IT NEEDN’T TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH, JUST GUTS.- Pancras Mutuma

On a hot afternoon one day about ten years ago, I and a few of my friends decided that we were going to do something that we had not done previously. ‘How about we all go for a HIV test guys?’ one of my friend quipped. ‘My mother says it’s a great thing to know one’s status and to learn to live with it and she will do it to us for free’ he added. The person in question was my childhood best friend Alex whose mother was a nurse at the mission hospital near home. The kind of looks he got from our other friends after uttering these statements said a lot about their fear of the HIV test. After some convincing however, we all mustered the courage to go and get some little counseling and the agonizing wait for the results.

After this experience, I have had very few other encounters with counselors. And indeed the counselors of the above nature.  Not that I do not have problems and issues that I would like to see a counselor about, no. At times life has brought me challenges that have left me wondering how or whether I will live to see the next day. When I came to Daystar and was introduced to the student counselor during the orientation period, many questions kept creeping into my mind. ‘Why does anyone need to see a counselor?’.’What would my friends think of me if they saw me going to see a counselor?’.These and many others were questions that kept crossing my mind. 

The writer during the interview with Ms.Irene

When I check into the office of the new student counselor this Friday afternoon, I do not know that I will leave her office feeling more enlightened about counseling as well as feeling the need for sharing and pouring out my heart to confidants whenever I had an issue that I felt I could not handle. Hers is a simple office and humble office. No displays of awards and accolades that she has won all around for her good work but the welcome this lady gives you makes you feel at peace and relaxed. Very friendly and indeed welcoming are some of the adjectives that I would use to describe her. Ms. Irene Kimani is someone you would easily dismiss for a fellow student. Little will you at first guess that she has studied in Daystar through her undergraduate, worked in the Daystar Library, worked in Egerton University for 9 years and worked in Daystar as a counselor for four months. Her radiant and friendly smile as well as her smooth young face would make one be forgiven for taking her for a fellow student. I met Irene as I was doing a requisition for one of the Daystar student’s association’s events money. I at first did not know who exactly she was in the student’s development office. What struck me about her was her friendliness. ‘Many people think that I am young. I like to interact with people and I would attribute my working here today as a counselor to the kind of rapport that I have always sought with people’ she quips.

I got a call from a student the other day to the effect that the said student had been arrested on allegation of being drunk inside the school premises and thus needed my aid to get through the problem. I took my time to go and have a look at the situation and it did not matter the gibberish the student was speaking or the alcohol fumes that were emanating from his mouth, the student was completely convinced that he was not drunk. Left me wondering how the definition of drunkenness could change so easily. Many are the times that students have been caught engaging in issues such as that and many others that are against the code of conduct of the university. I ask Irene if she encounters students that need counseling and have issues such as addictions to drugs. ‘The worst cases that I have heard here involve addictions. The victims often have a hard time getting off the. It could be sex, drugs and so on’. I at times refer them to other peer counselors as well as the other student counselors in campus. Being a single lady herself, I ask how she has managed to evade the right person all this time to which she laughs back and says, ‘I have chosen that for now I need to live my life. When that right person is lucky enough to find me, I will oblige. For now though, I am single and being searched for’. We both burst out laughing at this.

 

 

The writer(right) poses for a photo after the interview with the counselor(left)

She has counseled married people, couples and people recovering from broken marriages and relationships. I ask whether this poses a challenge to her especially since she is yet to get married to which she responds by saying that, ‘It is true. Often I get people fearing to come to me because they feel that I may not be able to help because I am not of a similar inclination in terms of relationships and marriage. In such cases I have referred them to the other student counselors in school’. Most of the cases I get here are a little on the less magnitude. Students come in with examination card problems but I try as much as I can to help them.’

The biggest challenge about the work that the student counselor does is that the people she expects should go to her for help chose not to. She tells me that the people she see need help are the very ones who do not ask for it and it is unfortunate that she does not know how to approach them and ask if she could counsel them. I ask my photographer, a fellow student and friend if he has had issues and what he thinks about the whole issue of visiting a counselor. ‘I can handle my own issues! I am a man!’He retorts. Irene points out that many men feel similarly and you would be surprised to see any going to her for counseling help.

