Tribute to my dear friend, Raphael Okiot

Penning down these few but sincere thoughts of mine is the least I could do in honour of your life, our amazing friendship and in reverence of the memories that we shared together. 

Do you have a special friend you went to school with and still remained close friends long after school, that friend that becomes family. I had that privilege and lost this person on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Why Raphael.. why so soon?! We all have to leave but if only you stayed longer. This world needs more of your type, I feel proud and blessed to have known someone amazing like you.

Our paths crossed in 2013 when this tall slim “stranger” entered our class, walked straight to the back & sat next to me, to my left and Jasper to my right. It was friendship at first sight and this sparked a perfect brotherhood we struck for the next decade.

From sitting together in class, joining the same discussion group, hanging out together to graduating from law school, we maintained a close knit friendship and this carried on to the Law Development Centre (LDC), we literally did everything together.

Destiny still had it, we rented together immediately after LDC at our humble abode in Bweyogerere. Ours was a modest life, the grass to grace story line. We did not have much, all we had were big dreams, hopes, big goals, similar problems and shared passions.

We always encouraged each other and joked how it was only a matter of time for our life to blossom. We braved all life hurdles only for death to rob us of our big dreams. We fought all these life battles only for you to die in such a gruesome and painful manner. You never lived to see our big dreams, our big goals. You never lived to see that one day one time.

You loved your children, very involved in their lives and you set for us a perfect example of a loving father. Hearing your lovely daughter recite a poem in your honour at the requiem service was heartbreaking but a manifestation of the great bond you struck with your beautiful children, Tendo, Raphael Jr. and Paul. Knowing that your young children will brave this world without a Dad is disheartening.

You were a genuine friend, always happy and looking out for your people. You were that friend that united all of us, your friends. We always called unto you when stuck with any problem, even when stuck in Court or with research, Raphael always came to our rescue, he was that brilliant and selfless..

You lived a very low-profile life and never liked the limelight. Your death being reported across the entire nation was something you would never appreciate and we are sorry we failed to maintain that low profile you always cherished.

He loved walking, he always insisted we walk as much as we can and to him those walks meant a lot, it was bonding time, time to reminisce and share our big plans and dreams. Raphael was a big Manchester United fan and I was that annoying rival, an Arsenal diehard. The endless football debates we had, we analysed and critiqued football better than some pundits, football was that shared sport, it always took away life’s problems.  

I have so many fond memories of you my dear friend but the most memorable was in 2017 at LDC. You got a golden opportunity to undertake your clerkship at one of the big law firms and you turned it down in my favour. You asked me to take it up since you had just gotten another placement. You took a smaller firm and left the bigger one for me. No better mark of selflessness than that, he “sacrificed” his legal career for me. I will forever remain grateful to you my brother.

Writing this tribute is the last thing I expected to do, not now nor anytime soon because it is not part of the dreams we shared and our earnest expectation of how to end our friendship in this world of mortals.

Raphael, you were a fighter, you didn’t deserve to die that way but who can question God?! He who gives and he who takes. To him alone be the Glory. We hope we were half as amazing a friend to you as you were to us!! Indeed, the heavens received an angel..

Death, you robbed us of a brother, a father, a colleague, a brilliant young Ugandan. You took Raphael when this world still needed him, when we all still needed him. You have left a void but your memories definitely would be our comfort.

Rest in the Lord’s bosom my dear friend, till we meet again where neither time nor death can separate us.

Edwin Micheal Echiba, a close friend to Raphael.