Publisher's Synopsis
I have always been a story teller milking out any mundane story for whatever it is worth. Writing this book gives me an opportunity to write my own history while at the same time challenging my contemporaries to do likewise. I have tried to give some personal background including my historical roots from childhood right through to the present to enable the reader get a good idea of the kind of person that I am. While I have lived a fairly ordinary life, I have had some critical junctures that have greatly influenced my life's trajectory. Having been born the eighth child in a family of achievers, I had little choice but to try and emulate the high standards set. Throughout nursery and primary school, I topped my class almost effortlessly. Joining Alliance high school opened me to real competition that encompassed every facet of life from academic to sports and social interactions. Interaction with the female gender as well as members of other Kenyan and non-Kenyan communities, both fellow students as well as teachers widened my world view considerably. Competition for female company during social events such as debates and dances taught me persuasive decorum. The ability to hold my own with some of the best brains gave me the confidence to travel into uncharted territory and follow the bend in the road with confidence. During my first year at the University of Nairobi, I learnt to manage my time without supervision especially and most painfully when I barely scraped through the end year exams. When I arrived in the world of employment, I learnt that the good guy does not always finish first. People I trusted as truth seekers would bear false witness against me and send my world into an unanticipated spin. The dishonesty in society reared its ugly head in my businesses where I lost vast sums of money due to my misplaced belief in the inherent honesty of people. The hardest lesson I learnt was never to take good health for granted. The transition from a consum- mate energetic businessman recovering from financial loss with the mantra, I get knocked down, but I will get up again. You are never gonna keep me down- from a song by the group Chumbawamba, and I never needed nobody, to come and hold me hand, I never needed nobody, to take me through the land, never needed nobody, to tell me make a stand, I'm experienced man, I can understand, I know how to get along - from the song Wajahka Man by Jimmy Cliff, to almost a vegetable in less than one month after a major surgical operation was truly devastating.
The many years of recovery from the after effects of those traumatic events made me come out more circumspect and ready to face the world once again but with caution. I have written this book both as a way of reminiscing and with the hope that the reader will walk with me and realize that deep inside, there is an unbeatable iron man in all of us. All it takes is belief in one self and a commitment to take charge and say I shall do it. At the same time the book is intended to give the younger generation a peek into the world my agemates and I lived in. Having a loving family and sincere friends is a great blessing, but betrayal is an ever present possibility peeking just beyond the horizon. Happy and informative reading.