I end my interview with this wonderful feeling that I ought to be meeting a counselor once in a while. I vowed to let my friend as well know how important it is to talk to a professional counselor whenever faced with issues and matters that they may not be able to handle by themselves. When next you feel weighed down, pass by this lady’s office. It does not take a leap of faith, just guts.

Bright clouds overshadow shattered dreams 08-1466

The Calendar reveals its Friday the 22^nd of April, 2011. The atmosphere is heavy with silence.  The pin drop stillness is however disrupted by a wall clock which chimes silently at the Reserve section, claiming it’s at 10.45 am.  

This is at the Daystar’s Agape Library. I recall it is on Easter break; the staff and students are on holiday causing the silence to be so deafening, a perfect time to converse with the little known unique fellow.

Let’s be honest. From monetary, administration to spiritual capitals, security men may not be popular and most often fall prey to our uncontrolled wrath. Guess what? They too have a story to tell. And so goes for Richard Mwema Musyimi.

I mean, when we mention security men, don’t we evoke thoughts of a mean looking face, heavy boots crowned by six pack figure? However, Richard is nowhere close to these descriptions.

“Muema is serious with his job but also very welcoming”, says Amos Koisa, a 4^th year student studying Logistics at Daystar Athi-River campus.

Tabitha Mueni, a 4^th year students agrees. “Unlike other tough security men, Mwema won’t chase you out of the library just because you made noise”, she says adding that he will instead warn severally before kicking you out.

On this particular day, he is adorned in polo t-shirt, brown cotton trousers coupled by a cheerful smile. Richard breaks the loud silence with a warm handshake, and pulls a chair before taking me through the journey of his life.

Picture is Mwema at his work place

Growing up

Born 39 years ago to Mr. and Mrs. Musyimi, at the Coast general hospital, Mwema had high spirited dreams of becoming an Engineer. However, this was not to be. Richard, a medium built man with a physique that makes him own a stiff gait that would confuse him for a gym instructor. From the conversation, he seems reserved but very witty in his responses.

Mwema nostalgically recalls his humble days in the deep heart of Mwingi district as only one of its kind revealing he was the only boy in a family of 6 sisters. This meant, he enjoyed his leisure apart from few times when he grazed cattle.

Education

A year after we had lost our founding father of the Nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, he began his school days in 1979 at the-hard-to-pronounce Itivanzo primary school. Nevertheless, at class 4, he switched to Tulanduli primary school, where he sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) in 1988 and scooped an amazing 66 points (an equivalent of 492 marks out of the possible 700 then) making him the best student in his class. Oh and before I forget, all his primary schools days were spent in the hot and sunny Mwingi district.

Richard’s results did send mixed reactions in the family. His mother desired to see her bright son further his education but his father remained reluctant citing financial constraints.

Backed by the go-getter personality, Mama Mwema sought help from an old family friend, Kimanzi, who convinced Mr. Musyimi on the importance of education. The conversation would finally reap fruits when he offered Muema’s father an incentive in form of a bull as a sign of goodwill so that the father could take him to school. A sure way of getting blessings from a defiant father, don’t you think?

With that dealt with, Kyuso boys high school, Mwingi north district opened its doors to an overjoyed Muema in February 1989. Richard reminisces his high school days as tough but still worth it. School taps could run dry and they had to draw water from a nearby seasonal river after which they did their washing.

Career path

After his dreams of becoming an engineer were shattered, Muema sought other avenues. At one time, he fancied working as a teacher, pastoring or generally working with a Christian organization. This is borrowed from by his spiritual life in high school, when he served as the Christian Union chairman.

                             "However, a bright cloud was approaching his way"

Before that though, Muema tried his hand elsewhere by working for different construction companies like Putton Construction Company as “mtu wa mkono” (casual labourer), an ideal jack of all trades. In 1995, he moved to St. Georges Company (along parliament road, Nairobi) where he worked for one and a half years as a Cleaner.

