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The feelings were really mixed. While the pundits had their sure facts, science, and logic; all refuting with certainty the possibility of breaking the barrier. It was almost certain that you could believe the scientists. They said they had studied human anatomy, physiology, mechanics and it was certain that the feat was unreachable for mankind, at least for now. And if it could happen then it would be another unbelievable success of mankind after Armstrong’s landing on the moon. “No man can run for more than 42 km under 2 hours,” the rumbling voices of cynics and skeptics.

However, Eliud had something in him, a belief that he could push himself well enough to hush the voices of naysayers. His was to set a legacy upon which humans can be inspired never to cage themselves within limits. He, Kipchoge, assured us though with not so a stronger voice that he is going to try it. After all, he is soft-spoken and there isn’t much confidence in the voices of soft-spoken people.

Congratulations Eliud

Gladsome sounds, ululation, rejoice, gleefulness, ecstasy, and exuberance—just picture that. It was a dazzling scene to see the greatest Marathoner of all time etch his name in the monumental books of history as the GOAT. It was 1 hour 59 mins 40 seconds after the starting time. Terrific!

To Us, He is More

But Eliud’s success means much more to us, young people, from poor or broken family backgrounds. To young men from the rural parts of Kenya, boys who grew up as either total orphans or with a single parent. To young people who have had to struggle to carve themselves a place in society. To those who have shaken hands with poverty and struggled their way to school. To those whom three meals a day was a luxury and good beddings were but a dream.

To a young person who has been jobless and has had to do menial jobs to make a living. To young talented boys and girls who want to be somewhere one day. And to any young person struggling to make it but always falling short. To a lot, many young Kenyans who have not been privileged to come from stellar families–Eliud Kipchoge’s life and feats mean so much to us than he does to the world and the record keepers.

He has now motivated us than ever; that you can once be a milk vendor in the village yet one-day rise to the top of the world’s calendar of personalities. He has motivated us that grew up without a father, that it is never an excuse enough to never push yourself beyond the human-created limits. He is an inspiration to those who have failed since he also failed when he started his career as a long distance runner.

It’s a Celebration Time

Eliud has fully defined the statement, ‘nothing is impossible’. After all, impossibility is the wall that people who failed created to limit, and block others from reaching beyond. And God has in us the space for persistence and determination, once we occupy that space, we can just be anything great. Kipchoge has taught us, on this glorious day, that with humility and persistence we can just be the best version of what we ever dreamt of ourselves. Lastly, he has implied with metallic letters written on the wall of time, “BELIEVE IN YOURSELF EVEN IF THEY DON’T”. And as I had predicted, the skeptics have had their voices hushed by this incredible feat. And Africa has once again earned itself a trophy in the cabinet of greatness. The INEOS159Challenge has given as too much lessons for one serving. Now, let us join with the seraphs of heaven in a song of celebration to a man who Believed and Dared.

On 16^th December 2018, I was graduating from University with an Undergrad degree. The graduation square was full of women and men. We were now ready to face the outside world. Ladies were the happiest lot, taking selfies and smiling to the heavens; it seemed like Africa had started seeing sense in educating her girls. But I thought to myself, “I will walk out with a certificate. Besides, I also have a parcel of land at home worth about half a million, them (ladies) they only have the certificates. Sad!” Being a man in Africa is one of the luckiest things that happened since the invention of light bulbs.

The topic of gender equality is always a social hot potato, especially in Africa, where male chauvinism and dominion has been a part of the tradition for centuries. But as we slowly usher into an era of social and economic development, and in full glare of the developed world, we must confront some of the old but wrong ways of doing things.

And for the love of my mother and sisters whom we have suffered with, I write this article. I’m now growing into adulthood without my father. My younger siblings and I are lucky to have a mother as the head of the family. Unfortunately, since the demise of dad, mum has had a tough time trying to take up a role she wasn’t prepared for. Why? Because when dad was alive, he as the commando, the sole breadwinner, he didn’t entirely involve mum. But now mum has to take up an appointment she never trained for a larger part of her life.

My mum walked into a marriage when she had nothing. She didn’t have a certificate because she dropped out in Form Two due to lack of school fees, though she used to be the best student in her class, very intelligent. Much less, she didn’t even have a national ID, she applied for her ID when I was of age. I can imagine how life was for her, walking into a marriage with virtually nothing. She didn’t have a voice for herself. What if she had been given some family property which she could convert into any business asset and get things straight for herself? Well, the Luo tradition has it that women should never be given land, which is always the most prestigious asset in society.

Some Kids are in The Streets Because They were left with Helpless Mothers

Come to think of it; statistics have it that more men die earlier than women. Therefore, it means many families are left with women who were never economically empowered in the first place. The effect of it is that kids will suffer in the absence of the father because mum can’t get things rolling. Not that women have not the capacity to sustain their children. No. It just happens that when you have been rendered useless and ineffective for way too long, you lose your sense of potency. And here is where the rubber hits the road.

