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 During my primary school, I had this rare penchant for any readable material I would come across regardless of whether I could read it or not; I gathered torn pieces of newspapers or torn pages of books, or destroyed books, or book covers - anything that littered around that had text or picture or both. Every morning, we performed an exercise of 'grazing' the school compound, and the reason was to collect any litter or garbage that dotted the compound. In the process I'd come across little torn pieces of newspapers, book pages, floating text book covers, etc. For me, I did not dispose of these at the rubbish heap, instead, I delivered the newspaper pages to my dad at home after school so that he could use them to roll his ciggarretes, after I flipped through. As for the book covers and incoherrent pages, they formed my library of unique 'book' collections. I had Swahili, Luo, and English 'books', most of which I was unable to read at that age but I just enjoyed seeing the writing and pictures because they looked great. My primary schooling wasn't a bed of rosses, as hinted earlier. The 8 years of my primary schooling was spread in 5 different schools before I finally joined high school. That 'pastoralist' lifestyle of my childhood had to do with survival and education; it also helped to open up my world since I made tonnes of friends all around the country. There was lots more, but this piece is not their place. It could be a long chapter in an autobiography.
My love for books did not end; instead, it grew by the day. I recall consuming tonnes of literature by the fireside with my brothers and sisters as well as mom. I developed the culture of reading and love of books, a culture that would open up my world in a manner unprecedented, yet just in the way I believed it. I remember at some point in my 8th grade I became obsessed with math to the extent I was convinced there was no challenge my match in math for that grade-level. With that attitude I decided to look higher for 'better' and tougher math. I ventured into high school math and interestingly the first booklet I laid my hands upon was a trigonometric math table from my uncle, Dickson. I could make neither tail nor head of that junk of tables and so I decided to consult with my math teacher who just laughed out his heart on me for struggling to solve trigonometric tables as if my syllabus had ran out of problems to solve. When I later on met the trig tables in high school I realized how far I was trying to jump the gun. Nonetheless, that insatiable appetite for the figures has earned some prestigious accolades such as the distinction in Australian Math Competitions as well as regular A's in various exams. Engineering Math in my undergrad proved a 'tough nut to chew well', though. Nevertheless, I have successfully chewed my way through irrespective of the magnitude of the problem.
Somehow, I placed an oversize premium of faith in books and I strongly believed my journey in life would have a lot to do with them as well as to work with them. My unrelenting and impatient will-power to plough through life like a tube train no matter what has defied every scarcity or limitation of resources to see me across tough zones. I am a believer that nothing good comes the easy way and with the endless struggles and challenges of life, there is no better asset than a fighting spirit. Education has opened my doors in the world, and it continues to do so even more. Nothing has come my way on a silver platter. However, the results have invariably been encouraging, uplifting and life-changing. More than my efforts, several other people have contributed to making me the person I am today. I have in mind family, society and individuals like the late Director of Starehe Boys' Center, Dr. Geoffrey William Griffin. Dr. Griffin's dream was very key in solidifying my dream and inspiration to found GLCSE as a place to offer environment and opportunities for others to rise to the best of their potentials. It is worth mention the fact that Starehe Boys Center gave me a full scholarship for high-school education, 2-year diploma in computer studies as well as partial financial support for my undergraduate studies. Starehe opportunity was a crucial turning point in my life; it literally opened up my world because of the favourable platform and the propitious environment it offered me for my personal and professional development. Starehe has done likewise to many other students from the poor rural and urban areas. The Starehe system taught me a very important lesson - that given the right environment and opportunity, success is not a preserve for the 'chosen few'. Starehe empowered the youth by giving them a chance to invest in their lives and future by way of education. That is something that merged so well with my early habits and fondness with the books. Today, I still collect books and ship them to Africa where I use them to impact on lives through community of libraries.
I take great pride in empowering others especially through education. Importantly, the problems that dog the African continent such as poverty and diseases among others can be solved by a massive investment in education and training of its population. There is a huge reservoir of youthful talent and energy that is going to waste or wrong investment in Africa. Most of these are capable persons who could be developed into responsible citizens and leaders who can help shape the future of the continent in very significant ways. My greatest resolve today and, I believe, in the future, is to invest in the education of the young generation as a way to empower them as well as the continent. I believe that the continent has the capacity, brains and the resources to shape up, especially if we all make genuine efforts to guide the restless energies of the youth through responsible and useful synergies. I also believe that no person or foreign country will descend into Africa with an infallible panacea to cure all the leadership maladies and life challenges. We are the 'one' we have been waiting for and the role is squarely and 'strictly' in our hands. We must all do our parts in shaping up our continent to what we desire to see. It is all long overdue and we cannot afford to postpone the endless motherland self-inflicted misgivings. We cannot solve these challenges by running away into comfy regions of the world and feeling shy about our people as well as origins. We must proudly and confidently confront our challenges head on. If we each do our parts well, then the massive continent will take care of itself.
Take sometime and browse through our site and see what GLCSE is doing to make a difference. If you find one way or another through which we can partner, we urge you not to hesitate in enlisting your support or participation. We will be most glad to join hands with you in one pledge: that this our generation must in its turn, turn the weight of government bear to all mankind through service to our nation, with head, heart and hand in justice, zeal and care. In the path we have come, there followeth after us today, a youth whose feet must pass this way. It is an onus upon us to erect a firm bridge in place for them to cross the chasm into the future worth living.
Africa is not poor because it is poor, but rather because some avaricious and callous cartels have systematically and repeatedly raped and ripped her off. We can be better and we can be greater by focusing on the people. The people hold the change; they wield the power to make a difference. The continent's challenges are not my embrassment; rather, they are my inspiration to make a difference because the path of duty is the way to glory. There is greater fulfilment in living for something greater than self.
Thanks
Chrisogonas Mc'Odhiambo
President and Founder, GLCSE
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