2 years later, Muema got a job at the Bob Morgan Security company (BM Security) where he worked for a decade as a security guard. While there, life was even harder on him. He remembers an instance where a customer in a slick Mercedes drove in and demanded to have access to the premises even after it had closed. A quiet Muema who couldn’t allow him in was left a victim of injustice after the customer rained all kinds of insults on him. But Richard did give up; he needed the job badly for his survival.

However, a bright cloud was approaching his way. In 2007, Daystar University advertised for vacancy looking for security personnel who was dedicated and had a rich Christian background. Need I say more? Muema applied for the job and was lucky to get it amidst high competition from other applicants.

 As we speak, Muema boasts as one of the security guys in the library. “Working with students is better than BM security, it’s bearable”, he says. “Daystar students know the rules and this makes his job much easier”, he adds.

Achievements

In 2008, Richard bought himself a 1 acre piece of land in Machakos. Commuting home has also become easier as in the same year also; he bought a motor bike which he currently uses to get to his home in Machakos. On the hand, Mwema has a grocery shop that earns him the extra coin to sustain his family.

Richard flaunts his motorbike

Family

When I ask him about his family, he scratches his head, clear his throat and proceeds. Richard is married to a lovely, supportive and optimistic wife, Josphine Muema and both have three beautiful daughters Christine Mwende (14years), Beatrice Mumbe (12) and Lilian Mueni (7).

Single men, listen up. Richard met Josephine in 1994 where she was working for Pre-press production an advertising company in Westlands, Nairobi. Introductions to each other were done by Wilson, a friend, and love blossomed to the altar in 1996 at P.E.F.A (Pentecostal Evangelism Fellowship of Africa) and the rest I must say is an epic of happy ending.

As the Clock ticks close to midday, the interview comes to a close. Muema poses for a few clicks of the camera as he bids farewell while resuming to his duties.

08-0778 Final project

A PASSION FOR PHARMACY

 “You can have a seat I will be with you in a minute” says Humphrey Guchu the Pharmacist at the Daystar University Athi River clinic. He is a short, light skinned man with a soft spoken voice that would sing a child to sleep. As I seat, I look around and see drugs well arranged on the shelves and note books opened on the table showing they had been used recently. The scent in the air is that of powdered gloves and pills with air coming in from the opened counter where drugs are handed out.

I then prepared the camera for recording and open a fresh page in my notebook. He comes in and apologizes for the delay then severs himself juice from a jug. He kindly offers me a glass then sits down. He starts by explaining his reason for choosing Pharmacy as a profession is one of choice not pressure from parents or for the salary as it is mostly assumed. To him it is a passion and a calling he then advices that if one is intending to practice pharmacy as a profession, it should be from within you so that one can do it to the best of their abilities.

                   Humphrey at the school chemist where he spends most of his time

Humphrey then explains he got interested in the profession when he  volunteer  to help the school doctor hand out drugs to other students while at Tamukumu high school in Kinangop district. The interaction with other doctor  and patients in the school is what made him like pharmacy. His face glows and he smiles as he further explains that seeing the people that he gave medication get better with time also inspired him as he would see the fulfillment of his work. After high school he joined Nairobi Training Institute to study a Diploma in pharmacy which lasted four years.

After getting the first diploma he wanted to further his studies and registered for a higher diploma at Penfistista Career School which is an international school with branches world wide. After graduating he got a job as a chemist for clinix health care where he works to date. With a smile on his face, he explains one of the main advantages of pharmacy as a profession is getting to work with people of different cultures and backgrounds. This allows him to understand and respect other people.

Another advantage is that pharmacists usually get a very high starting salary compared to other professions. Pharmacy also has wide market making it easier for one to get a job. Flexibility is also an advantage since one can be moved from the hospital he is working in to a bigger hospital the same country without stress since the credentials are the same. The main challenge of the profession according to him is that one gets to work late hours and can be called to work at any time. “We work like the police force we can be called anytime” he jokes with a big smile.

