LESSON 1: USE YOUR TIME & LABOUR WISELY – If you cannot get hired, volunteer! CK was born in a relatively humble family Nyeri County. While in his 3rd year in High School he came face to face with the stark reality of poverty. During that year he only attended school for about 4 months with the rest of the time spent at home because his mother could not raise his school fees. CK had a classmate called EW, the son of a well known Lawyer. EW often (pejoratively) asked CK; “why do you lock your box and locker with big padlocks yet you have nothing to be stolen except your crumpled uniform; kwenu nyumbani hakuna pasi?” CK would shrug and laugh of these comments but deep inside his heart he knew that they were true. CK attained an aggregate grade B+ in the KCSE of 1991 and he boldly approached the Principal of a local school village for a part time (UT) teaching or Lab Assistant job. None of that was available but knowing the social circumstances of CK, the Principal offered him a job as a grounds-man in charge of the school compound. CK took the job and used the proceeds to pay off his fees balance and build an iron-sheet (mabati) kitchen for his widowed mother. (NB: by the time CK completed high school his mother had sold all her livestock and virtually every valuable household item to pay his fees). During school holidays CK would volunteer his time and use the facilities in that school to coach Form IV candidates from the nearby villages. The students he coached performed very well and his fame as a great tutor grew in the whole location. Even after joining university to study Economics he never had an idle vacation. He would be hired as a UT to teach History & Business Education by local secondary schools and if he failed to get such a job, he would volunteer his time to coach and mentor Form IV candidates in the locality. He was often invited to many secondary schools to talk to candidates and prepare them for examinations. Because of his past voluntary work as a mentor; CK has become a leader in Public Speaking and he is often invited to speak in many corporate events and is paid dearly for it. Many of the leading education institutions (Universities, Colleges & Leading High Schools which can afford his charges) often invite him to give motivational speeches. The Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA) is one his major clients! Last year CK was conferred with the medal of the Order of Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) owing to his work as a change agent in society. Today CK is a partner in a leading Audit Firm in Nairobi. During his days in college, CK used very ingenious methods to make money which enabled him to pay for his CPA classes. It will be our LESSON 2. LESSONS: 1. Labour is the Most Abundant Resource you have as a young person. Use it wisely and if you don’t get employed after school/college volunteer your time and Labour to help society. Even if human beings do not recognize your efforts, God will. It is his past work as a volunteer mentor and public speaker which have given CK a national profile and not his Accountancy profession. 2. Your social (family or ethnic) origins do not really matter in life. Yours historical circumstances do not count; you learn from history but you do not live in history. 3. If you have a passion to do other things unrelated to your profession, trade or business don’t procrastinate; wake up and pursue your dream!
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 10:52:04 +0000
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