After highschool sikuwa najua which course to do. All my friends were doing BCom so mimi huyo, nikaona pia mimi nifanye BCom. I applied in JKUAT. I was with my dad at the time, tukaenda assembly hall where all BCom people had assembled. My dad kuona hiyo group kubwa yote akakataa, akasema nichague course ingine. My dad (MHRIP) was a real African man, you never argued with him in public (kuna siku my sis argued with him in public, alichapwa kofi ingine my dad alikuwa karibu kupatwa na mob justice J ) anyway nika change course to a science course. After campo, attachment ya kwanza ni hizi kampuni you have to pay to intern there. My dad akasema sawa atalipa. So I went to attacho there for 3 months and I used to pay 5k a month, so that’s 15k in total. Even though tulikuwa tunalipa, the skills and knowledge I gained there was immeasurable. Nikatoka hapo nikapata job na NGO, I was being paid 52k in 2012 net. In 2014 I got a job ya 90k net. In 2016 I got job ya 120k net. In 2018 I decided to apply for a job outside Kenya and got job ya 700k, nikitoa pesa ya my family, I save at least 500k a month.
If you have a Masters, can take big risks and want to make good money, apply jobs outside Kenya especially NGOs in our war-torn neighbours: Somalia, South Sudan, DRC and Cameroon/CAR. NGOs in these countries are always looking for qualified people and they will make it worth your while.
Pros: You get to travel all over at your company’s dime. They pay kila kitu, from visa, work permit to vaccinations. They even pay for your airticket to and from Kenya. Your salary and allowances ni zako na familia. The money can range from Kshs 500,000-1,000,000 per month net depending on skills and the NGO. You can easily buy land and apartments and go on holidays. Plus they pay in dollars. Apart from my job I got some side consultancies, which you end up doing because there’s nothing else to do.
Cons: You lose that home feel and being grounded. Nikija Kenya I sometimes feel lost because sina kwangu, I stay in a hotel and only visit relatives. You lose touch with friends and you realize mki hang out kuna vile things are not the same. You miss soo many family functions mpaka unasahaulika. Pia field work is no joke especially if you are used to conveniences of Nairobi. Langauge barriers, food is weird, dealing with hostile locals. In Kenya I used to really fear insects. Siku hizi naoga na frogs na worms kwa bafu. Also lack of social amenities means you work all day and weekends coz there is nothing else to do.
In short I love being employed and I will remain employed in the near future till ile siku nitachoka. My tip is, do a marketable course (sciences) and take a risk, work outside Kenya in the conflict-affected states. Go to reliefweb.com and filter the country you want.