This is mostly the case because they work in hospitals which are 24 hour institutions. Another challenge they face is that they have the responsibility of handing out the correct amount of medication. If he makes the mistake of giving the wrong medicine to a patient or an overdose, he puts the patient’s health at a risk. Pharmacists also have to deal with different types of patients and some may be rude or at times a patient may want you to give them a drug that requires a doctor’s prescription yet they do not have a prescription.

“All careers have challenges, that is why one should have a passion for what they do” he says with emphasis. He then explains that his vision in the future while still working as pharmacist is to not only open his own chemist but also introduce an export, import pharmaceutical company in Kenya. The reason for him wanting to open this company is not just because of his love for pharmacy but also because of what he had experienced in his working years.

He had realized that drug manufacturing companies had come up with the aim of making money regardless of the quality of the drugs they made and sold to patients. These drugs are often cheap and readily available but dangerous to the clients. His company will only buy and sell quality drugs from recognized manufacture. “Humphrey you are needed in the doctor’s office” a nurse calls out from behind. I then turn off the camera as I thank him for his help. He shakes my hand and says he was glad he could help as we both wake up and leave the room.

Presented by: Rose Wangari Nganga 08-0778

Word count: 850 words

Headed to the top- Fadhili Kanini

Success is relative. Or so it appears to many people given the numerous parameters that people put in place to gauge it. However for some, it is the moment they are living as they look back at the long rough road they have had to trek before getting to the present. The picture of that road is rough, usually long and not without huge potholes and obstacles that dot it. It is then that the present comes out as a success story outlined and embroidered with a streak of hope.

Patrick during the interview

For the last five years, it has been the same story for Patrick Dalizu Lwangu, an office assistant at the Daystar University’s Vice Chancellor’s office. Everyday when his alarm rings at 5.30 am, he is reminded of the long trek he has had to walk to get to waking up at that hour, and not to look for a job, but actually to go to one. This was evident as he sank in the posh leather sofa set at the vice chancellor’s office reception.

A calm and collected Patrick

Born 29 years ago, Patrick doesn’t strike you as the kind of a person who has been through hardships to get to where he is. This is because of his demeanour, dress code and character. When we settled to have the interview, he was composed, relaxed and pulls the sitting position of an executive who hasn’t had it rough over in the past.

This is however dispelled as Patrick tells me about his past. Having lost his father before joining nursery school, he was raised by his mom who relied on peasant farming to meet the needs of her family. This however did not stop Patrick from reading hard in order to pursue his childhood dream of becoming either a medical officer or an accountant. The road to his dream got the first major pothole when he cleared primary school and school fees to pay for his secondary school education was a challenge. However, his elder brother stepped in and helped pay for Patrick’s secondary school education at Nyang’ori High School in Western province.

His hard work and effort did not go unrewarded as he got a B(plain) in his form four Kenya Certificate of Secondary (K.C.S.E) exams and had the opportunity of following up on his dreams. As fate would have it, another obstacle lay ahead and this time round, his brother who had paid for his high school education was torn between paying college fees for Patrick or for her elder sister who was joining college as well. Patrick gave his sister the chance for a higher education at his own expense.

A relaxed Patrick tells his story

Having not joined college, he never stopped at that. He heard of a cabin crew job offering and he decided to take the challenge. It would seem that his interaction with top officials did not start in Daystar as at this point, he chose to approach his area member of parliament Hon Musalia Mudavadi, for the job. At the time, Hon Mudavadi was the minister of transport and apparently, as Patrick recounts, the minister had been reserved 5 positions for the job. Given his credential, he stood a chance of getting the job after meeting the minister.

This was never to be as politician never replied to Patrick’s request. It is at this point that he tried out several jobs starting with that of a matatu conductor. He got a P.S.V license for a conductor and worked in this capacity for a while.

