​Dear sisters and brothers

It gives me a great honor for me to stand here, on behalf of our Dean, Professor Levi Obonyo, at this event to celebrate a great woman: Mary Kizito.
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In my own academic career, remembrance is one of my pet subjects. We cannot understand who we are, unless we remember. We cannot have the motivation to do good for our students, or for society, if we do not believe that we will be remembered after we leave this earthly home. The reason that our cultures talk about the ancestors, pour libation to them, name new-born children after them, teach us to recite our genealogies, is because they recognize the importance of knowing our history. Of remembering. Our cultures recognize that if the life of those who leave before us is not valued, then the lives of us still on this earth will not be valued either. So in remembering Ms. Kizito, we affirm ourselves as well.