The day is Monday, March 18, 2011 and the time is 11:50am. I am at the impressive Senior Staff lounge next to the Senate room in Daystar University Athi river campus.
As expected, lecturers are streaming in and out in their seemingly meaningful errands. The man of the hour, a Daystar university alumnus class of 2004, one Nahashon Maina and to whom courtesy I am here, is about to join me. I am convinced beyond any iota of doubt that this is going to be an imperative lunch hour appointment with one of the finest sons of Daystar University in the field of communication.
Fifteen minutes have come and gone and my clock of patience is ticking fast, but I am determined to wait for another minute.
I gaze at the room’s ceiling and I begin to refresh my memory on my interviewee. I go back to when I first met him in Machakos Primary School class 4A sitted behind the classroom supervising a student on teaching practice. I too remember him vividly as one of the rare men I found of genuine commitment and bearing a staunch faith in our Lord Jesus Christ back in my home church, Redeemed Gospel Church Machakos.
No sooner had I actively engaged in another gear of the man whom I had seen many times come to my former primary school as the treasurer of the school committee and a supervisor for students on teaching practise, than I spotted him from the entrance of the building approaching me in long strides beaming with joy. ’’Here comes the man…’’ I silently announce to myself, as I focus my eyes in his approaching direction. In a well ironed Charles Burton khaki suit, a white shirt with brown stripes, a brown tie fitting nicely on his neck and dark brown shoes, he shakes my hand firmly wearing his ever easy smiles.
He rests his laptop bag on the formica covered wooden table and I reach for my legal pad with set questions for my client. He loudly realizes that the teacher has now become the student….to that I nod my head in concurrence. Knowing that I will be interviewing a double faceted master in the field of education specifically English and Communication, I sharpen my intelligence and interview mastery skills.
We are well set in train and to my first question; he introduces himself as a first born in a family of six boys born in Ichichi village, Murang’a district, Central Kenya along the slopes of the Aberdare ranges. He gives me the humble exegesis of his family. Been brought up by poor parents, growing, tending and harvesting tealeaves for a living, he did not know he would at any one time make it in life and match his counterparts whom he thought were lucky to have been born in the urban setting.
He pushes the cuffs of his shirt up {having removed the coat},leans on the table with his arms crossed across his chest and narrates to me how life was like from primary school. He has rubbed shoulders with hunger, nakedness and general lack. What he is today is a product of his undying faith in God.
From Ichichi primary school and an old boy of both Kiruri and Kanunga secondary schools, he tells me that going to bed on empty stomach and been chased away from school due to school fees arrears was not a surprise to him when growing up. In fact, he is quick to inform me that his father had to sell a piece of land for him to sail through secondary school.
Growing up, my client had a burning zeal of becoming a land economist but due to his overall grades which did not allow him to pursue this lofty dream, he was enrolled in Kenyatta University in 1982 to pursue Bachelor of Arts in English.
He was posted to Machakos Teachers College on July1, 1986.Though he did not hustle for a job as fresh graduates do nowadays, his was an experience worth remembering. He was to handle college students yet his area of training was in high school teaching.
“Why the change from education to communication?’’I fire the question with keen interest.
“Change is better than rest,’’ he responds. After thirteen years of been a tutor, he felt he needed skills in communication to blend to his first degree with hopes to propel him to greater heights. To this effect, he enrolled for a mature entry qualification Master of arts in Communication, at Daystar University, Nairobi campus.
Though it was a credible move it came with its own challenges. Malice from colleagues and the epitome of it he remembers he was forced by his boss to sign an academic leave of three years with no remuneration as he pursued his studies. With a calming voice, he is careful to thank his wife and three children who supported him in this turbulent time. The wife had to take roles, a father and a mother because of his busy schedule.
In June 2004, he graduated with a Masters in Communication and to his utter amazement he was employed as a part time lecturer by Daystar University teaching cultural studies and interpersonal communication something he is doing up to date.
To help him remain in this competitive job market, my busy client who is also my lecturer is winding up his doctorate studies in Communication from Moi University.
Mr.Nahashon Maina is also a family man. A father to two sons, David and Burton {both students in Daystar} one daughter, Maria and a happy husband to one Catherine Ndung’u the secretary to the Vice chancellor, Daystar University.
My legal pad is almost filled up, but I must touch this man’s staunch faith in Christianity. He tells me that he got saved way back in 1980 and has been actively involved in ministry especially in his local church in Machakos where together with his wife they serve in the hospitality ministry and sing in the ‘Kwaya ya Wazee’ to nurse their faith in this end times.
Well, I leave with my shoulders up and my legal pad full of bits of this stimulating chronicle calculating how I will piece them together and make a story.
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