This was until he realized that if he continued to work in this industry, he would lose track from his main goal of becoming a medical officer or an accountant. This therefore led him into choosing a job cleaning fridges and kitchen equipment at a company in Nairobi where he would earn a monthly salary of Kshs 4300. He saved part of his salary and enrolled at a computer college, Computek College, where he did a number of certificate courses. He was able to achieve this by doing extra hours over the weekend as he could not be able to be in class during the week due to his tight work schedule.

His breakthrough however came in 2004 when he was employed at Shukrani Caterers as a cleaner. At the time, Shukrani Caterers had been contracted by Daystar University to provide catering services to the university. Patrick’s diligence at the workplace saw him rise through the ranks from being a cleaner to serving, and eventually being a cashier.

During this time, he applied for a Higher Education Loans Board (H.E.L.B) loan by faith that he would enrol at Daystar University.  This dream was about to be disrupted when the catering job changed hands from Shukrani Caterers to Manenda Caterers. However, his immediate boss recommended him to the new caterers and he was taken up. It’s while working for Manenda Caterers that Patrick came across a vacancy announcement for an office assistant at the Vice Chancellor’s office at Daystar University.

He dropped his application and was later called for the interview. Out of the seven who had turned up for the job, he was picked to fill the position. This was is August 2005. During the same period, HELB awarded him a Ksh 50,000 loan. The same was replicated the following year during the January semester. In August 2006, he enrolled for a double major in Accounts and Business administration thanks to the loan advance he had received from HELB and currently, he is doing his last semester in Daystar.

He sees himself being a finance manager in a large organization. He however continues to diligently serve in his capacity as the Vice Chancellor’s office assistant as he awaits graduation in June 2012.

Mrs. Joyce Munyao, office secretary at the Corporate Affairs department Daystar University, describes Patrick as hardworking and a social person though at times too light-hearted to know whether he is serious or not.

Patrick however ses the journey he has made this far as a success story in itself and to him, what he has achieved cannot be gauged relatively. Patrick is definitely headed to one place. The top.

Self-Rightous Hobbyist

Blogging as a topic has aroused a lot of emotions and most of them are negatively pointed my way. Have been wrong before but let’s try defining a blogger by their attributes. This is a group that is educated, affluent and influential. Or in other words, self righteous hobbyist who think they are the only ones who analyze life. Not forgetting they love pointing the finger at mainstream media yet they practice information over-share and snitch their sources only to play the “emotional” card.




Statistics have it that the largest blogging age range is between 25-44 years and out of this 66% are male. Those of us who grew up in the rural areas know that if your father is an upstanding citizen part of the package is the factor that they will never say the have certain problem. Well, unlike those men, most male blogger- approximately the age 30- who have been looking for girl (wife) to take home so desperately and end up hurt, you will find them on their blogs, ranting to a point of insulting the “poor lady.”



A time is long gone when people didn’t dwell on their problems but ploughed through them because the hardship made the fruits sweeter. A society that cares very little for their neighbor forgetting that we are who we are by the virtue that they are part of our world.



I sat down with a friend of mine who weirdly has a blog but does not see the need of having it. After speaking to him in length if found a man who so opinionated that it hurts. When I say hurts I mean in the real sense, we all have that one friend who for some reason still loves cartoons and hates movies yet they their job tilts more to the latter. The guy who put in a DVD but before the movie is half way his out as a light. When asked why he never watches movies to the end, he gives you the same answer your Dad would “I have better things to do” or the classic “zinanisaidia aje?”



“I have a blog because the teacher wanted us to open one and post “things” on it.” He says. “Then why do you still have it?” I ask.

“I never really got around to closing it.” How convenient, I though(I know, I use convenient a lot) but here is a man who won’t go into details about his feeling, not even to the wife but keeps this blog that he referred to as useless?



I would not be amazed if the blog was still active for other reasons. He can be anyone he wants to be and write anything he wants to write without been judged. For instance, one of the founding Presidents of America wrote letters to the editor of a paper pretending to be a woman.

Makes no sense?

My second interviewee was a lady, who gave a relevant argument for blogging and truth be told, most of the blogs I found women actively participating where all because or based on prier engagement with men. When I asked her if she thinks that it is good for men to blog I got an answer I didn’t expect.

