My Life Journey to Success -By MARGARET THAGICHU(09-1397)

There is more to what meets the eye or what one can anyway imagine, and spending one of my afternoons with Mr. Wilson Chiko a lecturer at Daystar University revealed so much than one could ever think of.

He is a soft spoken gentleman and in fact I notice he is keen to listen. He starts off by explaining to me the meaning of his name Chiko. “I inherited my name from my great grandfather who was nicknamed so because of some snuff he loved to smoke put in a container called ‘chiko’ before he gave advice to anyone who approached him since he was a consultative leader.” He says as he demonstrates how the old man used to do it. “The snuff stimulated his thinking and this way he advised accordingly,” he adds. He says he has since inherited some traits from his great grandfather for example a good thinker and opinion giver. During his free time, Mr.Chiko enjoys reading religious ideologies, classic literature, autobiography, philosophy and the Bible. This helps him learn how to interact with different people, learns how different people think on different issues and it gives him new ideas every day. On the other hand, he dislikes proud people and thieves.


Mr.Wilson Chiko in his office

Mr.Chiko attributes his hospitality nature and outspoken character to his first family and dialect speaking people who are very accommodating. “My Jibana people are the only community among the nine Mijikenda people who easily marry from other tribes.”He says. “My family on the other hand can be termed as a people of the people as they know how to accommodate every individual and make them feel at home,” he adds. He is married to a beautiful coastal lady with whom they have three children. He adds that having lived in different countries for example, England, it has helped him learn how to interact with different cultures. This in additional has helped him to freely share with me his life experiences.



Mr.Wilson Chiko during the interview.


Born in the Coast Province and raised up by his grandparents in a none-religious family was not anything easy for Mr.Chiko. “My grandfather was a traditionalist who despised Christianity as a religion of the colonizer who took away their land and hated Islam which he termed as the religion of the Arab who owned slaves.”He explains.

  In 1961 when he started school he learnt about Christianity since it was taught in CRE (Christian Religious Education). He started following this religion and here his grandfather got furious with him and ordered him to pack and leave his house. “My grandmother intervened for me and told my grandfather that she would also leave once I left,”he explains. I was made to stay but I was not allowed to sing the ‘funny’ Christian songs. “My grandfather ensured that he gave me a lot of work on Sundays so that I couldn’t make it for church.” He adds. He was therefore left with an option of only practicing religion at school and at night he would pray slowly. This taught him to be slow in religion.

In 1967 his grandfather got very sick and it was then that he asked for forgiveness and also allowed him to practice religion. When he recovered, Mr.Chiko was even allowed to pray for food and this time he would be punished if he failed to do so.

In 1968, he joined Allidina Visram High School in Mombasa after his grandfather sold a piece of land to a Muslim to pay his annual school fees of 7,500. Unfortunately, he was unable to pursue his form five and six because of his ailing grandfather whom he was attending to. They however become best of friends before he died.

Later the next year Mr.Chiko worked at Sun and Sand Hotel in Mombasa as a receptionist for one year. He however always wanted to become a religious teacher. “I studied CRE in high school and it enlightened me hence I wanted to discover more about Christianity and Islam.” He says. In 1971he joined the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and it is here that he was sponsored by the company to study religion at the Arusha Baptist Seminary.

After completing his studies in 1976, he says he became a pastor for three years but later on quit and in December 1978 he got a job in Nairobi at a Baptist Mission radio station as a broadcaster where he did prologs and epilogs. While at the station he says he got missionary friends who advised him to go back to school for further studies. He studied his Bachelor of Arts in religions and English literature between January 1984 and December 1985 through a scholarship from his Baptist church pastor. He also pursued his Masters in Arts in theology, sociology and English Literature at the Texas University. “I graduated in August 1988 and came back to Nairobi and worked as the director for Nairobi Baptist Centre for two years.”He says. “I was then recalled to Arusha to head academics and worked for two and a half years where I wanted to change the religious structure of that school though unsuccessful. I came back to Nairobi in 1994.”

“In May 1995, I got a part time job at Daystar University to teach theology and Islam, and on 1^st August 1995.” He says. “I got a full time job and I have since then taught Christian religious subjects: RET 320 and RET 321here.”  He also got a scholarship from Daystar University to study Islamic studies in Britain between 1999 and 2002.

 

Nyokabi Kahuria, a student at Daystar University and currently taking RET 320 describes Mr.Chiko as an interesting lecturer. “I enjoy his classes especially his funny stories and most of all I love the way he makes learning a foreign religion interesting.” She admits that come next semester she would still have him teach her RET 321.

On the other hand is Sharon Kwamboka a third year Communication student currently taking RET 321.She describes Mr.Chiko as a hardworking man and easy to get along with. “I love his style and humility.”She adds.                       



Mr. Wilson Chiko marking assignments




He says his greatest challenge to date is to find a new thought system in these religions because especially Islam is changing quite fast. He says “I wish there would come a time when both Muslims and Christians would come together and worship without bias.”