I pray never to depart from the path you taught me to follow as a junior brother in CMF Bastos Yaoundé. Rest in peace Pa George Mbarika and adieu.”

Halle Celestine Nchang

“Royal Tribute to a Fallen Hero… a Big Loss”

“The Zang-Tabi Palace wishes to express its deep condolences for the loss of late Pa George Mbarika, a great Zang-Tabian of many generations, a gentle giant, a trailblazer, my icon, and our Patriarch. Late Pa Mbarika uplifted so many lives on this earth, trying to give everyone a leap in life.”

“Throughout his long lifetime on this planet, he never failed to tell me about the way my forefathers led and collaborated with all the villages of the Meta Clan. Indeed, our thoughts and sincerest prayers are with the entire Mbarika family at this time of loss and mourning, especially with Ma Regina Mbarika, Eric Mbarika, Prof. Victor Mbarika, Anne Mbarika, Eunice Mbarika, Rose Mbarika, and all the grand and great-grandkids, brothers, and sisters.”

HRM Fon T. T. Tabi Teghencha X

“Extreme Generosity”

“Daddy, the pain of knowing you’re no longer here is unbearable. The reality of it is even harder to accept. I haven’t come to terms with it yet—this is new to me, to all of us. I look around, wondering if others can feel what I feel, or if they can hear my silent cries. I never knew what it meant to lose a father—a present, loving father.”

“You were a family man with the best intentions for us, always planning and dreaming of us doing things together. You were a man of peace, always striving to keep us united and to carry on your legacy.”

“I remember our last conversations, your last dreams, your last prayers, and your last words of encouragement to me. I remember the prayers we shared the day before you passed away—I was still so hopeful. Now, I won’t hear your gentle voice, your laughter, or your listening ear. I’ll never sit next to you again for a conversation or share what’s going on in my life.”

“Daddy, I am proud of the father you were to me and so many others. I believe you’re still with us, maybe not in body, but in spirit. I know you are with Jesus. We will live as you taught us, according to God’s word—that is one of the greatest legacies you left us. We will walk in integrity, inspired by the life you led, and others’ testimonies about you. We will make you proud and make Jesus proud even more so.”

“Daddy, I love and miss you deeply.”

Eunice Mbarika