Why I Decided to Become a Writer
Ken Makunga
My Story
I never had any plans to be a writer until a few years ago.
Until a few years ago, I realized everything is ‘writing.’ Whether it’s copywriting, writing company manuals, or just telling stories. It all involves writing.
I worked for the national airline in Botswana for 25 years as an aircraft maintenance engineer and rose through the ranks to Quality Assurance Manager when I left in 2013.
After that, I joined the leading French regional aircraft manufacturer as a Field Service Representative, fulfilling a lifelong dream to see the world. I was posted to Indonesia, where I met and married my 2nd wife. We lived and worked in Malaysia with many trips to Singapore, where our regional offices were.
Most recently, I worked in the Maldives for 4 months from January to April 2023.
Alas, now life has caught up with me.
I’m at retirement age, 60, and no aviation jobs are forthcoming, but I’m not ready to retire. There’s so much more that I want to do.
I want to start a non-profit open-source hardware organization teaching young (and old) people how to design and fabricate open-source machines. I want to solve pressing world issues like making open-source 2-wheel tractors for farmers to eradicate hunger in Africa. I want to build open-source compressed brick presses to make earth bricks and solve the issue of affordable housing in Africa.
So, where do I begin?
First, I need to be able to feed myself and support my family. So I teach English online to mainly Japanese and some South Korean and Taiwanese learners. It’s not much, but it puts food on the table, barely.
How to augment my income?
Writing seemed like a reasonable gig. If I could write online, I could (in theory, if I was good enough) make a reasonable living by all accounts on YouTube and other sources.
So here I am.
I don’t have a particular passion for writing, I see it as a means to an end. A very big end! In the end, everything I want to achieve comes down to being able to write about it and communicate it to like-minded souls. To build a following, a tribe, and ultimately, that global open-source hardware community in Africa solving pressing world problems.
And, oh yes, I love watching movies. Especially science fiction movies. In the old days, before the internet, smartphones, and Netflix, I used to love going to the library and borrowing books by the old greats: Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Philip K Dick, Ursula Le Guin, and many others. Now I read stories on Medium and watch SF movies 😄.
Thanks for reading and hoping we can connect.
