A nine-voice tribute to a man who outlived battles, built people, and fathered generations.
Introduction
Some stories are too large to be contained in a single life.
Some men carry whole communities on their shoulders. Our father is one of them.
Today (Dec 12), is his 82nd birthday.
From a hospital bed. Yet still glowing with purpose. We honour the man who shaped our lives, our faith, and our futures.
Below is our poem. You gave us life, yes. But also a map, a compass, and the courage to walk it.
Nine children. One voice. One legacy.
🌿 We Are Because You Are: A Poem for Dad on His 82nd Birthday 🌿
(A poem by his nine children)
You taught us that life is bigger than the bodies we live in.
Purpose stands even when legs tremble. A father’s love can stretch wider than a city.
You raised cousins and strangers like your own.
Opening Nairobi’s doors the way you opened your Bible. Showing us that family is sometimes chosen by kindness.
Family isn’t limited by blood, but expanded by love.
You prayed in living rooms, huts, wards, and weddings.
Holding babies to heaven. Blessing couples into forever. Standing beside graves with a steady voice of hope.
Your ministry has always been more heart than title.
For 28 years you worked at Unga Limited.
Honest hands feeding the nation by day. Shepherding souls by night. A double shift of sweat and spirit.
Only a man with a lion’s heart could carry.
You taught young men to find jobs, faith, and spouses.
Quietly rewriting people’s futures. The kind of pastor who carried both scripture and people with ease.
Dad, generosity wears your face.
You loved Mum through her storms that would have drowned lesser men.
Holding her hand through psychosis, depression, and all their shadows. Teaching us that vows have muscle. Modeling in our eyes.
Marriage is a covenant. Not a convenience.
We heard the stories of the bush. The errand boy with a brave stride.
You once ran messages through the forest for freedom fighters. Passing intelligence and weapons in a war you were too young for.
Yet brave enough to enter.
You’ve survived the bush, remand cells, and betrayal.
Attracting huge numbers friends and enemies, who shaped your journey.
Your big heart made you impossible to break.
At 82, you’ve outlived your father.
Outwalked fear. And outloved many. We stand taller because your spirit refuses to sit down. You stand taller than your history.
And kept going long after the world thought you’d stop.
“The glory of children is their father.” Proverbs 17:6
“Like a father has compassion on his children…” Psalm 103:13
We are because you are.
Today, even from a hospital bed, you remain.
Dad, we’ve walked the hospital corridors. Faith clenched between our fingers. Listening to the beeps and whispers.
Praying through the nights. God has helped us.
If legacy had a face. It would look like your tired smile today.
If resilience had a name. It would be yours. And if love had a poem.
Dad, this would be it.
Happy 82nd birthday, Dad.
We honour you with all our breath.
📚 Further Reading
If you’d like to explore more of Dad’s story and our family journey. Here are a few deeply personal pieces:
- 👉 Thirty Days in the Corridors. That light continued to flicker in hospital corridors. Through waiting, prayer, and quiet courage
- 👉 Walking the Hospital Corridors: A Family, A Father & The Faith That’s Holding Us Together. A front-row seat into our current season of hope, fear, faith and love.
- 👉 Gone Fishing With Dad — Caught a Legacy. A slow, sunlit walk into fatherhood and memory.
- 👉 When Love Burns: Living Through the Fire of a Spouse’s Mental Breakdown. Raw, necessary reading for anyone loving someone through mental illness.
#WeAreBecauseYouAre #DadAt82 #LegacyLiving #FamilyPoetry #FaithJourney #KenyanStories #HospitalCorridors #HonouringOurFathers #Resilience #FamilyLove #WalkingThroughHealing
Joseph Ngaara is inspired by people’s life experiences. Do you have an intriguing life story and need to share your triumph or tragedy? Email: j.mungai@hotmail.co.uk
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