archive

• JAN / FEB

  This new year, make a point to awaken the giant within you!

  Everyone has a giant within them. It just needs to be awakened!

  It is a New Year and most of us have lined up a number of New Year resolutions. Things you want to accomplish this year.

  Maybe your new year resolution is to shed some weight, enroll for a course, drop that bad habit of drinking or smoking etc. or just change your life for the better.

  Let me assure you that you have the potential to do so.

  How do you do this? There are four things that you need to do in order to unleash your full potential, to awaken the giant within you.

  First, train your brain to learn new things by embracing uncomfortable situations. As humans, we tend to be comfortable with what we are used to, where there is less effort involved. Always strive to put yourself in uncomfortable situations and thrive in the uneasiness.

  Second, don’t believe what people say you can’t do. More often than not, you’ll find people in your life that will make you feel like you can’t achieve certain goals. The best thing you can do is to not listen to what people say and follow your passion. People will tell you that you can’t do this or that because you are young, incapable. Let your age not stop you.

  Third, hang around the right people. Sometimes, those around us hinder us from awakening the giant within us. You have certainly come across the expression, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” When you spend time with individuals who are on the path of unlocking their fullest, untapped potential, there is a synergy of energy that creates a momentum to assist you on your journey of self-discovery and unleashed potential. You need the help of others, as they can be mentors, coaches and a resource for you as you navigate uncharted territory.

  Lastly, set small goals. In order to start believing in your potential, you have to start by setting small goals. By changing your little habits, you start setting yourself up to achieve your goal. As medical student for example, if you know that your ultimate goal is to become a doctor, you need to take certain smaller steps to get there. Your small goals will be to pass exams, which will lead you to pass individual courses, which will eventually lead you to attain your medical degree. Small goals eventually lead to the big win.

  By adopting these habits, you can start reaching your full potential. And in the end, it all comes down to believing that nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to do: the only thing holding you back is yourself.

  This new year, make a point to awaken the giant within you!

• MARCH/APRIL

  It’s time to say goodbye…

  After nearly a decade serving you as the editor of this magazine, it is time to say goodbye! I am leaving The Seed to pursue my doctoral studies in communication.

  Of course saying goodbye is never easy. To say the truth, I feel emotional. The Seed has been home for me. It was my first love. As soon as I was ordained, I was sent to work here, hence the emotional attachment. This reminds me of a YouTube Video I watched a while back titled: Top 15 emotional farewell’s in football. Legends saying goodbye.

  It has been a great ten years as editor of this magazine, characterized by a steady stream of small victories, punctuated by occasional missteps which I used as learning opportunities.

  The other day I took time to flip through all the issues of the magazine that we produced in these ten years. As I did, I could vividly picture the entire production process of each issue, from the editorial meeting, to the fieldwork, to page layouts, to the cover design. I remember everything about each issue. As I looked at each issue, I felt joy in my heart and some sense of pride.

  I took over this job in June 2009. From then until now, I have produced a total of 89 issues with two special editions. I took over the magazine when the cover price was only KSh 80, now it is KSh 200!

  The ten years have been marked with some milestones for the magazine. The period saw the rebranding of the magazine in June 2011, when we came up with a new masthead, new page designs and new columns. This again, we did it in January 2017 to stay relevant.

  Some of the notable assignments I did were covering the Pope’s visit to Kenya in 2015, an event that culminated in the production of a Coffee Table Book, something that was appreciated by the Kenyan Church; a special edition in 2018 on the old and sickly priests: Why your Old Priest Needs You; a special issue to celebrate 25 years of the magazine in 2013, to mention but a few.

  I must say, it was fun doing this job. I will always remember my editorial team and I running around with cameras during events. Together, we crisscrossed the country in search of interesting stories from dioceses near and far.

  The Seed staff is familiar with my famous expression, Guys, we gotta run! When I used it, they knew that things were thick, and indeed they had to run to beat deadlines.

  It was fun working with the editorial team crafting catchy cover themes, and with the design team coming up with insanely great cover designs.

  I must admit that The Seed has changed my life in extraordinary ways, and opened doors to more opportunities than I ever have imagined.

  As I leave, I would like to thank The Seed staff, those still around and those who have since moved on, for their dedication and passion. You were my dream team as I always referred to you!

  I want to thank the leadership of Consolata Missionaries over the years - the late Fr Franco Cellana who brought me on board 10 years ago, Fr Hieronymus Joya, and now Fr Joseph Waithaka.

  I must thank Fr Eugene Ferrari, my collaborator with whom I have worked all these years. Fr Ferrari is the hand that you rarely see in The Seed. As the financial administrator, he works behind the scenes. He facilitated my work and I attribute my success to his advice, concerns and above all, his friendship.

  To all readers, it has been a great pleasure serving you. Time has come to pass on the editorial torch to new hands, Fr André Nzuzi Mabiala, the incoming editor.