“Yes, of late it can be established that men have become less violent and have over time learnt to express themselves.” If your reading this and are in shock, believe me your reaction was more controlled than what I let out. (Not what you’re thinking)



A blog originally was derived from a diary, a diary which once upon a time held secrets to a little girl and lonely lady whose lover was far from her. From the diary came the letters and we went on and come up with the chat, facebooks, and Twitter was not far behind. Blogs came before facebook but due to the fact that there use remains constant during this time if found it not “wise” to include it in the dying-chain of communication channels.



Some of the reason we get when asking this questions are that “I want to let the world in”, “I want to share my expertise” and to some “I want to get a book deal.” All good ideas but I don’t see a reason for a blog. Am I Narrow minded?



Maybe, but for the risk of sounding chauvinistic, aren’t this the reasons women give? I mean that women deal with their problems through talking and sharing. When did men join the group? Let me explain. Statistics have it that two-thirds of bloggers are male, 75% have college degrees and to make matters better one of three have annual house hold income of 75,000 dollars(in shillings we are talking about approximately 6.3 million) and 80% have families. We still do our social required duties and also get to seat in front of a computer and show off our mental prowess and have a crack at anyone who does not agree with us.



When diaries where diaries, men NEVER kept diaries, they certainly had no time to think about what they were feeling. It was more of “learn on the job thing.” What does this mean? Either the men are growing weaker (emotionally that is) or …they are growing weaker. What’s next, knitting?



When life is better and we think that because we are not sleeping hungry we have the leisure to explore the other side of ourselves is what is destroying everything as we know it. As we, men write in our “private diaries of what we can do rather than doing what is required of us, the world is spinning out of control.



We need to express ourselves. Blogs are good to some extent but I think we lived in a society made up with many bruised personalities who think by owning a blog and ranting about minor issues because they constantly need to reassure themselves that they are doing the right thing.



The main problem are the “BLOGGERS” who for some reason think that their reasoning and what they contribute to the social-network via the net is so important and they should be held higher than other.

Bashing on the mainstream media and think that free and continuous flow of information is always healthy is what miss-informed members of society think. As a leader some information is better never revealed.



What I think is that the world is doing a lot of talking and very soon there will be no one to listen and at this rate we will be doomed. Business and marketing world is too absorbed in getting there brand out there to focus on who is reading.

FINAL PROJECT: THE DAYSTAR BLOGGING SCENE- 08-1333

If you’re asking yourself, “Eh? Kwani, what is blogging?” You definitely don’t interact efficiently with the wide world web. Or, you get onto the internet and do either of the following: launch straight into face book and sit there poking your friends for hours and liking every recent status update. Check out your favorite star’s website and see if the gossip pages are on her again. Google your next assignment, copy paste it onto a word document, then feel academically accomplished. Check the lyrics to the hottest tune at the moment or just mindlessly sit there, in front of your screen switching from tab to tab waiting for something interesting to pop up as you keep refreshing those lackluster tabs. Your loss. Seriously.

The blogosphere, if it were a color it would be rainbow and if it were a car it would be a Matatu; vibrant and with room for everybody. Room for the intellects, the obnoxious fools, the deluded visionaries, the fundamentalists, the realists, the obsessed freaks and even the phony adolescents trying to sound hip. See? It’s a rainbow

Blogging is a form of self expression among the internet tribe. Millions of people all over the world use blogs to chronicle their thoughts on everything from the adverse effects of global warming to whether pink looks good on a guy or not.

It’s just like an online diary. For some people, it's just a way to vent about their boring lectures- a form of stress relief. For others it's a way to brag about how they are loving their newly purchased Ipads and can’t wait for the release of the iphone 3G+. Still others have some sort of specialty knowledge.

Daystar University is home to bloggers. Personally I am acquainted with 9 Daystar students that are active bloggers.

