MY STORY: The power of a dream

“I grew up in a sleepy village called Kanzili in Makueni. My father was, and still is, an officer with the Kenya Police and my mum and step-mum were stay-at-home mums. I’m the third in a family of 18 children. We grew up in abject poverty; we lived in a shanty house and lacked the basic needs. My dad – Mzee – was a hard-worker and an inspiring man who struggled to make do with the little he made from the police force. His dream for his children was to take us all to school and see us graduate from university.

“My life changed when I was 10 years old. I was in class four. I fell sick during third term and couldn’t sit the end-year exams, so Mzee said that I must repeat the class. I was distraught; I remember crying for days and asking him to let me proceed to class five, but he couldn’t allow it. I made a conscious decision that I’d never repeat another class, and that I’d be the best performer in school and in everything I do. So I started reading books; I became obsessed with them and hungry for more: I read schoolbooks for all subjects for my class and the next; I read newspapers and the Bible. There were days I would sit up all night just reading. Reading elevated me to a new dimension of thinking and improved my academic performance – I topped my class during the next exams and remained at position one, sometimes slipping to position two, until I sat my KCPE exams. I scored 553 marks out of 700, and was amongst the best in my division. I was a hero in my village!

HATING HIGH SCHOOL

“My performance got me admitted to Maseno School in Nyanza. I remember when Mzee took me to school on the first day; I had one of those blue metallic boxes and had worn leather shoes for the first time in my life. I knew he had sacrificed a lot to raise my tuition fees, so much that he didn’t have fare to take him back home.

“I hated high school, though. I felt out-of-place and my day-to-day life was difficult because I didn’t have any pocket money or shopping to get me through the term. I also became disillusioned and lazy, and no longer held the dream to go to university. My obsession with books and reading also stopped, so my performance naturally dipped – I became an average performer and by the time I was in form four, my performance was way below average. What irked me is that my teachers saw my performance dwindling but didn’t intervene and help me get back on my feet. Mzee simply reminded me to study hard.

“I became a born-again Christian and in form four and I was appointed the Christian Union Chair. I realised I had a flair for standing on a podium and delivering moving sermons to the school on Sundays; giving these sermons reignited the spark I’d lost since joining high school. I finished school in 2000 but was very guilty for not having put my best into my studies. I scored a C plain.

BACK TO READING

“I was out of school for the next three years and became a primary school teacher. A friend one day lent me her copy of Ben Carson’s Think Big – reading this book rekindled my old passion for words, and showed me to the power of motivational and inspirational writing. I also started reading fiction books and I loved them.

“In 2004, I applied to Kampala International University for a degree in social work and administration. Mzee reassured me that he’d raise my tuition fees, that I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to graduate because of lack of money. Despite his reassurances, university was yet another difficult experience for me – I still didn’t have enough pocket money with which to get by; there were semesters where I’d completed my coursework but couldn’t sit exams because of arrears in exam fees; there was one particular semester where results for five of the seven exams I’d sat were missing. On one unfortunate incident, I was drugged in the bus to Kampala and was out cold for two days before waking up in the bus company’s office. I sunk into depression at some point and was out of school for another three years, tending to Mzee’s livestock and hustling at my old teaching job.

“It was amidst these hardships that I authored my first book in 2010. It’s titled Unleash the Excellency in You. It was a small book, only 90 pages. I used my savings to print 200 copies that I sold slowly over several months. Each copy was Sh400. Writing this book made me see the importance of engaging in deep work; it’s only deep work that produces great results. I also realised I’d been living on the sidewalk for most of my life; I now wanted to be on the highway.

“I published two other books the next year, and have gone on to publish nine books since, including The Superman in 2012 and The Greatest Parent on Earth in 2016. I’m winding up on my tenth; it’s titled High Productivity Habits.

“Aside from writing, I also give motivational talks in corporate companies and to the youth in schools, universities and churches. My purpose for my life is to raise my standards and to pour my potential into everything I do. I will return to school soon to complete my degree.”