  I wish him all the best in elevating the magazine to the next level.

  Thank you all. It has been a great ride!

  Fr Daniel Onyango Omondi Mkado

• MAY/JUNE

  The Success Route, is it for all?

  Successful life needs one to be both ambitious and opportunist. The more ambitious you are, the more you will want to reach your life’s high targets.

  It is true that success does not come on a silver plate. One has to have a great character to see his/her dreams come true. In other words, one has to work hard. The harder you work the greater chance you create to reach your target. Success is simply the outcome of one’s determination. As the famous French Emperor, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte said, “The great ambition is the passion of a great character.”

  I think this great determination is what made Brother Peter Mokaya Tabichi, a Franciscan Friar, win the 2019 Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize. This award will forever be remembered by his confreres, his fellow Kenyans and the world at large.

  I believe that Brother Peter Mokaya is now an icon and a role model to many Kenyans especially the youth. For, according to Kenya’s Daily Nation, dated March 26, 2019, “The mathematics and physics teacher at Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani village, Nakuru County made Kenya and Africa shine when he bagged the $1 million (KSh100 million) prize, beating nine other contenders.”

  But my big question is, what made the world to attribute such an enormous award to a native of Kisii? I believe it is because of his hard work and determination. There is no way one can achieve such a high level award without dedication.

  If a native of Kisii is recognised at international level, it means that it is also possible for you to obtain such a recognition. The secret is simple: just work hard, be yourself, and create opportunities.

  My humble appeal goes to the young people of Africa at large, and Kenya in particular. It is true that we are living in times when poverty has affected the lives of many young people. Some even say that, “Whether I go to school or not, it is the same because at the end of the day there are no job opportunities.”

  I understand how frustrating it can be for you to study for more than ten years and not harvest the fruits of your studies. At the same time I would like to tell you that through your determination, you can make a difference in this world. Do not be afraid to try even where everyone has failed. You better know that success is simply a product of your work, and its road can be walked by anyone.

  You might be the next award winner! Who knows? We still want to hear young people being recognised as the world best nurse, world best engineer, world best student, world best doctor, world best professor, world best president, and so on.

  In fact, the Pope recently published an encyclical dedicated to the youth. Today more than ever, the Church has a big role to play in encouraging young people to discover their potentialities, and to always dream big. The dream is the beginning of everything. One always dreams what one wants. At the end of the day, the dream normally turns into a reality.

  Sempre para frente!

• JULY/AUG

  The Value of Life

  Life is sacred and needs to be safeguarded. The story of Abel and Cain in Genesis chapter four helps us to understand the ramifications associated to destroying one’s life.

  In his pastoral visit in Bogotá, Colombia, on the September 7 2017, Pope Francis reminded Colombian Christians, and non-Christians, about their commitment to protecting human life at all its stages. Today we live in a society in which if two parties enter into disagreement or dispute, the stronger party exerts all its energy into terminating the life of the other.

  The recent killings in Kenya could been avoided if we each had or were a concerned neighbour.

  It is worth saying that the perpetrators of most of these violent murders are men. That is why men need to be reminded of their responsibility as first human beings to be created. Men are considered to be the head of family. If they do not have good qualities, it means that even the family is threatened.

  The experts in psychology and counselling fields interviewed in this issue pointed out that murder is a fruit of frustration. Frustration not only of a system where ‘mighty ones’ impose hardship on ‘weaker ones’ but also of series of things such as money, property and power that culminate in killings.

  Others think that the growing numbers of violent murders are also due to the depression. If our society wants to reduce these killings, I think that institutions of higher learning should invest more on forming professional psychologists and counsellors. Their role will be to accompany people affected by dysfunctional behaviour, mental illness and depression. The government should also create more structures which can accommodate people with dysfunctional behaviour.

  The Archdiocese of Nairobi has come up with the Beacon Boy’s Program (BBP) that aims at rescuing, guiding, empowering and training the boy child to become a leader. This program targets young males within age bracket of 9 and 17, and it is conducted by the Catholic Men Association from each parish.

  This formation program goes through four phases: Spiritual Connection based on the knowledge of the Bible, Cultural Process in which the boy child is taught the roots of African culture and Christianity as the superior culture, Life Skills where the boy child is taught to avoid the peer pressure. Finally, is the social empowerment phase. In this, the boy child is taught the moral, ethical and social values, and guided to know his position in the society.

  If this program is embraced and emulated in all the dioceses in Kenya, there will be less cases of homicide in our streets, families and villages.

  I would like to accentuate that life is the most ultimate gift from God and therefore it needs to be respected. Killing another person does not take away one’s frustrations. It rather creates more frustrations to the killer.

  Fr André Nzuzi, imc

• SEPT/ OCT

• NOV/DEC