From Internally Displaced Person to International motivational speaker

Perhaps the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence (PEV) is a memory that every Kenyan wants to bury completely. When the country exploded after the controversial presidential elections, many Kenyans lost their lives and property, with the mayhem catching them off guard. Gim Abraham, an internally displaced person from Nakuru, was a victim of the melee, but he didn’t sulk in it. He embraced the situation that befell him, doing what Kenyans are good at, accepting and moving on.

Abraham, 27, and his entire family did not know their home in Nakuru would be no more after the PEV. His peaceful and orderly life was gone. Faced by the challenge of beginning a new life, all together, the once Internally Displaced Person (IDP) reveals that even when life hands you a knock of your face, it has to continue. “Life became so rigid for us nonetheless we had to move on,” declares Abraham.

To forget the occurrences, his family quit the IDP camp in Nakuru and moved to Nyeri. Fortunately for him, he did not lose any member of his first family. With many sitting down waiting for alms, Abraham joined his parents in tending to farmers’ coffee and tea plantations to earn their daily bread. All this happened when he had cleared his secondary school education, and was psyched up about joining university, since he had scored a mean grade of B.

“I wanted to join the University of Nairobi (UoN) for my degree in Mass Communication,” he says. “I got an invitation letter to join university but what could have been my fate with lack of school fees?” he ponders adding that he turned to people for help in vain. “In 2010 some people came promising to sponsor my education at UoN only if I would do BA, Education. “The thought of finally getting admitted to university got me energized and I reported to UoN as I was supposed to,” he notes.

Abraham says he did not mind changing his courses provided he was admitted. But there was more than meets the eye. His “sponsors” had not paid either his tuition or boarding fees. “I pleaded with the registrar to let me stay in school but I couldn’t sit for the semester’s examination without a receipt from the university’s finance department. “I have never heard from the sponsors again,” he agonizingly recalls. After five years of trial to join the university in vain he found it unambiguous to move on without a degree.

“My family heartened me never to fret sighting that the best university is that of life’s hard knocks,” he notes. Before finding refuge at a children’s home in Nyeri, the unrelenting pressure of hardship Abraham underwent forced him to move to a certain church in Nyeri town where he resided for two years washing and cleaning so as to have a roof over his head in return. It was such a frustrating stretch for him. But the first born in a family of six chose to soldier on.

“It is saddening to be baptized an IDP in your home country,” he says. “As they called me IDP, I altered its implication in my cognizance to mean Internationally Distinguished Person. “That was stimulation to me that one day the sun will shine on me to achieve my dreams,” he remarks. Abraham took it all standing upright, not once flattering. The sharp tongues soon started shushing.

A dream is awakened

“I had this gut feeling that one day I would be a remarkable inspirational author, a life coach and a great entrepreneur,” he notes. “I read great stories of people who made it in life despite the odds they faced like Helen Keller who was born deaf and blind but still made it to greater pinnacles more than those who had eyes and ability to speak and hear,” he says.

With nothing to write home about, Abraham embraced an offer he had earlier received from Gladys Gikonyo, an administrator at the Children, Youth Empowerment Centre (CYEC) to join the home as a volunteer. Surprisingly, the centre, a home for street children and those from poor backgrounds supported by the Street Families and Rehabilitation Trust Fund, is what has now become Abraham’s paradise. Using the knowledge gathered from the motivational books he had read, Abraham became a mentorship coach for the children and youth at the centre.

An Author is born

“It is during my stay here that I began writing my first motivational book to share some of life’s secrets to accomplishment I had discovered,” he notes. Additionally, he says it was not an easy path to follow and he truly thanks Mbugua Mumbi who gave him a foreword and a push on the back to steer his journey to vastness.

“It was my dream to one day become a renowned motivational author hence this was a necessary step towards achieving my dream,” he says showing off a copy of one of his books, Awaken Your Genius. By the time he finished writing the book, he says, he had no single cent towards its publication and printing.

“A hefty pack of Ksh120,000 was needed to publish and print but I was not even at one point worried because I believed God would provide,” he says stating that his God had brought him so far to leave him at that point.

“I approached the CYEC Director Mr Paul Maina who agreed to support me with Ksh60,000. The rest I got from my savings, parents and well-wishers. “This made all the difference in my life. One success began opening the doors for the other,” Abraham annotates.

He printed 500 copies of his first publication and launched it in November 24 2011. Since then, with help from Coro FM, he has been able to sell 400 copies locally at Ksh500 each. 50 copies of the same have been sold in the USA Penn State University, a copy going for Ksh1,000 fetching him Ksh250,000 after the sales.

“William from Penn State University had read my book in America and had purposed to meet me when he visits Kenya this year. It was very moving for me,” says Abraham.

Doors keep opening

“I’m now partnering with Penn State University students as the mission leader implementing two projects, the Health-wise Empowerment Programme and Peer Mentoring Programme,” he notes.

“I look forward reaching out to impact many lives through my writing and motivational training because that’s my gift and passion,” he says. So far, many doors have opened for him. External Affairs Director of Highlands Mineral Water, Mr Kiran Suthar has offered to print 1000 more copies of his first publication, AWAKEN YOUR GENIUS, a powerful masterpiece meant to take one through a self-inventory journey towards discovering ones passions and purpose for transformation.

University at last!

Further to his awakened brilliance, Abraham has received sponsorship by Dr Manu Chandaria Foundation to pursue his coveted degree in Mass Communication at Mount Kenya University. “I am now in my first year second semester and I thank God for the people he has put in my life and the far He has brought me,” says Abraham.

He does not regret his past, he says that he chased his university admission for five years without success but when he let go off his troubles and sought to do other things he loved his desire came looking for him. “God’s time is the best. If you want to catch a butterfly do not chase it because it will fly away, instead relax and let it go about and it will sure come back settling on your shoulder,” he says. Abraham says he narrowed his focus to one tunnel following through his destiny.

“When I set out on my purpose and mission, some light started shining at the end of the tunnel. I chose to live optimistically thus gaining a lot from my challenges than what I lost,” he augments. In the next three years, with the theory ‘doing-what-you-love’, he states, that he sees a CEO of a successful group of companies in him and as a great advocate of entrepreneurship inspired by Sir Richard Branson.

“With some likeminded youths, we have already registered a construction company with an aim to offer quality services in housing as well as job creations,” he visions. Abraham has started a foundation called Gimstars Success Foundation to promote an entrepreneurial culture among the youths especially graduates who are redundant.

“This is a holistic approach to actually empower the youths to awaken their potentials and create jobs for themselves instead of tarmacking their shoes off.” At the moment his foundation has already started on the groundwork and looking for funds to implement its objectives.

He has also been busy visiting schools, colleges and universities for motivational talks and personal development training. He has even made it to Philippines as a motivational speaker during the Global Youth Summit 2014. Besides, he has a TV show pilot project that has received about Ksh1.5 million funding from Mount Kenya University. The show, after implementation, will engage the youth on how to reach out to other people in the world.

It was through determination, focus persistence and patience that he was able to achieve his first breakthrough for five years. He in turn urges all and sundry never to concede in times of tribulations for in every challenge lies an equivalent seed of greatness. According to Abraham, the bigger the mountain the clearer the horizon, he says, noting he has started working on his second motivational book for publication.

“The challenges we face in life are not meant to expel us from our visions instead, they are meant to expand our horizons,” remarks Abraham.

The writer is a student at UoN