DAY 33: Using your Challenges to Grow with Others
By Dominic Mutua Maweu, Nairobi, 30 June 2017
The World needs people’s power to gain the real change needed for equitable development. We are living in a world whereby only 80% of its people live under the captive of view rich, and politicians. So, it’s now the right time for us to take action. And because now that we are in the internet era, I have a very strong believe it can be used by even the illiterate and the physically limited for learning, but it needs combined efforts to make it happen. By sharing personal stories, addressing the possibilities of the internet to unite and have a platform, do fundraising, I hope to inspire and exchange each other to have the strength and wisdom for personal growth and to pursue a better world.
The Day of Learning started some minutes after ten o’clock in the morning. Each of the participants had a copy of the 100 Days of Learning manifesto, what is Age of Wonder Land and Rural Connect Network.
I did a brief introduction of the Day of Learning and why it’s connected with Rural Connect Network Organization. Then the Chairman of the Board of Management of Rural Connect Network welcomed everyone by giving a short speech.
My brief history
My upbringing and education
My name is Dominic Maweu. I was born at Kasikeu, located in Kilome Sub County. We migrated to Simba hills in Kwale County (Kenya) when I was two weeks old. So, I know very little about Kilome Sub County for we only go there on family events, for one or two days.
My parents separated when I was in class two and I with my two sisters went with our mum, who went to her elder brother’s home because her father was very hash about his girls leaving their husbands. This made me to repeat class two, as we waited for our mum to reprogram her next move. She later got a piece of land at Chyulu hills in Kibwezi East Sub County but there were no schools by then, and the only option was to mobilize her neighbors to start a nursery school. I therefore start my education a fresh when I was ten years.
I completed my primary school in 1985 whereby I was among the pioneers of 8–4 -4 system of education. I joined secondary school in Muthingiini High, but dropped out of school in form two due to lack of school fees.
My profession and work
I went to Mombasa city to find some employment when I was 19 years and with no educational/professional certificates but I secured a job after two weeks as watch man (guard), through the help of my brother in law, who was working in the same company, but I could not adhere to the hardship, and had to drop it after two months.
The idea of leaving that job didn’t make my sister and her husband happy and so I was given two options, either go back to my job or get out of their house. I chose to leave them and joined the street boys but I secured a job through bribery in a company that was making teen boxes and container within one week.
I worked in this company for only three months and there was a strike by the old workers, who forced us to join them. That was the end of my job which we used to be paid on daily basis but it didn’t last long before getting another casual job at a salt company.
This was the hardest job I have ever had in my life. I did it for two days and left, but this time I didn’t go for another employment. The idea of joining business was brought in my mind by a boy I mate in the streets of the industrial area of Mombasa selling eggs. I tried to get information from him on the business but he was very arrogant, so I opted to go my own way. That same evening after dropping my new job, I managed to get two trays of eggs from a man who smuggled them from the poultry farm he was working.
My new business started on very well in the next morning after my friend who was working a food kiosk where I used to take my meals offered to boil the eggs for me for free. That first day I sold 4 trays before lunch time, got a reliable source of the eggs and good arrangements on how to store and boil my eggs. This was the most paying job I have ever done in my life, for I was selling up to 18 trays per day and make Ksh 30/= per tray, compared to the teens company where I was getting Ksh 30.80 per day. Here I was making over Ksh 400/= per day.
This business went for only six months and we collided with the municipal council. I returned back home and joined a team of wood carvers, who trained me for free and that became my first profession. I worked on this wood carving business until the accident that injured my spinal cord and paralyzed both my upper and lower limbs.
The accident
Hospitalization
I was 32 years by the time of the accident and I was married, we had one boy and a girl. We were three in the car when it rolled when on our way to a famous hotel in the famous Tsavo National Park called Kilaguni Lodge on my course of work. By then the Hotel was owned by Atlantic Hotels and they sold it to Serena Hotels, whereby I was contracted to do some decorations on the doors and other wood work during their renovations.