Kids have run into the streets to try to survive harsh economic times that hit their lonely mothers. Some mothers have moved into the streets with an entire family to try and beg their way out into survival. What would happen to suppose mothers were also given estates of economic empowerment? What would happen if husbands encouraged and supported their wives into economic empowerment? But there is a nasty maxim in politics: impoverish them in order to rule them. Most African men impoverish their wives in order to rule and manipulate them.

Some Kids Just Miss Good Education Because they are Left with Helpless Mothers

For the unfortunate lot whose fathers die before they finish school, left with mothers who were never granted an opportunity to generate their own money, they end up studying in schools they never dreamt of. I have two sisters who go to schools I would never have loved for them because we can’t afford the best. And dad went with all his abilities and business prowess. But if mum had been supported in her prime by either her family or my dad to be what she wanted, things would have been better. These are the reasons we must ensure we all together support gender equality. Women too need an equal share of the stake. When we begin treating women as equals, we help them debunk the “victim” mentality that has made a bunch of them falling over heels for sponsors.

Some Women Are Stuck in Unhealthy Marriages Because They Can’t

They get beaten up, cheated on and treated with contempt, but they find it difficult to let go such dangerous relationship. Well, their reason makes sense in part; it’s because they can’t survive outside the shadow of the arrogant and manipulative husband. He is the man; he has the money, he has the car, he owns the house. How lucky it is to be a man in Africa. But most men have used their privilege in society to perpetrated unhealthy relationships.

Suppose you were a father to a blossoming daughter, would you like to see your daughter stuck in a wrong marriage because she is not economically empowered? At least for me, NO. I would ensure my daughter gets an excellent education but also empowered economically to be able to stand by herself. It begins by giving her a part of my estate, making them have a sense of value for themselves.

Divorce

Well, most men argue that when women are married, they will co-possess their husband’s property. They forgot several facts; one, that men themselves are never willing to co-own with their wives what they’ve already built by themselves. And it’s difficult for women to claim ownership of something already owned by someone. Two; that some relationships or marriages get sour, and women who dare to break off find it difficult to start it off from scratch because they don’t have a thing. Others who can’t dare just stay in it even if they don’t relish it.

For Africa to Revamp, We Must Drum Enough Support for Women Empower

This whole narrative is in tandem with the African agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. I suppose Africa has crept into economic vagabond and turned into the ugly face of poverty for way too long because we’ve ignored to confront our weaknesses. And this is one of them; that we have lowly esteemed women and overly ruled them out when it comes to economic and political discussions. We’ve ended up underutilizing our potentials as a continent.

Methinks, that an economy or a society is like a bird on a flight, it needs two wings to keep flying even to greater heights; the left-wing and the right-wing; the women and the men. If we empower only one side, will the bird fly into greater heights? Well, your guess should be as good as mine.

Yours Dutifully,

The Advocate for Common Sense.

To maintain the momentum of success, we all need to loop from point to point with enthusiasm. People need something that keeps them motivated, something the keeps them moving and looking forward with hope. The Charm to keep it spirited.

It’s has been a tough journey, having founded an NGO that was to impact the lives of young people through mentorship. It has taken twists and turns, thoughtful nights and brainstorming, but eventually grounded into a stilling failure. I don’t regret, I learn, I try, and I HOPE. I will do it again, but better, another time.

While in college, I was obsessed with the ambition of reaching out and positively influencing African society. I have always believed I have a calling to leadership, partly because I have been a leader since primary school. Mmmh…well, not really, I started being a leader since my birth, because I am the firstborn child. And, I am an Alpha male, which comes with tremendous desire to lead.

No Celebration, No Enthuse, No Headway!

So through my course of leadership, I haven’t met with tremendous challenges as I did recently. I mean, in the past, I have been getting into offices and getting things done, working with my teammates and inspiring them to be responsible and honest. That has been easy. But when I had to establish an organization from scratch, construct the template in mind then put the plan into actions, that has come with its feats and insurmountable defeats.

As the founder of Sky League Mentors Organization, an organization that has now rammed into stillness, I have learned so many things. One of the cardinal lessons I’d share is that: when mobilizing people towards a common goal, remember always to celebrate the small victories.

We never celebrated our small victories; in the little, we achieved we didn’t see much beauty. I’d failed as a leader to help my team understand how impactful their actions were because we only wanted to achieve bigger goals. We had dreams and ambitions, great stuff, but we ignored to celebrate the little small steps that we were making in the meantime. And then, the team lost enthusiasm.

