Dream of guest house for Raramas that came true

Some 30 years ago, at the height of an evangelical tide that was sweeping across the country, a business opportunity presented itself to those running the hospitality industry; that of Christian-based accommodation.

As local and international evangelists traversed the country, they found it difficult to board in secular establishments that were invariably nightclubs with a few guest rooms or lodgings that offered little or no privacy.

To address this problem, churches got into the hospitality business, building a number of establishments across the country, which are still bringing in a pretty penny. Among them was the Kenya Methodist Church, which still runs some of the lodges.

Despite the efforts of the churches, their establishments could not meet the high demand. James Rarama was one of those whose entrepreneurial eye saw the potential and the benefits of trying to fill the gap.

“I realised that there was a much bigger niche than we had anticipated,” remembers Rarama as he looks back 30 years. He wanted a piece of this Christian pie as the prospects were enticing, but it all seemed impossible.

RETURN TO SCOTLAND

At the time, he lived in a small rented house at Ridgeways, off Kiambu Road, where he had moved after he got a job with the Methodist Church. The house was part of a Scottish couple’s modest residence. He lived here with his young wife, Elizabeth.

He had this dream of owning a guest house, but knew that there was little chance of ever realising it. How could he when he could not even afford to rent the main house?

But dreams, however wild, do sometimes come true. For Rarama, that happened in the most dramatic way. In 2001, his landlord died suddenly. His widow asked him to help her sell the house as she wanted to return to Scotland.

The couple’s son, who was then serving in the British army, did not wish to return to Kenya. Rarama knew he could scarcely afford the house, but decided to try his luck anyway and offer for it. What did he have to lose? He says he still does not understand why his offer of Sh1.2 million was accepted.

All of a sudden, and beyond his wildest dreams, Rarama was now the proud owner of a prime property in Ridgeways.

His days as a tenant were over; out with the small house in the corner of the compound, in with a bungalow that exuded class, prestige, and honour. The tables had turned and the Raramas could not believe their luck.

DID NOT LIKE THE IDEA

Rarama’s first instinct was to immediately convert the property into a guest house, but as their four children were now in their late teens, his wife suggested that they move into the new house.

He did not like the idea, which seemed to be pushing his dream of entrepreneurship back, but as a family man, he had no choice.

He decided to build his family another house so that he could free up the Ridgeways property because, he says, he considered the Scottish couple’s house better “culturally themed” and, thus, possessing great potential to be converted into a Christian guest house.

His new house was completed in 2007 and he started to expand and remodel the Ridgeways house with the aim of turning it into a guest house. He started with the dining room, which was too small to comfortably accommodate guests.

“To sort out this problem, I brought down the wall that divided the dining room and the verandah, then retiled the entire floor,” he says. His next headache was where to put a reception. He decided to convert a toilet and bathroom.

MADE THE HOUSE LOOK "STALE"

“We put a toilet in each of the guest rooms, then converted the place into a reception desk for the guest house,” says Rarama.

“The main door was also moved a couple of inches outwards so that we could have a cloakroom for our guests.” The garage was turned into a meeting room and the servants’ quarters into a detached cottage.

An interior designer advised Rarama to change the colour of the walls, which were painted cream, as they made the house to look “stale”.

With a friend’s help, Rarama’s wife, Elizabeth, decided to give each room a different colour theme. So, the rooms are an attractive variation of green, purple, blue, pink, yellow, and the original cream.

Elizabeth’s next task was to find the right furniture and window treatments. “The Scottish couple had used beaded curtains, which were cumbersome to maintain, even though we kept them when we lived in the house,” recalls Elizabeth.

MISSION WORK IN BUSIA

“For the guest house, however, I bought a couple of multi-coloured animal-print curtains and blinds for the main office and reception.”

She picked a variety of wall hangings that had Christian themes. Her favourite is a portrait of the Virgin Mary at the reception.

Her husband fancies the Jesus-on-the-cross piece in the dining room. “We, however, plan to get a wider variety of wall hangings once we consult and find out which ones are suitable for a Christian guest house,” Elizabeth says.

The hard work paid off big time. Ridgeville Guest House opened its doors to visitors in 2007. The first group of clients was a foreign Christian group which was in the country for mission work in Busia.

“As a deacon in my church, I had shared with my network of people about my new guest house and someone suggested it to the visiting Christian group,” Rarama says.

He admits that it has not been easy keeping the Christian character of the guest house as many clients think that he is brainwashed by religious ideologies.

To weed out unwanted guests, prospective clients are interviewed before being allowed in. Perhaps this is a hang-up from his pastoral duties, but Rarama says he has no apologies to make about it.

“It is a Christian establishment,” he explains, “and it has to remain that way.”