St. Joseph is the foster father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He’s the patron saint of fathers and above all, he is the protector of the Church. Joseph is also the patron saint of laborers, because he was a working man, a carpenter. He’s the patron saint of families and, here’s a beautiful one, he’s the patron of the Sasse Old Boys Association all over the world.

St. Joseph represented peace and forgiveness but reconciliation was his trade mark.

At the Celtic Manor in the beautiful city of New Port in Wales, both President Obale Ebai and the much respected Gerald Nupa, echoed St Joseph’s sentiments during the SOBA UK Residential Annual Convention at the weekend.

The desire for reconciliation was visibly seen and spoken in all corners of the 5 Star International Golf resort and the general consensus was that unity is achievable.

The Sasse Old Boys were reminded that the prayer of His Lordship Bishop Bibi of the Buea diocese was that he wanted all Sobans in the UK to reconcile.

Outlining the vision of reconciliation that his predecessor Egbe Franklin had envisioned, SOBA UK president Obale Ebai observed that the era of negativity and unhealthy propaganda is over!

SOBA UK patron Dr Enow Humphrey who performed the installation ceremony ritual on the new executive told this reporter that “if we Sobans don’t reconcile, it’s like a powder keg that would torpedo all the achievements that have been made in SOBA UK.”

In his public statement during the barbecue, Valery Watat said that despite all the difficulties, Sasse Old Boys in the United Kingdom have to fulfill Bishop Bibi’s longstanding wish of having all Sobans bury the hatchet and to permanently reconciled and working together to build Sasse College.

“For this, we are today one SOBA UK” Valery Watet declared.

SOBA UK’s renowned master of ceremony Fritz Esambi also weighed in on reconciliation during the gala and vowed to continue working to rebuild and make SOBA an alumni force to be reckoned with in Cameroon and even beyond.

‘A good move’

Cameroon Concord News Group understands the blame game is now over as all Sobans in the UK are forging a good working relationship based on unity and integration.

In the words of Bertrand Abang, the 2023 SOBA UK Residential Convention at Celtic Manor was a kind of joint rally so that the working relationship matures organically among all Sasse Old Boys.

SOBA UK members have successfully discovered ways to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Celtic Manor