Sharifa "Dejah" Esi Mtingwa

Obituary For Sharifa "Dejah" Esi Mtingwa

What a beautiful, brilliant, and kind angel!!! Dejah was an immensely talented and caring person, who traveled the world to share her knowledge and wisdom with younger generations. Life began for Dejah on June 17, 1983, in Palos Heights, Illinois, just outside Chicago. She was a beautiful baby, weighing 8.3 pounds, born to W. Estella Johnson and Sekazi K. Mtingwa. She joined her sister, Makazi Ife Mtingwa, who was three years old at the time. The family is known for its travels and took Dejah and her sister to the former Soviet Union for six months during 1988-1989, when she was in kindergarten. She spent three months in Moscow, two months in St. Petersburg, and one month in Yerevan, Armenia. In each city, she attended a Detski Sad (Russian for Kindergarten), where they spoke not one word of English. Thus, Dejah learned Russian quickly. She made friends with many Russian children in her school, and by the time she left the Soviet Union, she was speaking Russian without thinking first about how to translate from English to Russian. She learned a lot about the Russian culture and greatly enjoyed her six months stay there. Upon arrival back in the United States, Dejah returned to James E. McDade Classical Elementary School for academically talented students on Chicago’s South Side, where she excelled in her studies.

The family moved from Chicago to Greensboro, North Carolina in 1991, when Dejah was in the third grade. She attended Kiser Elementary/Middle School for academically gifted students. There she made many friends and was famous for organizing weekend outings to movies and other activities. Dejah was an honor roll student during her sophomore year at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore, Maryland during 1998-1999, while residing with her father, who was on-leave from North Carolina A&T State University. In 2001, Dejah graduated from Walter Hines Page High School in Greensboro. She then studied for two years at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro before continuing her studies and graduating in 2006 from Elon University with a Bachelor’s degree in biology. During her undergraduate studies, Dejah took advantage of excellent academic enrichment opportunities, including serving on a research internship during Summer 2004 at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia, where she participated in an experiment led by North Carolina A&T Professor Ashot Gasparian to measure the lifetime of subatomic particles called pions. She also held a research internship during Summer 2005 at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, where she imaged bone marrow vasculature in mice.

Dejah’s first job after the university was as a science and mathematics teacher at Pace High School for special needs students, located in Chapel Hill. There she excelled as a teacher and a friend. Dejah’s fellow Pace teachers, administrators, and students occupied a special place in her life. Among her many endeavors there, Dejah served as Chair of the Science Department, Assistant Principal, Yearbook Administrator and Photographer, Staff Advisor for the Student Government Association, Student Event Planner, Founder of the Bowling League, Softball Assistant Coach, and Trip Planner. Among the trips that she organized were those to Atlanta, Washington, DC, and China. Dejah also performed violin solos at the school’s graduation ceremonies and basketball games. The Pace High School Family loved Dejah dearly, and she loved them as well. They became travel buddies and always shared special days together. While teaching, Dejah continued her studies and earned a Master’s in Educational Administration degree in 2010 from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. She also spent Summer 2008 in Ecuador, where she took an intensive course that allowed her to become fluent in Spanish. She then used this skill to serve as Spanish interpreter for Spanish-speaking parents of Pace students.

Dejah sought to have impact internationally as well as domestically. She taught high school during 2011-2012 in Managua, Nicaragua, and during 2015-2016 in Beijing, China. For the latter, she taught students who were preparing to come to the United States to study as undergraduates. In both places, she excelled as a teacher and as a friend for both her students and colleagues.

After returning to the United States, Dejah decided that she would like to explore another profession. Her brother-in-law, Amih Abang, was pursuing an intense course in computer database management, and convinced Dejah to do the same. And she did it with vigor! After completing the course in under a year and obtaining her certification, Dejah secured a position as an Oracle Certified Database Administrator (DBA) for Cambia Health Solutions, a not-for-profit health care company based in Portland, Oregon. This job enabled her to work 100% remotely. Thus, she purchased a home in Mebane and was able to remain close to family and friends. After seven years, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky to work as a DBA for East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

Dejah enjoyed many endeavors outside her employment. While living in North Carolina, she became an avid Carolina Hurricanes hockey fan. She bought season tickets, lots of merchandise, and attended games religiously whenever she was in town. She grew up studying piano and violin, with the latter being her favorite. Dejah was a great cook and prepared many cuisines. Her artistic abilities were phenomenal. She excelled in drawing, portrait painting, constructing and decorating guitars, and blew pass her colleagues in the making of lifelike baby dolls. Her house could be “a little creepy” at times, since lying around were many baby parts: heads, arms, legs, and the rest, without color. Using her tremendous artistic skills, Dejah brought them to life. They were so lifelike that when she traveled in a car with them, she had to put a sign in the car saying “Doll” so people would not think that she had left a live baby in the car.

For her exceptional achievements, Dejah was a Member of the Tri-Beta National Biology Honor Society, recipient of a brown belt in Gōjū-ryū karate, and received numerous awards for violin and piano performances.

Dejah loved her family and friends immensely. She was kind beyond words, loving to a fault, and pursued excellence wherever she landed. Now, she has landed in the arms of a loving God. We will all miss her special love and kindness. We know that she has joined the Angels and is spreading love all around Heaven as she continues to live with love within our hearts.


FUNERAL SERVICE:

Saturday June13, 2026 |

Visitation: 12:30 | Service: 1:00 pm

Lattisville Grove Missionary Baptist Church | 1701 Jimmy Ed Rd.E | Hurdle Mills, NC


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