'Why we have fearlessly embraced unconventional careers'

In Summary

• Many parents discourage their children from taking up careers in unconventional fields because they are “uncertain”.
• The result is that many students opt to take ordinary career paths such as medicine and accounting, thereby abandoning any talents and dreams they may have in new careers such as arts and sports.

In Kenya, white collar jobs are viewed as more prestigious than all others. To date, many parents discourage their children from taking up careers in unconventional fields because they are “uncertain”. The result is that many students opt to take ordinary career paths such as medicine and accounting, thereby abandoning any talents and dreams they may have in new careers such as arts and sports.

Yet many sportsmen and artists have grown to be successful individuals, superstars even, thanks to their talents. Kenyan international Victor Wanyama earns an annual salary of Sh400 million, while musicians such as Jay Z are billionaires.

Is it time we reconsidered our stand on what we’ve always thought of as unsafe career options?

Norris Kabembe Mwavita, 19

I come from a family of artists. My paternal grandfather was a singer and songwriter of traditional songs, while my maternal one was a storyteller. My father and aunt are veteran screen actors and I have grown up watching them on TV, attending their live concerts and even watching plays with them.

None of my family members forced me to get into art. I gravitated naturally towards it. I started by performing skits in Sunday school and when I joined secondary school, I became fully aware of what I wanted to do. I joined the drama club where my talent and performance skills were nurtured by my dedicated trainers. I did my first solo performance while I was in Form Three in Pwani Got Talent, a programme that seeks to empower and showcase the talents of youth from Coast region. In Form Four, I emerged Best Performer at the National Drama Festival in the spoken word category. Even after I finished my secondary school studies, I usually went back to my school — Shimo la Tewa — and interacted with members of the drama club, helping them prepare for their festivals and learning a lot in the process. I even tried my hand in scriptwriting.

In 2018, I came to Nairobi to study procurement at Multimedia University. I felt it would equip me with the business skills and principles that I would need to develop my art. I didn’t want to study anything about art in school because I felt that learning through apprenticeship, observation and practice was the best way to grow as an artist. Also, I felt that I already had natural talent in art, which needed to be enhanced by formal education in business.

Coming to Nairobi proved to be a huge advantage for me because I got the exposure I would perhaps never have got if I had remained in Mombasa. I was introduced to Joe Mureithi who accepted me in his theatre company called Stewardz Productions. I worked there for a year before I decided to go solo. I held my first show under the stage name the Revolutionary Spitter at the Michael Joseph Centre.

After that first experience, I learnt that organising a show is really hard. I had to hire instruments for the band, pay the artists who performed at the event, pay for studio rehearsals and spend some more money on marketing the gig, yet I had no sponsors. It helped that many of the artists I worked with were my friends and they understood my situation.

But to my pleasant surprise, tickets to the show got sold out four days before the event. I was only 19 at the time and that was a really big achievement for me.

To survive and stay relevant as an artist in this country, one must be versatile. Apart from acting, I also write scripts and sell them to my clients. Additionally, thanks to a referral by our high school director Kevin Amakobe, my brother and I are drama club directors at the Starehe Boys Centre. Last year, we earned an opportunity to attend the NBO musical workshop facilitated by Eric Wainaina at the Elephant.

Being a young artist in Kenya is not easy. Many of us have been duped by event organisers who think that artists only need to be on stage. Many of them renege on payment agreements, yet art is our only source of income. Working with some artists is also quite challenging, especially if they have bad attitudes, and convincing organisers to give you slots in their events is even harder. Also, the spoken word scene is dominated by many quacks who have created the impression that all artists are of average quality, or that all of us focus on the theme of love. These stereotypes make it really hard for budding artists like me to get exposure. One can go a whole month without getting any paying job!

After I graduate, I plan to get into the job market and gain some experience in business so that I can get the necessary experience, but also so that I can earn a regular income as I grow as an artist. However, I don’t intend to be employed for long.

I would encourage any aspiring artist to first check and confirm that that is what they really want to do. If it is, they should pursue their goals determinedly and find ways of overcoming the hardships.   

