Leaving a Legacy to Be Followed

By Victor Muto

“Now the Lord had said into Abram, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto a land that I will show you; And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV)

“…. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and bring him: for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and of beautiful countenance, and handsome. And the Lord said, Arise, and anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward….” 1 Samuel 16:11-13 (KJV)

“…. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in into her, and said, Hail, you that are highly favoured, the Lord is with you: blessed are women…. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for you have found favour with God. And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…” Luke 1:26-32 (KJV)

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he above three verses give a small illustration of three greatest men the world has ever seen. I want to talk about leaving a legacy that other people will follow. I’m basing on a saying that I have come to believe in, “Great men/women are defined by the legacy they leave behind”. I will be looking at great people in the modern world as well as in the Bible. The Bible talks of several great persons that lived; for instance, in my first verse am talking about Abraham, who was called by God and serve, to leave his family and the land of his father, and God made the father of a great nation, Israel. In the second illustration, David was a mere shepherd but God, through Prophet Samuel, anointed him to be king of a great nation, Israel. In the last verse, God sends His angel, Gabriel, to announce the forthcoming birth of Jesus, who is the leader of a great nation, Christianity.

All great men and women of the world have impacted the world in one way or another, either positive or negative. First, a great man/woman may either be good or evil, and this is because, they may have done something that greatly affected or influenced the world. Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein are some of the great men that are considered (and actually they are) to be evil due to the inhuman deeds they have done.

Negatively, as I’ve said, created some impact on the world, leaving some effects behind. In the world, such people have risen, and some of them almost bringing the world to its knees in fear. During the World War II, Adolf Hitler rose and waged one of the world’s biggest wars, threatening to take over the world. Unfortunately for him, he ended up committing suicide and that was the end of him. Osama rose in the 80s or 90s and waged a war against the West and its allies. He has attacked several countries, inclusive of Kenya, and brought the death of so many millions over the years. In brief, all ‘evil’ great men rise but later fall greatly.

Positively, so many great men and women have arisen and have left behind “ideologies” that have influenced the world greatly. They have either influenced the world in terms of business, peace or politics. Over the years, we’ve seen men and women inventing powerful tech-toys that are changing the way the people in the world communicate. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple invented the IPhone which has revolutionised communication around the world. Mark Zuckerberg came up with Facebook, which has taken the world by storm in the social networking, getting to connect people from all over the world. These two gentlemen have greatly influenced the world and thus, have a legacy behind them.

World peace has not been easy to come by and many have suffered or even died in search of world peace. Prof. Wangari Mathai was persecuted during President Moi’s era for advocating for the protection of the environment. Her achievement, she received a Nobel Peace Prize for environment. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetans, has undergone imminent suffering under the Chinese government, as a way of bringing peace to Tibet.

God has assigned every human being some talent and He expects us utilise that talent that His name may be praised. We are obligated to use our talents to help other people; to be a blessing to other people. Abraham was called by God so that he may be a source of blessing to other people. A person’s deeds ought to be the blessing of the next person. If by our deeds a person changes for the better, then we are great. A man/woman cannot live alone by him/herself; they need the other in order to co-exist and to survive. By so doing, it’s our mandate that we influence the other person to be better in life.

Leaving a legacy entails being a source of blessing to others. In order for people to follow your legacy, you ought to be a source of blessing to others. People need to tap blessings from us and by so, they emulate what we do that describes us as great resulting to them doing what we do.

Finally, journey of a thousand miles starts by a single step. Inspiring one person leads to that inspiring another and another. Jesus was born in the lineage of David and all David’s descendants have been considered great because David started by inspiring his son Solomon and Solomon did the same to his son, and the chain continues till Jesus. From Jesus, we follow a great legacy of love that keeps the world in revolution.

One thing you should keep in mind is that legends are not born but made.

Safaricom's Former CEO to Advise World Bank on Mobile Banking Services

By cellular-news.com


The former CEO of Kenya's Safaricom, Michael Joseph has been appointed to a role at the World Bank to advise it on mobile payment services. Safaricom effectively created the market for mobile banking services when it launched the hugely successful M-PESA platform, which has been imitated in many other countries since then.

Michael Joseph is joining the bank under its new  fellowship program, which was set up to tap new expertise into its development work and strengthen its knowledge network.

"I am really deeply honored to have been selected as the first fellow by the World Bank to share my knowledge and experience in mobile innovations," said Michael Joseph, former Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom. "I am delighted to work with the leading development institution and be part of the global effort to fight poverty."

