British Citizenship Ceremony.

In January, 2006 I had the great honour of being  made a British Citizen in a ceremony in Chelmsford. Last Wednesday, May 23, I had the great privilege to be asked to be a guest speaker at a Citizenship ceremony held in the very same place, the County Chambers in Chelmsford! It was a very emotional day for me and was a good measure of how far I have come in those six years. I looked at all of the people gathered in the chamber, from countries all over the world, and I could see how proud they felt. Some were a little overwhelmed by their emotions as they took the oath of allegiance and sang the National Anthem. To me, this ceremony is very significant - it is a sort of marriage, a partnership, a relationship that is  binding on both sides. If you were born here then it is, perhaps, difficult to understand the sacrifice it is to exchange the country of your birth for a new one, and I'm sure everyone present had thought long and hard before making their decision, just as I had in my turn.


When it was my turn to speak I spoke about how proud I am to be British and how hard work and commitment can improve things for everyone. I told them that liberty means responsibility. This is a land of hard working people, and even though times are tough in these days of austerity we can all make the effort to make things better.

 As I posed for pictures with the new citizens, and afterwards the officials, I thought of how far I have come since my humble beginnings in Kenya, and I thank God everyday for giving me the opportunity to improve my life. I wish the same for all those people present.

Disability Empowerment Association Launched.

It's been months in the planning but yesterday we finally launched our new charity, Disabled Empowerment Association, at Passmores School in Harlow. In attendance were; Mrs Kezia Obama(stepmum to USA President Obama), Harlow MP Bill Rammell, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Petre, Edna Stevens,chair of Harlow Council, Robert Halfon, Conservative candidate, and local Councillor, Tony Hall. There were about two hundred people present who thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment provided by; Footwork Dance School(Indian dance),Efua Academy(African dance and drums), Makin' Steps Performing Arts(Hip hop dance), and Dance 21, for me the stars of the evening. They were fantastic, especially when they danced to songs from 'Grease'. Music was provided by Adam Amor, superb saxophonist and very good friend, Noah Keya, and DJ Lopo T. I've been very stressed out over the past few weeks trying to set the whole event up but the end result made it all worthwhile. Thanks to everyone involved, especially our Chairman, Solomon Mugondi who was MC.

Now the hard work really starts as we try to get the funding to run classes in Art, Dance, Music, IT, Creative Writing and Sport. I will have to balance my sporting activities with work for the charity but I will do it because I relish a challenge. Bring it on! Can we make it a successful organisation, YES WE CAN!!