This morning we lay Johnson Barasa, (SABC cameraman Nairobi office) to rest at his home in Kitale. Just like I have used this platform for 12 years to tell you the stories that the two of us were working on, allow me to use it to pay tribute to him in a short thread. #SABCNews

I joined the SABC in 2008 as a young mum to be, incidentally taking over from my mentor @LinusKaikai. Barasa held my hand and together we continued telling the African story. #SABCNews

Our first story was the 2008 Post election violence. We watched and covered fellow Kenyans butcher each other over politics. The story lasted three months with the Annan brokered peace agreement. #SABCNews

We traversed the continent witnessing the beauty of our land but sometimes the despair of refugees across Africa victims of civil war and bad politics. #SABCNEWS

We cheated death several times. One time Mogadishu at press conference, suicide bombers set off the first explosive outside the hall we were in gun fire followed I dived under the table. I don't what he did but when I emerged from there he was filming. #SABCNEWS

That was the colleague I knew brave and dedicated to his work. #sabcnews

We joked about death several times. He often told me I will kill him. I one time recommended a dentist who for three days attempted to pluck his tooth, I accompanied him for three days . The tooth is still in his mouth. #sabcnews

Or when we went to cover a story on bee keeping and he stirred a hive and the bees really stung him (this story never saw the light of day)

I was much younger than him and so I made him do crazy things like bringing a whole blender to the office to make smoothies or take pictures with the Kenyan flag ahead of our country's big match. #SABCNews

He turned from colleague to friend and finally family. #SABCNews

...and this made me have him give all my decisions a second look. When he learned that my former employer had paid my dues he held my hand took me to Syokimau and said "At your age, the UN considers you homeless, until you have ur own house," that's how I owned a home. #SABCNews

He valued education and maybe his greatest pride will be his six children all of whom are now University graduates. #SABCNews

His children were mine and my children were his. On my daughter's last visit to the office he gave the SABC mic and asked her to be a better reporter than mum. #SABCNews

For 12 years we have told the African story. You only needed to see a big man with a camera and tripod and behind him would be a small woman with a smile and a bag. #SABCNews

Rest now my friend, father and mentor. Africa is richer because you were one of us. We will continue with your legacy...it is not easy but we must make you proud. #SABCNews

Thank you all for sharing this man with us. Thank you to everyone ( in the Kenyan government) who has helped us get him home despite COVID-19. Thank you to friends who gave us the financial resources to give him a befitting sendoff. #SABCNews

That's the end of my tribute and the end of an era. #SABCNEWS Bye Barasa