“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
My friend and University classmate, Judy, likes to tell the story of how I got a job, six months to graduation. No application, just an appointment letter. Something else interesting happened; I got a pay rise before my first salary! My initial ‘support’ as we call it, in mission terms, was Ksh. 4,500 (Four Thousand, Five Hundred) and the letter that followed increased it to Ksh. 5,000 (Five Thousand Shillings), a lot of money in 1988. My friend and I were blown away by how much money I had. You see, we had both gone through some tough financial situations as far as school fees were concerned. While my uncle had asked me to take a step of faith in response to my inquiry as to where he would get the fees, it was an anxious moment each semester as we waited to see how the Lord would provide.
I remember one incident when the Lord provided so miraculously, I was deeply in awe of Him, I still am. Principal Dr Stephen Talitwala, (I honor his memory) had travelled to the U.S where Daystar has an office. Part of his itinerary was to raise school fees for some of the needy students. I remember a student who had arrived from Nigeria by faith that God would provide. Faith is..Anyway, the report I got when he came back was that there was a fundraising banquet and it included the attendees picking the name of a student and raising funds for that student. It turned out that the person who picked my name raised the most money and I was funded for a couple of semesters after that, meals and textbooks included. I had seen and continue to see the provision of God.
Here was God providing yet again through a full-time job in radio, while I was still a student. I was later to learn that my supervisor and mentor, the Features Editor, Pauline Ngunjiri, who had joined TWR from the Nation Media Group, had something to do with this early hiring. She knew that I was writing for various publications and knew any of them could snatch me upon graduation. I am so grateful to God for this wonderful woman of God who mentored me and patiently walked with me as I settled into radio. She continues to be a source of encouragement to this day. The Project Manager was Kwame Rubadiri (now Rev.) leading a team of experts that as student I was so privileged to work with. The team included the BBC trained Chris Basalirwa as the programme’s producer, John Muriungi the Production Manager who had come from the Standard Newspaper and John Fear, a Consultant from FEBA Radio among others.
I graduated and settled in as a features writer for Africa Challenge, a Project of Trans World Radio that had been born out of the globally publicized famine in the Sahel region and the horn of Africa in mid-eighties. In response, Trans World Radio had embarked on an ambitious developmental radio project, first named ‘Save Africa- A Generation’ and later changed to Africa Challenge. It is the one that Rev. Stephen had marketed so powerfully and that embraced my training in both Communications and Community Development. I was hooked.
It was a big new project with a big team and good funding to boot. It was a response to a great tragedy though. The global media was aflame with stark images of starving women and children in the Sahel region and the horn of Africa. Dr Paul Freed, the President of Trans World Radio had visited Ethiopia accompanied by ERF Director Rev. Horst Marquardt and TWR General Secretary for Africa, Rev. Stephen Boakye- Yiadom. Dr Freed came out of that trip convinced that the power of radio could be harnessed to do more than preaching and teaching the word of God. Radio could also be used to teach people to take care of the environment God had given them. Planting drought resistant crops, storing the grain better, to live healthier lives, to raise healthier children, to survive drought.
Being part of this team was very exciting for me. We handled different topics for each day of the week all from a Biblical perspective.
Monday – Health
Tuesday – Agriculture
Wednesday- Maternal and childcare
Thursday- Family
Friday – Lifestyles.
Saturday- Environment
Sunday- Sunday special programme focusing on Creation.
While I was initially focusing on the Tuesday feature, Pauline ensured that I and my fellow writers got exposed to all the topics. This was a biblically based magazine radio programme. It was 30 minutes long and started off with what we called a ‘taster’ or hook to get the listeners’ attention. It also included an expert interview and the interviewing skills I had learned in my communications class came in handy. An Africa challenge programme would not be complete without a captivating story, written and presented by the very gifted storyteller, Emmy Rubadiri.
We wrote stories, conducted interviews, and we attended all the major international conferences in Nairobi, scouting for expert interviews. Our English scripts and programmes would be sent to Radio Evangile in France whose Director was Charles Guillot for translation into French and airing in Franco Phone West Africa. Defi De Afrique, was the name of the French version of Africa Challenge and still airs in Franco Phone West Africa under the leadership of Rev. Abdoulaye Sangho. Africa Challenge was also translated into Kiswahili. We call it Mazingira Yetu– Our environment. The programmes, in English and Kiswahili were aired on TWR’s Shortwave Station in Manzini Swaziland, now Eswatini.
In this team, there was a Research Coordinator, by the name Lorna Averdung. All the features had to be well researched, and the Research Coordinator supplied the relevant research information for the team. It is from her office that we got articles, reports, magazines and books for our scripts. She was supported by a colleague in TWR Netherlands and another one in ERF Germany, two of our ministry partners in the Africa Challenge Project.
One day in January 1989, Lorna resigned as Research Coordinator to go and pursue her master’s degree at the University of Nairobi. Then, I got another appointment letter…….