In Life Celebrate the Small Achievements

And I think, this is what life is made up of; celebrating small victories. For a student to ace the major exam, he/she must begin my celebrating small completed assignments. For a couple to make it to a successful marriage, they must start by celebrating small triumph over an argument that nearly tore them apart. For a family to thrive over the quicksand of trials, a father must always appreciate the little efforts and scrambles of success the kids are making in their lives. And for a leader, to establish a successful organization, he/she must begin by appreciating when employees or teammates kept time to a meeting or submitted projects on schedule. It’s called keeping the embers of enthusiasm flaming. Charm them, enthuse them.

So, even in your personal life, try to celebrate those small victories, you make each time you try out something. After all, it’s the little victories that give us an adrenaline rush to overcome the insurmountable goals of life. Therefore, I am going to treat myself today because I have finally written this short article that I have been procrastinating for a long time. After all, it’s a small victory over a demon called writers-block. Cheers!

If I am not helping people use common sense, I advocate for a change in Africa-a positive change in how we think and do our things. I have always said we should radically change the nature of our politics, because the adversarial politics of killing, beating, or insulting someone you disagree with is uncalled for, and we must shun. So as we contemplate about changing this continent, we must begin by showing some dignity and sense of respect to every African even when we disagree.

Besides, I have said many times that if we want to grow, we must liberate women. The idea of liberating women is still quite controversial in some sections of Africa. Some village-minded folks still believe they must treat women with contempt and disdain. We have harshly disagreed, and to some, I am labeled “a feminist” because I advocate for gender equality.

However, we may come to shake hands with the reality that we aren’t going to make any incredible development if one gender is perpetually subjected to manipulation, considered half-gender, barred from accessing opportunities or overly maligned from participation in the societal developments. We must revamp Africa; we are at the full of potential of greatness. We only need a change of mindset.

Memories of a Drought-Stricken Turkana

My country, Kenya, has strived to make some ingenious economic development, it’s a country full of energy. And has very industrious citizens, except for the corruption that has bedeviled the state, Kenya would probably be the most developed of African countries. Apart from corruption, we also have tribalism- the taciturn demon that may not go away too soon. Nevertheless, Kenya is trying!

Four months ago, it was unbelievable, however, that a government couldn’t account for many of its citizens going without food at the Northern part of Kenya, Turkana region. Drought is a perennial heartache to people in Turkana. Unless for the intervention of the media, Kenyans would have died in hundreds from hunger. While Turkana is just 300km from Rift Valley- the hub of maize which is the staple food for Kenya, yet, people starved and died.

There were some donations that were done to help the crisis at the moment. Still, I’m also convinced that those people may be still starving right now. One thing I am so certain of, donations may not help to solve the problem eternally.

A Gulf Between the Rich and the Poor

In this picture is the Deputy President of Kenya and the governor of the region, they stand aloof from this malnourished and hopeless family. There is a gulf between them, and they don’t seem to belong to the same country, same government. It’s a picture that portrays what looks like aliens meeting humans for the first time. I mean, even if it were a white man who’d visited that family, you would see some closeness. Like, I know a European would have easily hugged the women and the kids so that they take a selfie pic-that they would eventually use to show the world just how Africa is poor and pathetic. But at least they would have hugged them, just to show a sense of empathy and social concern about their situation. But look, your politicians, with their decent shirts and shoes, just alighted for a helicopter, keeping the space. It’s them for them and us for us.

Which brings me to my cardinal point- I have come to realize that politicians won’t fix our problems. Haven’t you realized that even the young people who are so passionate about joining politics are general reckless and senseless about humanity? Politicians are generally greedy people with self-motives about themselves.

The general belief among us Africans, that our politicians hold keys to the storehouse of prosperity and that they alone are responsible for solving our problems needs debunking. Nothing can be further from the truth. We must shun this mentality. I would say without blinking that it’s these folks who have masterminded our misfortunes. An African politician likes poverty because poverty is an industry; they perpetuate ignorance because ignorance is a cash-cow industry.

So What Then?

It’s us to develop and weave-in ideas on how we can solve our problems. I would love to see us young people organize ourselves into societies and organizations that can revamp Africa economically, politically, and socially. Fellow Kenyan youths should think of the disaster at Northern Kenya, the drought will come again, and we will lose lives. Many kids can’t access education in that desert. Many families are disgruntled and hopeless; those God’s children need hope! We should take a step.

Who knows, maybe the Turkana’s soil is so rich it only requires some suitable irrigation and agricultural tips then we can turn it to food mill for the East African region. Or what about fish factory for fish from Lake Turkana, or meat factory for the nomadic meat. How comes we can’t irrigate the land yet there is a lake? Can we have Kenyan scholars evaluate the potentials of that lake, it’s richness and capacity?

We have the potential for greatness only when we stop focusing overly on our politicians; after all, they don’t know how we suffer!

I started reading this book two weeks ago. The journey through the life of Barrack has been remarkable, emotional, scary, startling But Very Inspiring. I have loved him more!