The Daystar blogging family is still increasing. Just two weeks ago my Com 467 (Broadcast journalism) classmates all opened a blog. 27 Daystar students where introduced to the exciting world of blogging.



My close friends here at Daystar University blog too. Maybe not all of them… but it only takes one good friend to start blogging to feel like the entire world is now a much more better place because so and so has enriched it by starting a blog. That might be, for all i care, on something as superfluous as orange juice. It’s a momentous day when my phone rings and a friend goes like, “I’M A BLOGGER NOW!!!!!” It’s even more momentous when the reason behind my friend jumping on the blogwagon, was my constant nagging and persuading for them to do so. That statement is always followed by plans on following them immediately and giddy laughter on their choice of blogging topic and plans to meet at kwa joshu then head to the computer labs to check out their new blog.


One of my buddies here at Daystar, Eli Karanja, started blogging this April after my insistence for like one year now. He is still only an amateur blogger, where his egotism, materialism, hedonism and intelligent vocabulary are that unlikely combination of relatable, endearing, mind-boggling and entertaining. It’s like even though you know you are probably becoming a shoddier version of yourself by reading his blog, and he expresses everything you would never love to stomach, you somehow let him off the hook because he writes so brilliantly. He’s likeable because he knows how to express his beautiful mind.

John Eli Karanja

 There are times where I have thought that someday; Karanja will become so brutally candid to bear – thus becoming infinitely less likeable. But when he writes, in his own words: “am here now and you will follow my blog then you will hate me! You will follow me then you will love me! I will stick around like an STD. For as long as long as the human race continues copulation, I WILL BE HERE (unless of course the lens man kicks over my bucket).” It becomes clear that he is not trying to please the arrogant, the ignorant, the bullheaded and the saintly. What a relief.

“My blog is really like a back up file of all things that cross my mind and there’s no law saying people should read my blog. If any one doesn’t like how I plan on running it, or how it’s like so far, they can go somewhere else.” He says

Oh, well that’s just Karanja, a friend and a Daystar student that just started blogging.


There is a sharp contrast between Karanja and one of my favorite Daystar student blogger, Lilian Mutuku

This lady is just right there with Maya Angelou when it comes to writing. Her style is very conversational, poetic, witty and sometimes nostalgic. She really knows how to articulate those emotions that most of us find hard to express. She is officially the person who is going to write my wedding vows. I swear.

Lilian Mutuku

While talking to her, I found out that what inspires her to write is life, music, and anything that makes her close her eyes and smile. I guess that explains the dreamy tone of her writing. Something that I instantly liked about her blog.

Then there is David Oyuke , a blogger, a poet and wordsmith in his last year here at Daystar.

“Every Daystar student should own a blog, I tell you. You are missing out on a lot if you are not on that blogging tip,”

He goes on to add: “ Daystar is known as on of the best communications schools in East Africa. Blogging is a communication tool. But it’s a tool that is sparsely utilized by the communications major to disseminate information and knowledge.”

David Oyuke

I strongly agree with David. In this age of new media, blogging is a very powerful tool that can be used to by anyone who has an access to a computer. And in this case, every Daystar student has acess to a computer.

So don’t just stop at copy pasting from the internet and “facebooking” the whole time you are in the computer lab.

Why don’t you go ahead and add a new color to the rainbow. Go ahead and climb onto this Matatu called blogging. Trust me, once you get in, you won’t want to get out. Blogging is definitely going to be the ride of your life

Word Count: 1057

Profile-Pauline Kirubi (08-1007)

MOTHER TO MANY

Finally the long awaited day had come. I felt anxious throughout the morning hours for the interview was to be held in the afternoon at 3.30pm. It was at her office that I would meet with the lady known to many as ‘mum’. At my arrival, her office was crowded, busy and noisy. I could hear her small soft voice talking to the students who carelessly interrupted her amid sentence to give their view and they would all laugh out loud. They even used the generation Y language known to many as ‘sheng’. This made me relax and smile to myself. With my interview questions at hand, I paced up and down the corridor wondering how to approach this great lady who just received an award for the best lecturer in Community Development department and another for the best lecturer overall for the seventh time. The day I went to request her for an interview, she did not hesitate. “Come tomorrow at 3.30pm, I will support you”. She said.