Bernadette Moyiaso, 23

When my elder brother introduced me to football, I was thrilled and fell in love with the game even though I was still a child. My interest in the game kept growing, and I was made games captain in high school. However, the real test came after I completed my secondary school education.

My father is an engineer and my older siblings have all pursued courses that are considered prestigious, such as pharmacy. For this, I was under a lot of pressure to take a similar path, especially since I had gone to a national school and excelled in my KCSE. However, I opted to deviate. Upon joining campus, I abandoned the course in medicine that I had been called to study, and chose to study sports science.

My dad was flabbergasted. My brothers openly told me that if things didn’t work out. I would deal with the consequences by myself. I had no choice but to do my best and prove them wrong.

After high school, I started playing in the Kenyan Women’s Premier League as well as the Kenyatta University school team. I was paid quite well for my services, but I was scared every time I thought that age could someday prevent me from playing football. I was desperate to anchor my football career on something deeper, so I decided to advance my skills and become a referee.

I asked my siblings to help me pay for the refereeing course, but none of them was willing to do so. I saved the stipend I got from playing for KU and Eldoret Falcons and paid for a month-long refereeing course. But even then, there was a challenge.

Convincing my coach, who depended on me as the lead striker, was really hard because the team was still growing and many players were in their final year. I was torn between going for what I wanted, and sacrificing my ambitions by continuing to play for the school. Eventually, I hung by boots and concentrated on refereeing.

Officiating isn’t easy, and the fact that it is a male-dominated field doesn’t make it any easier. Sometimes I just don’t feel comfortable controlling 24 men and worse, I have been abused by players and fans so many times just for being a woman, but I continue to persevere. I have seen some referees being beaten by fans, and that is my biggest fear. Sometimes I go to officiate matches in remote places where my security is not guaranteed, but I never refuse because I love my job.

Apart from refereeing, I am a part time gym instructor, and this helps me put the knowledge I get in school into practice. However, I often get discouraged by clients who only want to be trained by male instructors. Some tell you to your face that they want a male instructor, even though male and female instructors offer the same services.

My day starts really early, because most of my clients come to the gym before going to work. After that, I go back to school as most of my classes begin at 11am. I then attend a referee training course between 6pm and 6.30pm. From there, I go for night time devotion at a church in my neighbourhood, which usually marks the end of my day.

I have never regretted getting into sports. I am a student, but I am already earning a living from it. My family has now become very supportive, which makes me think that my decision to go against the flow gave me the drive I needed to succeed.

Kennedy Peter Odhiambo, 23

There is a misconception that one must have a huge frame to play rugby. I fell for it because I am heavily built and in the first two years in high school, I spent all my free time practicing how to kick, run faster and tackle better. But my heart wasn’t in rugby.

In Form Three, I decided to start doing something that I actually loved, and that was football. I practised hard and fostered a good relationship with my team mates. However, I never got a spot in the team. I was a fringe player for the better part of Form Three but I never gave up. What kept me going was the passion and love that I had for football. I was determined to be as great as Ghanaian international Abedi Pele, whose name my father frequently called me by.

I became a mainstay player in our team in Form Four, but I never featured in many games. At home in Kayole, I joined a team called Pioneers, and played for them after I completed my high school education.

Football became my only source of income. My team mates and I would participate in tournaments and when we won, we would share the prize money. I used the money to enrol for a course in computer coding. When choosing a university, I was determined to go to an institution where I could network and interact with students from various countries, so I joined the African Leadership University (ALU) in Rwanda where I am studying international business and trade.

My football career is growing, and I have got the exposure needed. As a member of the school team, I have played several high profile matches, including one against Carnegie Mellon University in the US, which we won. It is, however, challenging to play football and concentrate on my studies at the same time.

I plan to join a football academy here in Rwanda, from where I can develop and hopefully play in other leagues abroad. Football has taught me to be resilient. It saddens me that the sport isn’t very lucrative here in Africa, but I believe I can make a living from it. To reach that goal, I spend my free time polishing my skills and ensuring that I excel.