Skip to main content

RIP WILLIE LOBO, MY DEAREST FRIEND

 















Today is one of the saddest days of my life ... it is as if someone has cut off a part of me and my soul. One of my best friends, one of the most loved and respected people in the world, everybody's friend, always with the most loving smile you could find on any face on earth ... a great brother, father and husband ... Willie Lobo, has passed away in Nairobi. A few days ago he had his first session on Dialisis. He told me the next day that it was quite a simple process and he had come through it all well. He usually sent me an sms every morning, yesterday he sent me a holy picture. His broken-hearted sister Diana told me the shattering news. Too soon, but with his Maker, Pole, Rest in Peace. All our condolences to his devoted wife Dulu, children and the extended family and friends. I will never forget him.

He helped anyone and everyone and went out of his way to do it. He loved meeting up with old friends from overseas who were visiting Kenya. Everyone knew him and loved. He was one of our own best examples of a Christian man. His family was absolutely precious to him and showered them every ounce of love he had in him. By his side there was always Dulu, a childhood sweetheart, eternally the other half of his self. God give her strength. Willie will live in her heart and in the hearts of those who loved him while he was with us and made us laugh, made up happy, and helped us get well by simply cheering us up. Then, of course, he loved a drink with friends, especially at his beloved Goan Institute Nairobi. There was a special place in his heart for all the friends he grew up with in his beloved Kisumu, many shades, many colours, from different lands but all with one thing in common, they loved the guy and they were happy to do battle with him in the sports he loved so much.

Willie's last message to me on October 21: The older you get the more you realise how precious life is. You have no desire for drama, conflict or stress. You just want good friends, a cozy home, food on the table and people who make you happy. (He was truly blessed).

Sad news about Willie, one of the finest people you could meet. He would go out of his way to make you at home when you visited Kenya. A great sportsman who played in goal for Kisumu Hotstars and captained GI's cricket team. Willie was one of the three top Goan goalkeepers in the Kenya National Football League, the others being Albert Castanha and Oscar de Mello. Our deepest condolences go out to Dulu, the children and grandkids. Gone too soon but may his soul rest in peace. Norman and Delphine da Costa.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MORE photos of cricketers in Kenya added

More cricket photos added! Asians v Europeans, v Tanganyika, v Uganda, v East Africa, Rhodesia, etc some names missing! Photo Gallery of Kenya Cricket 23 photos: CM Gracias, Blaise d'Cunha Johnny Lobo! Ramanbhai Patel, Mehboob Ali, Basharat Hassan and hundreds others.  
1 comment
Read more

Pinto: Blood on Western and Kenyan hands

  BOOK REVIEW   Pinto: Blood on Western and Kenyan hands   Review by Cyprian Fernandes     Pio Gama Pinto, Kenya’s Unsung Martyr 1927-1965 Edited by Shiraz Durrani [Vita Books, Kenya, 2018, 392 pp.   Pbk, £30, ISBN 978-9966-1890-0-4; distributed worldwide by African Books Collective, www.africanbookscollective.com ]   Less than two years after independence from the British, on 24 February 1965, the Kenyan nationalist Pio Gama Pinto was gunned down in the driveway of his Nairobi home.   His young daughter watched helplessly in the back seat of the family car.   Pinto, a Member of Parliament at the time, was Kenya’s first political martyr.   One man was wrongly accused of his death, served several years in prison and was later released and compensated.   Since then no one has been charged with the murder.   Now the long-awaited book on Pio Gama Pinto is finally here, launched in Nairobi on 16 October 2018....
Post a Comment
Read more

The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya

  The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya (Courtesy of Al Jazeera) Poison, deforestation and power lines have pushed the African raptor population to a 90 per cent decline in the last 40 years. Raptor technician John Kyalo Mwanzia rehabilitates a juvenile fish eagle to flight after it was treated for grounding injuries sustained in a territorial fight at the Lake Naivasha habitat, at Soysambu Raptor Centre. [Tony Karumba/AFP] Simon Thomsett tentatively removes a pink bandage from the wing of an injured bateleur, a short-tailed eagle from the African savannah, where birds of prey are increasingly at risk of extinction. “There is still a long way to go before healing,” Thomsett explains as he lifts up the bird’s dark feathers and examines the injury. “It was injured in the Maasai Mara national park, but we don’t know how,” says the 62-year-old vet who runs the Soysambu Raptor Centre in central Kenya. The 18-month-old eagle, with a dist...
Post a Comment
Read more