84 days in: touch-base “Remembering Amit”
Written by Chioma Achi, Cambridge-Africa PhD Scholar
84 days in: touch-base “Remembering Amit”
I would have been looking forward to reading Amit’s blog after the touch-base with us Cambridge-Africa scholars today. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Amit left us on the 3rd of June 2020 while some of us were pondering why we had not heard from him in a few days - he did stay in touch with us that frequently. I recall that Amit started touch-base immediately after the lockdown as a way of bringing all the scholars together. He succeeded at it! We appreciate the bond we now have and agree that Amit would be pleased to see us carry on staying in touch with each other.
So, today, we kicked off our conversation with the Director of Cambridge-Africa, Dr Caroline Trotter talking about Amit and all the pleasant memories we had of him, the reassurances of her continuous support for all scholars and the need to keep doing brilliantly as Amit would have loved us to if he were here. We also brainstormed Cambridge-Africa’s ongoing and future plans for the program and its scholars.
Each scholar gave some personal reflections on our time spent with Amit. To mention but a few attributes that we all shared: His community spirit, selflessness, passion for helping people, his genuine concern for all, going above and beyond no matter the challenge, his humility and ease with which he makes everyone feel valuable. He was great at his job and a fatherly figure. One thing is clear to us all; Amit made a huge impact in our lives and will be deeply missed. The take home message from these reflections is to make the most of our lives and cherish our friendships and relationships. It was a sober moment and felt surreal.
We explored plans to immortalize Amit going forward and will be discussing them further. We aim to continue with some of Amit’s legacy.
In Amit’s usual way, I will sign off with thanks and hope that we all continue to stay safe!
Previous blog posts
14 May 2020: 54 days in: remote up-grading(s), Cameroonian politics, College life and football!
22 April 2020: COVID-19 Diaries: A joint blog from the Cambridge-Africa team while working from home
9 April 2020: Hanging out and catching up remotely with the C-A Scholars in lock-down..