Transformation

                                “Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple.
                                                              Passion alone will destroy its walls.” -Maya Angelou.

An exceptionally good speaker once shared words that echo through my mind, ‘What has God given you and what are you doing with it?’ And by that she meant, what has he given you that you wish to share with the world? Is it positive? Is it negative? What are you doing with it? This writer had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease at a young age and had since used her story of courage, perseverance and strength to change people’s way of thinking, even their lives.   We may think that we can only share with the world what ‘good’ God has given us but, I believe there is a more powerful message in how we share our challenges.  How can we inspire others to live with hope and help them rewrite their story.     

Big dreams have been the backbone of what wakes me up every day and gives me 1,000 reasons to get out there and search for a deeper purpose. I had always thought my dreams were an overreach until one afternoon in January 2011, I walked into Kibera and saw another world inside the one I knew, a world I never thought existed. But it wasn’t the living conditions that got me thinking, but what is it that makes them know they need to wake up and breathe, live and dream about tomorrow amidst every reason they have not to. One thing kept running through my mind…how is it possible to afford any thought of a future when you wake up to such a hard, derelict, and hopeless life? Well, it turned out that just like me, they also had 1,000 reasons to do so. 

Over the past 6 years, I have had the pleasure of mentoring Brian Odina, a long-time member of the Fafu youth program.  He was born and brought up in Kibera but his story is one of hard work and patience filled with passion. His tough upbringing never deterred him from reaching for his dreams. Through Crossing Threshold’s scholarships, he worked through fitness & hospitality programs and is now a qualified personal trainer working with some top names in the country! A full transformation and testament that it does not matter where you’re coming from, but where you’re going.

Twenty-three years ago, a young Kenyan man from a simple, loving family in Nairobi, Kenya and a family from New Canaan, Connecticut in the USA were brought together by God to write a story of hope and perseverance, a story of un-ending patience and passion. It is my message to all that, no matter who you are, and where you come from, your dreams have the power to change the world. Working with Crossing Thresholds is a constant reminder for me that there are two parts to every story.  First, the deep desire and passion in one’s heart and the second, and perhaps most important, the need to use what you’ve been granted, to share it with the world and lift up others along with you.   Transformation cannot happen on its own.  Carter Via reminds us before we step into Kibera that there is no “them” and there is no “us”, there is only “we.”

Jimmy Kamau
Captain, Kenya Airways
In-Country Co-Ordinator, Crossing Thresholds.