stage

My mother has always been the biggest support system I have had since I was a child. Looking back, she supported my dreams and pushed me to achieve a level of greatness I would not think possible. At an early age of 10, I discovered I had a talent, poetry-I began my journey of doing solo verses. I attended music festivals and the annual church festivals. I vividly remember my first shot at doing a solo piece, it was grueling. My teachers came up with the piece, it was for a church festival. It went like “Food is little, Children are crying, No mothers to nurse them, Fathers, brothers, No men in the villages, All are gone, Gone for days without an end. Fire! Fire! Houses are on fire! What has caused it? We wonder! They came at night, We were to tired to wake up, They stole our food from the stores, They have burnt everything! We carried our belongings, Running for our dear lives, With nowhere to go……” Sadly, this poem was a traumatic one for me, but I was so young to understand. I do not recall the intention behind this poem, or why I was chosen to actually do the solo. But what I do recall was the fact that during practice sessions, one of my teachers asked me to tap into my pain, so I could show emotion and cry. Sadly, for me, this had been my reality, my family and I had lost everything a year before from tribal clashes including my father. Story for another day. As sad as this may seem, that’s how my poetic journey began. Every year, my mum made sure I was in a school play or doing some sort of poetry, I came to love it. She constantly reminded me that I could be anything, that I just needed to put in effort. She would use me as an example for my siblings and somehow, this pushed me to achieve even more in my academics and co-curricular activities. My other siblings also followed this dream, we were an artistic family, we would get all the leading roles in a drama or do solo verses ,both for the church festivals and the Kenyan music festivals for our schools. My mother instilled leadership in us at a very young age. We took up space wherever we were. From learning how to do chores and run our little lives, to learning the importance of farmwork, to being leaders at school and at church. I remember one time my mum being summoned by the church leadership about our whereabouts on a particular Sunday, we had skipped church. This was because we would always lead the church school choir and our missing in action was such a big deal. The world has always been my stage, and my mother made sure that I knew this from a young age. Her support meant everything and propelled me. As a mentor and trainer with LatitudeZero Opportunities , I realise the impact one can have on those who look up to them. How words of affirmation and encouragement can shape the future of the young people I work with. Each day, I strive to let them know that the world is their stage, and they can be anything they ever dreamt of.