It opens with a bible verse “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers.” 1^st Chron 29:15.

He ushers into an expedition of his personal life, painful struggles to find identity, humility, and resolve to make a difference in society. The chapter begins when Barrack is in New York, and he receives the phone call about the demise of his father, a man he hardly knew so well. And he begins to look for him when he has died.

Barrack is born and raised by his single mother in the absence of his father, a Kenyan, Barrack Obama Snr. Most of his life he spends with his Grandparents, Toot and Gramps, both white. He also shares his brief experience in Indonesia when his mother got briefly married to an Indonesian man and gave birth to his sister Maya. The poverty level at Indonesia strikes him; he can’t stay there any longer because he wants quality education. So, he travels back to the US to stay with his grandparents but carries along with him the memories.

His grandparents give him anecdotes of who his father is, a black man from Kenya, very intelligent. Later his father would visit only for two months when he was ten years. Two months is the only time he had to interact with his father. He tells him about the Luos of Kenya and Africa. Then he would disappear in his life, forever.

Barrack grows up with fellow black boys. He reads books about Luos of Kenya; he gets the anxiety of wanting to see them, his tribesmen. But would for a long time struggle with his identity problem. He begins to read books that almost radicalized him against white people until some friend advises him against the books. He gets in the wrong social groups, where they drink too much and use drugs to get high.

The stress of racism, the hatred, discrimination that he gets from society could take an enormous toll on his life. Worst still, even his grandparents would pose a threat to his racial identity. He remembers when grandmother Toots, said she was scared because a black followed her, which meant that Barrack’s race was a threat to Toot. It’s then he knew his blood belonged somewhere, that he was yet to find his real roots. But he would hang on…

In his early twenties, he begins to pursue his ambitions to change society and bring hope to the black American community. He becomes a community organizer. He uses church organizations in the neighbourhood to bring about the change. He fails, things get greasily sometimes, people get discouraged but Barracks pressing forward. He confronts some older adults who write him off while others embrace his dream. He mobilizes the young and old, and women mostly to help the society escape the predicaments like the use of drugs, joblessness, lack of education and crime.

It’s during his life of being a community organizer that he comes face to face with the question of faith. He was brought up in a family that didn’t have a distinguished faith. They just believed in living a moral life. And Barrack went to any church on Sunday just for the sake of it. When Barrack is confronted with the question about his faith, takes the assignment seriously and ponders about, for he had never taken religion so seriously in his life. He meets Rev Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ; the Rev impacted in his life a great. It’s him who would later double up to be his pastor, mentor and spiritual father.

On a Sunday worship at the TUC Church, Barrack listens to Rev Wright’s Sermon: The Audacity of Hope, a sermon that greatly impacted his life, and became the title of his second book. Barrack admits how he has been sceptical about God, how he has always questioned God for allowing blacks to go through much trouble. But on that day, he yielded his soul to Jesus, and remarked, “I didn’t understand that they were talking about the vertical dimension! About their relationship with God! I didn’t understand that they were thanking Him in advance for all that they dared to hope for in me! Oh, I thank you, Jesus, for not letting go of me when I let go of you! Oh yes, Jesus, I thank you…”

Having found his faith, Obama had one more severe assignment; to find his real African root. He travelled to Nairobi Kenya and met her sister Auma, who was a lecturer at Nairobi University. He says when he landed in Kenya, and people pronounced his name right, he felt he was finally home. Not like in the US where people struggled to pronounce Obama as Ombama, and others ridiculed his name, Barrack.

He explores the culture, meets his relatives in Alego Siaya. He travels to Kendu Bay to trace his origins and meet more relatives. He gets the true story about his dad, the Old Man- a man that to him was a mystery. He is told of his true character, how he was an abusive father, the drunkard who never took family responsibilities seriously. He learns of his father’s failures, and how the government harassed him into poverty, how he became bitter. And how he was trying to reconcile his past and mistakes till he died. He also learns of his father’s abilities, talent, intelligence, generosity and sense of respect to everyone. Barrack learns of his father’s wide family and the generous Luo culture, he humbles to stay with them in the village, learning Luo language like Musawa, eating their food and sleeping with them.

He visits his father’s graveyard, cries for the old man’s life that was full of drama and strife. Obama then travels back to Chicago with a new and fresh image of who he is, his true identity.

Dreams from My Father is a book for every young man/woman who is in a crisis trying to find him/herself. From Obama’s story, you find hope amidst impossibilities, a desire to change the lousy old story into a beautiful symphony of inspiration. Having a broken family background, a father that was abusive, drunkard, and proud with unruly character; with fragments of life patched across the continents, poverty and lack of hope, Obama turned all of it into positivity. He has become not just the President of the US but a responsible father and husband, who respects his wife and everyone else.

When all is read and done, one thing must be reported; Barrack is a great storyteller.