the day of transfer, I received a message that the boss wanted to see me. I was scared. Most people who received such messages ended up being sent away. Normally, when the boss summoned us, we rushed to clean our hands and feet before going to meet him. I quickly spruced myself up and rushed to the main house. I was told to dress well and wait at the gate.
When the tall man came out of the house, he called me to enter his Mercedes car. I could not believe what I was experiencing—a shamba boy being given a ride in his employer’s luxurious car. We went for about one hour along the present Thika road, past Thika town, before reaching the Kakuzi farm, where he appointed me to serve as a farm clerk. This was a very huge promotion. I worked both in the office and on the farm. My duties included keeping a record of workers who had reported on duty. This farm had over 200 workers. My salary increased. Slowly but surely, my life was beginning to take a new turn. God had released His favour upon me.
Here I exhibited strong managerial and leadership skills and was further promoted to the position of an assistant manager. My job entailed assigning workers their duties in the farm and supervising the coffee picking process.
While working in Kakuzi I met and fell in love with Esther Nthenya, who was also a casual worker, and we eventually got married on December 22, 1970.
Then came another step forward. In 1971, I joined Strabag Road Construction Company in Mwea, Embu County, where I was put in charge of the stores. I was not given a specific title, but this position was similar to a procurement officer. I was involved in receiving construction materials from suppliers, storing them, issuing them to workers and keeping records.
Later that year, Strabag was awarded a tender to construct the Timboroa-Eldoret and Nyaru-Eldoret roads in the then Rift Valley Province. I was transferred to this region in the same capacity.
In 1972, the Strabag Company completed its road construction project in Kenya and embarked on a new project in Saudi Arabia. I was offered an opportunity to continue working with Strabag in the new location in the Middle East. But after a moment of soul-searching, I declined the offer and opted to remain in Nyaru, where I continued to engage in various business activities, mainly public transport.
I became a bona fide resident of Nyaru. This was a forested place with temperatures much colder than I was used to. The transport system was very poor. It was not easy to travel to Eldoret due to a lack of vehicles. Eventually I decided to start a matatu (taxi) business along the Eldoret-Nyaru route. I drove the vehicle myself. My business expanded, and I bought minibuses. I christened the company Mullyways, and it operated between Kapenguria, Eldoret, Nairobi and Machakos.
Besides the transport business, I operated a small shop in Nyaru that was managed by my wife, Esther. I also engaged in different agricultural ventures, which included dairy farming, poultry keeping and large-scale farming of maize in Uasin-Gishu for commercial purposes.
With time, my business ventures flourished, and I built a house in Pioneer Estate in the town of Eldoret, where I relocated with my family. I diversified further by opening a hardware shop and establishing Mullyways Agencies Ltd., a multi-purpose company that dealt in insurance, microfinance, real estate agency, security and debt collection. I even bought 50 acres of land on the Thika River in Ndalani that I would use a retirement property for our family.
Esther and I were blessed with seven children: Janey, Grace, Ndondo, Kaleli, Mueni, Isaac and Dickson. We also adopted and raised Miriam, my youngest sister. I enrolled them for school in the then prestigious Kaptagat Preparatory. As a devoted family man, I ensured that my children grew up to be responsible people. I led them in daily devotions where they sang and memorized Bible verses. Everything had exceeded my wildest expectations.
At least that’s what I thought.
Chapter Three: A Call to Respond to the Voice of Suffering Children
The MCF journey started in Eldoret in 1989 when I received a calling from God to undertake a special duty for His people, the duty of helping the helpless in society and restoring hope among the hopeless children. In those early days, I had no idea of the magnitude of how this work could grow. I started out by simply trusting in God and believing that greater things could come.
Eldoret town, at that time, was full of street children, who were considered a nuisance by the members of the public. These destitute children were all over the town streets, bus parks, market centres, dumpsites and even estates. Many people could not stand them. The children were dirty and uncultured. They were stinky and offensive. They were seen as bothersome beggars as they followed people with a persistent plea for money, saying, “Auntie, Uncle, nisaidie shilingi,” meaning, “Please spare me a shilling.”
I heard street boys asking me for a shilling when I parked my car in Nairobi one day. They showed me to a parking spot and wanted me to reward them for their help, but I denied them any money. When I had finished my business meeting, I came out to discover my car had been stolen. This greatly impacted me. In fact, this one incident set in motion a chain of events and started a process where I became more and more convicted about the plight of street children.
But I did not immediately respond. Just like Samuel in the Bible, the little boy who lived in the priest Eli’s household (1 Samuel 3) and later became a prophet, I too was called many times by the Lord but could not immediately grasp the message that He was communicating to me.
In the biblical story, God wants to use Samuel to guide the children of Israel. I could relate to Samuel. One night, the Lord calls the young boy Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. (1 Samuel 3:4–7)
Samuel must have been so confused!
A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:8–10)
And the Lord went ahead and gave Samuel the intended message.
Many times I had felt a lot of compassion for street children, to the extent of taking food to them in the street, mainly bread and soda, chatting with them, encouraging them not to give up in life (however unbelievable such words sounded), but God had wanted me to do something bigger than that. During that time I kept asking myself, What is the reason for our existence on earth? I felt a compelling force pushing me to go forth and do something about these abandoned and vulnerable children. But what was I supposed to do?
I could not quickly figure it out. I spent sleepless nights pondering it. This was characterized by moments of prayer, meditation and soul-searching. I continued making trips to the streets of Eldoret, the place this vulnerable group called home. At one point I became a very troubled man—not happy or contented with what I was doing, despite succeeding in a lot of businesses and earning a lot of money.
I kept feeling that God was calling me to something different. I even felt guilty that I had a lot of