The students finally came out noisily but some still remained inside. The door was open so I peeped and our eyes met. “Just come in, are you ready?” she asked me. Without giving me a chance to answer, she offered me a sit. She finished with those that were still inside as I waited. I noticed that they were fetching green liquid soap from a bucket and realized that it was the one she had taught us to make in our Extension Education class. This was the second class I was taking with her. I also remembered that she had been my small group leader the previous semester. When preparing the questions I would ask, I realized that I had answers to almost all questions I came up with and as we were getting settled to start, I told her so. “It is because I am very self revealing especially in my classes” she told me.

Mrs. Odima starting her computer

Mrs. Mabel Odima is a mother of too many and not just her four beautiful daughters.

“I came to Daystar University in the year 1999 as an Assistant lecturer in the Community Development department. I was a part time lecturer for six years”.

During this time, she would go to patience hostel and counsel several girls for this is her passion. “I would go looking for them, knocking on their doors just to offer help. One day as I was taking a walk around the campus, I saw an empty house and I decided that I would apply as a full time lecturer and as a resident tutor. That was in 2005. A year later, I joined Daystar fully and moved in with my family”.

I cannot help but notice Mrs. Odima’s passion for the work she does. It comes out through her voice, her actions and her eyes. I have also observed that Mrs. Odima relates very well with the international students. Being in a foreign country with no one to run to, she tells me that her house is always open to everyone day and night. So whenever they have a problem, they go to her and she gladly helps them out. “One day, a student came to me at 3am in the morning and told me that she needs to be at the airport before 5am since that was the time her flight was to leave. I woke my husband up and requested him to take the girl for at that time it would have been tricky to call a taxi” she remembers.

Apart from working as a lecturer, she also works with various communities as a social worker. She has worked in Korogocho, Lungalunga, Ngándu, Mathare, Huruma and Soweto Kayole slums. “Soweto was my best” she says. “When I lost my mother, those that I had interacted with in Soweto hired two big buses just to come and see me. I was greatly touched. When I asked them why they did this, they told me they were simply giving back what I had given to them.”

In these communities, she has taught many, imparting them with skills like making home made soap which is very easy to make and its ingredients are very affordable. She makes it together with them teaching them step by step and even goes to the extent of helping them to sell it. Through this, many are able to make a living and even educate their children.

She has also taught the communities how to care for those infected with HIV/AIDS especially those that are bed ridden. She visits them and cleans their houses, cooks for them, encourages them and gives them some love until they stand up on their two feet again.

Mrs. Odima in her office

In her soft voice, Mabel continues to tell me that all this began in a church where a pastor called her name and prophesied over her life. From that day, it has never been the same again. Carine Basimaki a third year Congolese student describes Mabel as the kindest person she has ever met. “There are several times that I go through tough times like lack of food. But this does not worry me for I go straight to her kitchen and serve myself”. She says.

Carol Mwende a development student too describes her as caring, loving and hospitable. “When you go to her with a problem, she does not sympathize with you. Instead, she empathies with you and does not stop at that. She goes on and helps you solve your problem and mind you she does a follow up too”.

Her hobbies are worshiping and playing the guitar. “Whenever am alone or am feeling low, I take my guitar, lock my door and worship Jesus for He is my all”. In her classes, she always has a session for devotions and there are times she carries her guitar and sings to the students her favorite song, ‘Let your daddy listen’.

She teaches practically while sharing her experiences with so much energy and vigor making actions with the whole of her body which makes them funny and lively.

To conclude the interview, I take several pictures of her which she pauses to very serenely and politely. “Am very camera shy by the way” she says.  For the recording, we do it twice for she is very soft spoken and I can hardly hear her. “Then how come you manage to shout so much in class for three hours?” I ask. On a light note, she tells me “It only happens after anointing and praying for myself before class”.

Tranquil pose from Mabel Odima in her office