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I am not often impressed with people but she ( Alaere Alaibe) has
succeeded in impressing me with her drive, her vision and her total
commitment. Wole Soyinka

    I have battled with this piece for
    more than four weeks. Not
    because I do not know how to go
    about it but because I thought it
    should not have be written at all.
    How can I summon the courage to
    describe such an active, youthful
    and exuberant life in the past?  
    Where will I start from to reflect the
    profundity of character, rare
    sophistication, creative ingenuity
    and addiction to excellence?

    It is now three years since late
    Mrs. Augustina Alaere Alaibe
    joined her creator in the great
    beyond but her seemingly short
    and extraordinary life on earth and

the many lives she touched continue to bear eloquent testimonies to what
she lived and died for.

Aunty, I wish to express my gratitude for the examples you gave me during
the short period that I knew you and worked for you and with you. I count
myself very privileged and extremely fortunate to call you my boss, my
mentor and my friend.  You were an epitome of style, wit, elegance,
discipline, innovation, simplicity, dexterity and humility. You taught me
sincerity, compassion and philanthropy. You freely reached out to the
destitute, beggars, the homeless, vendors etc hugged them and gave them a
feeling of belonging. As at that time, there were many of us who worked for
you drawn from different tribes in Nigeria but we all found a home in rural
Opokuma village, Bayelsa State. We often joked that you had almost all
Nigerian ethnic groups represented in your kitchen.  You treated every one of
us with special generosity and gave us the formula for forbearance and
forgiveness. You spoke in various slangs, unique pidgin English and had a
special nick name for everyone close to you.  

Your vision was clear and your passion was both unbeatable and infectious.
You had a unique attachment to family values and committed your life to the
upliftment of the life of the Niger Delta woman. Your pet project Family
Reorientation Education and Empowerment (FREE) is still the most
innovative interventions in adult literacy in the whole of Niger Delta Region-
and Nigeria. You were an unrepentant advocate of conversion of gun
militancy to intellectual militancy and pursued this vision with clarity and
vigour all through your life. As at 2007, you had already built thirty three
schools across the Niger Delta and a functional hospital and maternity. You
had already received the prestigious Global UNESCO Confucius Award for
Literacy. I watched you donate a community library and youth esteem centre
to your community on the 17th of June 2008 and I can testify to your
resilience, organisational energy and commitment. Those were one of the
most exciting periods in my life within the not for profit sector because we
received daily testimonies from rural people whose lives have been touched
by the numerous projects of FREE.

How can I forget the way you made me and many Nigerians proud in far
away New York at the United Nations meeting? Your presentation drew such
great attention that then Mayor of Harlem took interest in your work and
agreed to come to visit Nigeria to meet with beneficiaries.  I still remember
the big surprise, you sent to me, when you stumbled on the fact I made little
sacrifices to ensure the logistical success of that event.

The first African Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, himself was
overwhelmed at the magnitude of your vision in extending literary culture,
empowerment and self esteem to the forgotten. You had asked me to
develop a comprehensive plan to scale up the activities of FREE before you
took ill in June 2008. I continued to call you for four consecutive days without
response and when you responded, you asked me to pray.  Aunty, I
remember you continued to contact me from your hospital bed and you
called me after I had my accident in September 2008 to encourage me .
Little did I know that was going to me my last conversation with you.

In my more than thirty years of existence and more than ten years of work in
the non profit sector, I am yet to come across someone as talented,
intelligent, compassionate, firm, and disciplined as Alaere Alaibe.  I recall
vividly that you were in a hurry to do good as though you had a time bound
mission to accomplish on earth. You had tremendous foresight and could be
said to have some clairvoyance. You had an eye for details and the slightest
error and sloppiness could not escape your vigilance.  You reprimanded me
by phone and encouraged me the next minute by a text message.  Words
fail me each time I try to describe the impact you made in my life and on
humanity. God knows the best.

As a proud beneficiary of your magnanimous heart, I remember today and
always that you are resting in peace with that same everlasting smile that is
part of you.  I will continue to celebrate the exemplary and impactful life you
lived here on earth and the indelible footprints you left in the sands of time.
Rest in Peace, Mother Theresa of the Niger Delta.

Uche Igwe is a research scholar and governance expert. He wrote in via
ucheigwe@gmail.com
Alaere Alaibe: Gone but not forgotten
| More
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Reader's comments
On Jan 30 17:33 by Jumoke Akin-Taylor said

Uche, thank you for sharing the story of such a wonderful woman. I am
inspired by her life and I pray I can do a fraction of what she did for the
betterment of our people. Take comfort in the fact that God sent her here for a
purpose and she fulfilled her mission and left a lasting legacy. God bless.

On Jan 30 17:13 at by Grace Ekang said

Uche, thanks for this piece on my late aunty Mrs Alaere Alaibe. It was a big
blow on me and my little daughter Joyce who was so fond of her because they
were born the same month almost the same date. Life has never been the
same since she departed this trouble world.lt was hard for me to start all over
again hence she was my sister,boss, mother, mentor, advicer, idol and a
great confidant. Oh death were is thy sting? Every 30th of January l light
candles in my house in memory of one good hearted woman that left her
doors open to everyone that came across her while she lived. There will never
be another Alaere. No never. Aunty am yet to pick up from where you left me
off. Aunty mi that's what l used to call you. You were about to make a
difference in my life before the cold hands of death snatched you away.There
will never be another you. You thought me how to be resourceful, dependent of
myself and believe in God as the only source of helper. You thought me
creativity, l still remember that trip to Mail for the UNESCO award where you
made your presentation and the applauses that followed that speech not even
the presidents wife got that. Everyone had wanted to identify with you, to learn
from you and know what the secrets to your successes were. your drive to
better the lives of the least privilege giving them hope, clothing and housing
them. oh death how you cut short the dreams of many.That trip to India where
you made Nigeria proud as a single person carrying so much dream for
women even men in your Region this time not for Bayelsans but, for the Niger
Delta people as you spread your kind gesture to the nine states of the Niger
Delta Region. You were indeed a Mother Theresa of our time.Adieu Aunty mi.
there will never be another you. I can't query God but one thing is certain, l
know you are resting in the palace of your father, the creator of the Universe,
the Almighty God for it pleased Him to call you back home. You fought the
good fight and have finished your cause. Adieu! Adieu! Adieu great Woman of
God.