As a World Bank Fellow, Joseph will provide strategic advice to the World Bank and governments beyond Africa on policy and regulatory issues to promote development of mobile banking and mobile payments.

"Sharing knowledge on telecommunications innovations, including mobile money, can make an important contribution to Africa's reform and development," said Johannes Zutt, World Bank Country Director for Kenya. "Michael Joseph's participation in the World Bank Fellows program will leverage the Bank's interventions in technology and financial services in new frontiers in line with our new Africa Strategy."

The World Bank's December 2010 Kenya Economic Update estimated that more than 21 million Kenyans have access to phones, with 15 million using mobile money services. In December 2010, mobile money services in Kenya reached a new record of almost US$1 billion in transactions.

STONY PLACES IN THE MIND

By Bosco Munyoki

"The sower let fall some of the seeds on stony places where they had not much earth; and forth wave they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth; and where the sun was up, they were scotched; and because they had no root, they withered away (Matthew 13:5-6)"

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he seeds sown on stony ground was scotched, withered away as soon as the sun grew hot. When it comes to receiving the word, the mind can be stony lacking proper nourishment. To nourish the word, the mind must be kept fertile and be fed with the right kind of thoughts. Some minds have stony places in them where there is no production of the word; others are stony altogether. Leeches gather in unprotected stony places in the mind; because the word of God does not move in that area, leeches are in control and their ideas accepted. This is the reason why people are directed wrong, the reason they will not walk in total obedience to the Lord.  They fail God and get themselves be led off to the tree of the forbidden fruit. Every time the devil can prepare a little more stony hardness in the mind, create a little more drawing back from following Jesus all the way, he will. He takes the richness of the soil out of the mind and with it the power of the word.

Think how God feels when He looks at a born-again soul and sees stony places-not in the heart but in the mind. That person has blind spots that block him/her out of good spiritual vision when he looks to the Lord. He is not close to the Lord, doesn’t have that meek, and gentle spirit. If you are full of thoughts that reject the anointing of the Lord you find the strife, contention, rebellion flare up, at times in the leech free spaces where the word lodges in your mind, you relax and look as though you will be alright. Then suddenly a problem is directed towards the stony ground of your mind where leeches are attached and they charge in action. You flare up again. When a problem hits that stony place, there is nothing to help you overcome it, to give you strength and gain victory. In this way the devil leads people astray from God in their minds. He gets in because the stony place doesn’t have enough soil for the word to take root and to provide protection. If the devil can form enough stony ground in the mind, then he can draw people in to all kinds of lust, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the world, the lust of the eyes etc.

Do you have leeches? Stony places in the mind? Blind spots? Check yourself. If you don’t act spiritually sane all the time, you have leeches. When your responses come from the stony place in your mind, you have nothing to keep you under control and leeches take an advantage. You give all to leeches and they go into operation. They have you fussing, fighting, using idle talk, doing and saying things you have no business doing or saying.

Stony spots, blind spots cause people to gossip. No matter how much people are warn against gossiping, how much they hear about putting the bridle of love on the tongue, they continue to gossip. The stony spots, the blind spots block out the truth. The word, the living word of God can plow up all the stony place s and provide fertile soil for you to cultivate.

RELEVANCE OF FORMAL EDUCATION IN A DYNAMIC SOCIETY

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 famous man called Thomas Scott once said that no man leaves a better legacy than an educated family. In Kenyan context, I have been wondering since when has this statement been valid? Let’s sample the validity of the statement over the years.

                        My grandfather’s era

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e must have been born during the pre colonial period. That is before the white man had made it to his village, but he was in Kenya already. When the white man introduced education in slopes of Meru, Chuka to be precise, he was frank enough to tell the natives that those who will be able to speak in English, would be given “air lifts” which was synonymous to going abroad to further their education since there was not even a single university in east Africa. This was bad news to the people or a total communication barrier. All the children were withdrawn from schools because taking them to school was tantamount to selling their children “it would be a great labor loss if my son would go to a foreign land while weeds are growing in the farm, with no one to graze the cattle”. That was every man’s song. Daughters were protected jealously from being corrupted or else, they would lose their value. Children of chiefs were pitied much because they had to go to school as a way of compliance to civilization, otherwise, the chiefs would loose incentives like blankets, soaps, and the occasional ride in a land rover. My grandfather was withdrawn from school  “mara that that” (immediately).