We were rescued by game rangers and take to a clinic at Mtito andei town, later that night I was transferred to Voi District hospital and later in four days was transferred to Coast General Hospital.
During the four months I stayed in hospital, my mind was just blank. I never believed the stories I was getting on with my situation. Everyone who visited me in hospital was very generous, both financially and informative. I didn’t think about my new life but just lived. Then finally I was released from hospital and faced the reality.
The denial period
It started immediately I was brought home. We had no money and I could not even turn myself, feed or even taking water. I was to hold my wife hostage, who was now the bread winner of the family and my nurse. I started hating God for not allowing me to die and relieve my family all this stress. I lost hope in life and wanted to die. I even tried to refuse food and water for about a week but it did not work.
My children gave me hope by keeping close to me all this time. My daughter who was only 7 years told her mum she is the one to cook and feed me and she is very sure will eat. Her decision worked miraculously and everything changed from then. Her food was the best to me; it was well cooked in such a way that even her mum could not believe.
The boy who was four years volunteered to give me water, and was always on my bed despite the bad smell due to serious pressure wounds that had infected me. He is the one who introduced a way of turning me on my bed with the help of his sister. This gave their mother time to start doing some odd jobs in the market to feed us.
Finally I accepted myself and started thinking on how I can take my position as the head of my family. I started training my hands which had started showing signs of regaining strength and within a very short period, I started feeding myself using my left hand. I started reading books and other fabrications on how I can start a new way of earning life.
Change of profession
God opened an opportunity
There was an organisation of 34 community groups who had come together and through other organisation had sourced a community radio station in the area. The installation had started and the set up of the radio was to have volunteers from the surrounding community trained on broadcasting before the installation ended. I decided to take the opportunity, and applied to be one of the volunteers.
The interview was very tricky, because very few people believed I can do anything but none of them had the courage to turn down my request. The program Manager gave me the task of translating some radio programs that were produced in English to the local language. I had to listen the programs first, prepare a script and then voice. But remember none of my hands could write.
My wife offered to write the script for me as I dictate to her the translation. We thought we can do about three or more translations per day, but the whole day we managed to write only one script. I was very annoyed because she did not go for her odd jobs and my aim was to add something in her income. So, the next day I told her I will try voicing that script by myself, but I did not do that. I started training my hands how hold a pen and write. By lunch time my wife could not believe I had completed one script and was already rehearsing the voicing. I completed the ten cassettes that I was given in three days, and when the Board of management listened them, I was the first volunteer to be recruited for training, followed by my wife!
The training and employment
My course as radio producer and presenter
We were picked 30 volunteers who started the on sight training in December 2001, by a trainer from Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC). We later started a two year training by Danicom International from Denmark until the radio went on air in 2004.
My new job as Radio Programs producer and presenter
By the time we went on air, I had produced enough programs on Health, HIV, Agriculture, Environment and Scouting. Agriculture and HIV are the only programs that attracted sponsorship and made me go to places, as well as making me to be promoted to Programs Manager after six months.
Programs officer
I also performed well in this post, but politics had started getting into the project. My fellow workers also started issues based on my disability but things didn’t work on their side. Instead, I was promoted to be the head of production department.
Head of Production Department
This is the post that supervised everything that went on air and the presenters. I was answerable to the station manager but had the liberty to manage all the other departments in the station, something which the station manager didn’t go well with it. He feared I would get his position, so he teamed up with the workers to make everything hard for me.
Hard times out of stigmatization started and the performance of the station declined miserably. There was no discipline and even most of the radio programs stopped going on air. I was blocked from attending meetings outside the station, with the excuse that I could not go without my caretaker and the station had no money.
Blocked to seminars and workshops
This was a big block to my performance and had to act swiftly to find way out. Sometimes, the organizers of paid my expenses and mostly those who knew my potential. For those who had limited funding allowed me to attend through Skype when am sited in my office. That still didn’t make the manager happy, so he arranged with finance office for me to be denied internet airtime.
