Just a Man: Do you have a Eustace in your life? Please celebrate him today
What you need to know:
- Men, we all have Eustaces in our lives. These are folks who are akin to pebbles thrown in a pond.
- The ripples they cause seem fruitless.
- But, in the grand scheme of things and over space and time, these ripples cause the butterfly effect, reaching and affecting multiple lives.
There are two types of men a man rarely forgets about. A man you went to school with. And a man you went to school with.
Confused? Let me clarify. The former is a literal school. The latter is figurative; the school of life.
Eustace Warutumo and I attended Dagoretti High School, popularly known as, Ditchez (a twist of the acronym DHS). Our headmaster, the late Mr Mburia called us, mboyz. In our fraternity, that moniker has stuck.
Eustace went to be with the Lord, on the closing hours of February 11. Doctors say leukemia claimed Eustace’s life. I beg to differ. Eustace lived the true meaning of his name, which is of Greek origin, meaning fruitful.
Being a real brother; that’s how I choose to remember our Chief Admin.
Safe space to vent
More than ever before, men need safe spaces to vent, exhale and banter. Our high school WhatsApp group - Ditchez 90 - has been that space for the mboyz.
The WhatsApp group was Eustace’s and a few other mboyz’s brainchild. It has inspired mboyz to do better, drawing from experiences - good, bad and downright ugly - of fellow mboyz. Our group consists of folks who have the ears of presidents, to those whom life has by the scruff of the neck. But there’s mutual respect, because we understand that - though we all have the same hours and hearth - our journeys and paces are different.
Maya Angelou said that life loves the liver of it. And Eustace loved to live life.
In or WhatsApp group, a mboy shared how, sometime in the 90s, he was Eustace’s side kick, in pursuit of a priceless item that had been stolen from Eustace.
The culprit’s family moved to Tanzania. The exchange rate then was, 1Sh1 to Tsh 10.
“With Sh2,000each, we became rich, or so we thought, as we crossed over to Tanzania at Namanga. We slept in a lodging in Arusha after we realised we couldn’t afford any hotel,” this mboy recalls.
Two days later, they captured the culprit - a young girl - who’d stolen Eustace’s heart.
That’s the same zeal Eustace employed in setting up our group and, for brotherly love’s sake, being all up in every brother’s business, like nuptials and political aspirations.
The WhatsApp group has helped mboyz, who fell on hard times during this pandemic. Last year, mboyz held an impromptu fundraiser. The funds are loaned - on gentleman’s terms - to mboyz in need.
During the throes of the pandemic, the original WhatsApp group gave birth to a new baby. It’s a smaller group, made of mboyz who are battling depression. In this forum, mboyz generally share experiences, encouragement and coping skills.
Last year, the mboyz pooled resources and visited a former classmate who’s battled mental complications, since we cleared high school. That mustard seed that Eustace and other mboyz painstakingly nurtured has grown into a fruitful tree, which provides shade and sustenance to men who - minus the convenience of attending the same school - would have been perfect strangers … and solo sojourners.
Men, we all have Eustaces in our lives. These are folks who are akin to pebbles thrown in a pond. The ripples they cause seem fruitless. But, in the grand scheme of things and over space and time, these ripples cause the butterfly effect, reaching and affecting multiple lives.
Men, celebrate your Eustaces before they transition. Please.
