From Broke Boda Rider to Matatu Mogul: My Journey of Grit and Growth

 

For years, I thought my life was cursed. My name is Patrick, a 34-year-old man from Nairobi. If you’ve ever seen a man riding a boda boda (motorbike) from dawn to midnight, barely making enough to buy supper, then you’ve seen me. That was my life for nearly ten years.

Every morning, I would wake up, push my boda from the mud outside my single room in Kayole, and pray the day would be better. But it never was. Clients complained, traffic police harassed me, and accidents drained what little savings I had. Worse still, no matter how hard I worked, my money was never for growth.

At home, my wife and kids were tired of living in poverty. My wife would ask me, “Patrick, mpaka lini tutateseka hivi? (Until when will we suffer like this?).” That question haunted me. I was a man, yet I couldn’t provide. At some point, I started believing maybe I was born to struggle.

Things got worse when my motorbike was stolen one night. I sank into depression. I was in debt, broke, and embarrassed. I even avoided my friends because I was tired of borrowing. That’s when a close friend told me, “Patrick, you’re not cursed, you’re bound. Go see Dr. Bokko. He helped me.”

At first, I laughed. A traditional healer? In this day and age? But when you’ve hit rock bottom, you’ll try anything. I went to see him.

Dr. Bokko listened quietly as I poured out my story. Then he said something that made my blood run cold: to read more click here