My father’s era

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ith no stair missing on the ladder, children of chiefs were destined to have a good future. So it came to be. My father was born to a self proclaimed successful coffee and macadamia farmer, who had one wife: a rare phenomenon in those days. He was determined to acquire education now that he could see its benefits. His farther was also determined to keep him in school though he struggled much. Drawing a comparison between my grandfather and chief’s children, there were enough reasons why the former was regretting for having not remained in school. C.P.E, equivalent of K.C. P.E today, was a national examination done in class seven, and the first batch would be absorbed by the public service commission to work as secretaries and drivers though they would take a short course. Independence found my jolly good father in school. Another group would be sieved at form two: my father survived the two exams. Another major exam, like a dose of tetanus injection, would be administered in form four. This was furthest he went and he had more certificates than anyone in the village ever thought of acquiring! The mzee said enough was enough and he could not pay school fees anymore for an adult, who is already the most educated fellow in the village. So   getting a job was eminent. According to his qualifications, he needed no training like nurses or teachers. No, but direct absorption by the public service, further learning was through in service courses as per the demands of the work. As I said, with no stair missing on the ladder, those who went to school with him managed to achieve their endeavors. Others went ahead to pursue the ‘A’ levels at form six and university.

My era

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uccess in the preceding stages greatly contribute to the success of the following or makes it somehow hassle free.  Being born in a family where parents are educated, earning well with a stationary vehicle at home meant much in the village. Parents would buy a ramshackle in the name of a vehicle and park it at home where people can see it while on the road. Actually there was one at home but it was a great source of pain and tears. A chicken used to incubate there and it was the gist of hide and seek game in the village. Bet the chicken would be flushed out of the comfy Peugeot 404 and at times eggs would break hence I would contribute to the ‘global cry’. Parents of those days had a tendency of beat their children in the evening. Sometimes a few strokes of cane would be spared for the following day would be spared just incase you do not make a mistake. But this seldom happened because we had to make mistakes, parents were so strict and they read the bible well. Does it not say “spare the rod spoil the child?” if a visitor was around, beating would be rescheduled. Beating greatly contributed moral uprightness.

Education was a must and an occasional visit in the school by parents in a G.K vehicle was the order if there was a chance. Boarding primary schools were perceived as excellence centers. My grandfather used to tell me that if education was hereditary, children of the educated people would not go to school but inherit education. Secondary school results were so frustrating because those from day primary schools were not used to spoon feeding like it was in boarding schools and were now free from house hold chores, and had a whole 24hours to study in proper lighting hence building a stiff competition to the lazy ones from boarding schools (not all were lazy though, but I was).

Remedies

The parents plan to buy a new model of Toyota, maybe Toyota Wish or Caldina are now frustrated. This is because they have to save enough money in order to afford a parallel degree or a diploma in a prestigious college in the neighborhood.  Maybe at Embu College. Hardships do not end there. After completing the course, more money is needed by a tall relative to get you a job, a process  which will take maybe a year while the swift, who are not ashamed of owning “small pay slips” will take ‘small jobs’ and  they will been elevated to managerial posts before the rest bribe to get a job! I took a parallel degree and my father could not understand why I was giving him my C.V. He referred to it as an ‘incomplete mortifying document” and with finality, he ordered that I should go back to college and upgrade. You see the tread?  A certificate, diploma, degree, masters or a Ph.d is not enough in modern Kenya. Not even CPA (K). Accountants, be warned! All that maters is an excellent combination of unique skills that makes us a multi-faceted being that can work in a dynamic society. Education is not just passing examinations. Its overall purpose, if I may Sidney J. Harris, is to convert mirrors into windows.

My child’s era

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 May be having no plans of having one soon but I am psychologically prepared to usher my young one on earth in style. He (or she) will not be subjected to torment of man made hell like KASNEB, KNEC, IBE or City and Guilds. Learning will be on a rapid result initiative mode where research will be the key activity. He will major on art based subject laying much emphasis on literature, the only field that allows man to be like God, Where writers have the capability to create a world with a pen on a piece of paper. A world with human beings, animals and they dictate peace, justice, ethnicity, war and can kill, tame or elevate his people.  All pornographic websites will be blocked and his thoughts will be filtered by special software that will rid him of malpractices like corruption, immorality, adultery or copying bad behaviors like gender violence and drug abuse from adults. Diet will be highly monitored, and over sleeping will be abhorred. Obedience will be adored and hard work desired. He will be trained on martial arts to protect the innocent from bullies. Watch me as I full fill my dreams. Sorry, I forgot to marry, but trust me; I’ll do it approximately nine months before the child is born.

                       

By Japhet Mwiti. mwitijaphet@yahoo.com

 A playwright, poet, prose writer and a freelance journalist majoring in:

• Wedding journalistic  coverage 
•   Parties coverage
•  Burial coverage
• Trip coverage.