Thrown out of the station
This new way of holding meetings through Skype and the introduction of internet made my life easier and my performance advanced. I joined social media and formed face book groups that kept me company after all the staff keeping out of me.
Incitement to the community
That internet, apart from making my life easy, it’s the one that worked well on the evil mission of the station manager to throw me out of the Radio station. He incited the Board of Managed who knew nothing about internet, that I was making a lot of money using internet. He convinced them that the money was not getting to the station account but to my account. I was thrown out of the Radio station in 2012 together with my wife.
RURAL CONNECT NETWORK NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Difficulties in getting a new job
Online media center
I could not go to find employment because of my physical challenge, neither my wife because our children were in school. I thought of developing a web site for local new. My wife was the one to be collecting the news and then I do the editing and uploading. I therefore prepared a company card under the online media center and wrote a supportive later to Media council of Kenya for her to be issued with Press card.
The idea of rural connect network was born
With the Press Card, my wife could go to events as a freelance journalist and earn some money through allowances, though very few people could understand online media centers. I then thought of start a way of creating awareness to the community on the power with internet in development.
Registration of Rural Connect Network NGO
Apart from the idea of empowering the community on the use of internet for development, I lived with the pain of being thrown out of the Radio station under force accusation about internet because none of them understood internet. So, I thought of connecting all the organized and registered groups of Youth, Women, Men and People Living with Disabilities in one online and offline network for sharing and learning.
I therefore I introduced some of my friends who worked with me and trusted in my ability and they bought. They agreed to be in the Board of Management, as well as supporting me financially until we got registered. Find attached profile of Rural Connect Network.
Members withdraws their support
After getting registered in January 2013, my friends told me to fundraise on my on to get moving. I was very confident the dream will get support immediately, but things were very different. My Family also withdrew their support and I almost lost hope and dropped the dream. I approached the County Government but was disappointed but they gave me an employment as a civic interlocutor.
I regained strength and started pushing on as from October 2016
I tried to the forums of civic education to sell Rural Connect Network but no progress was seen. I tried my face book group, that had now grown to over fifty thousand members but instead they supported me to go for acdf surgery in India. The surgery was very successful and was to go back for Stem Cell therapy. So, by July 2016 we tried another fundraiser but it was not successful.
The biggest challenge to me was good internet network strength. I therefore opted to use the money we fundraised for my treatment to install Satellite internet network system in my office. With that network installed in the office, I committed most of my time browsing and writing proposals, but none went through until I won this 100 Days of Learning event we are holding today.
CONCLUSION
I would like to thank the organizers of this program of 100 Days of Learning for their support in organizing this Day of Learning. It gave me the opportunity to meet you guys and the world at large, so that we can share all that we have shared, as well as appealing for any relevant support to achieve the following:-
As it is quoted in the manifesto of Age of Wonderland…….
“100 Days of Learning Is about building a network of whisperers: 100 Whisperers for change, with 100 Different voices, and 100 Different personal interests. From 100 Different locations around the globe we are starting to speak about what matters to us as citizens of the world, how we feel we can create a positive change, how we can teach each other and learn from each other”
My aim of starting Rural Connect Network NGO was to have a big network for people to learn by themselves at their own organized groups. This has not been achieved due to my limited knowledge on running NGOs, Financial constrains, and mobility challenges.
Thank you very much and God bless you.
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About 100 Days of Learning
Age of Wonderland 2017 presents 100 DAYS OF LEARNING, a global learning event to exchange valuable life experiences with peers. Doers and thinkers from around the world — innovators, scientists, engineers, artists, designers, social entrepreneurs — are invited to share their personal stories, ideas, and practice, not to be found in textbooks. Aim is to rediscover knowledge, challenge beliefs, and exchange life lessons with others. To make the world a better place, we need to embrace change on an individual level, and inspire others to do the same.
