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