Rachel Celestine Epoupa-Lyonga

It is with tears running down my cheeks that I send this tribute. Tributes like these were meant for others and not for you. 'Cause you were so full of life, vibrant, energetic, moving and shaking doors and windows. None of us saw your transition to the land of your ancestors coming right now.

As we used to call you, Aunty, Tyson, Mamie Bay'am-Sell'am, Iroko tree, your departure has caused a great void in our lives. You have left me with Mola Lyonga and Natalie that I should do what aunty? What am I going to do? All I ask is for you to intercede to God so that Dolly and I can have the strength and wisdom to carry on with Mola and Natalie.

Your departure saddens me the most because we did not talk. You and I loved the same person so much but from different angles, and we did not sit to define the roles that we needed to play in Dolly's life without us interfering with each others role. It has hurt me so much because we are Christians and as such we should have known better. As much as we did not talk before your departure, I ask for your forgiveness, and pray that as you sit in God's Kingdom, you open doors for your daughters and grandchildren.

In that same light, I want to thank you for giving me your daughter as a wife. Every day that I get up and see her by me, I thank God and you Mamie buy'am-Sell'am for giving her to me as a wife. You taught her what many mothers do not teach their daughters. This alone speaks volumes of who you are because as the old adage goes, " a fruit does not fall far from its tree." As much as your tree did not bare many fruits, the one that it bared has created an impact in so many lives just as you have also created an impact in many lives as well.

I sit here and reminesce our good days in Canada how things were so nice, serene, joyous and glamorous. Oh how I always sit and wish things were that way again. The joyous summers and winters in Ottawa are memories that I will forever cherish. Your puff-puff making; the dancing in the basement, holding your husband and me holding Dolly, dancing to Dina Bell and Ben Decca slow music. The foods; Bar-B-Que with the young Nigerian diplomats. Bar-B-Que with Hon Yang Philemon the ambassador; the drives to Quebec City!! The teases we did to each other!! How you will call me Molua Mo-Lambe and I will shout out Epoup'a Mikano. Aunty how could we have lost all that and fought on things that were so minuscule? Oh how I wish I can have just one day with you alive to say I am sorry. I am sorry because I am your child but I decided to assert myself as a man and became defiant and stubborn. Oh how I wish I can just have one more day? Oh dear me! How I wish!!!

My promise to you is that as much as it will be a rough road for us to carry on without you, I will do my best to take care of the precious people who you loved so much and have left for me; You Husband Mola Lyonga, your daughter Dolly who is my wife, my love, my best friend; your daughter Natalie who calls me her "personal Person or my PP", who we love so much, and your grand children (Dina & Choco) who I love with my life. Thank you once again for giving me the best wife any man can ask for and stay well in God's Kingdom

Shelly Molua Lambe