Motivating people is my lifestyle

By Dorcas Muga-Odumbe

I was born and brought up in Nairobi's Kibera slums and I frequently visited my grandmother, who also lived in Kibera. Whenever I paid her a visit, I would engage her neighbours in stories and laughter.

Her neighbours constantly told her that her granddaughter ‘fired up’ everyone around her because after I left, there would be some kind of joy and liveliness.

Little did I know that they had seen something in me, something that would come in handy four decades later.

That liveliness and joy I brought to people was just but a candle flickering in me; now it has become a fire burning inside me. It is the fire of motivating people and telling them that they can be whatever they want to become so long as they persevere the hardships before success.

I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Things were tough in my family. We were eight children and I was the fourth born.

 My father left us when we were very young, so my mother and grandmother were left with the burden of raising us and they did a very good job.

We may not have had the best of food or roof above our heads, but we had the best of a loving and caring family any child would ask for.

scaling heights

My late grandmother, to whom I have dedicated my new book, was a key factor in moulding me to what I am today.

 I apply on my children the discipline and values she instilled in me as a child and they are working wonders.

 I still hear her voice in my head every single day, telling me that nothing can and should stop me from scaling the heights that great men and women attempt.

I attended Toi Primary School in Kibera and later Khalsa Girls’ Secondary School. I then took a secretarial course and got a job as a secretary at a local organisation.

As a young woman, I always felt that I was meant for greater things, and so I empowered myself to be the best I could be.

 It is for this reason that I founded a young women’s welfare association where we empowered young women to be economically independent by saving their money to start small businesses.

I met my husband David Soroko, an American in 1990 and we got married here in Kenya. We stayed here for four years then went to Zambia, where we lived for six years.

Zambia was not exactly what I expected it to be. I had hoped to continue with my jewellery business but I could not find the specific beads I needed to make them. After combing through the markets, I was so disappointed that I had to put my dream on hold for a while.

I was not entirely discouraged, as it was in Zambia that I horned my skills in organising fashion shows for charity, something I still do to date.

We later moved to Madagascar for two years and finally to the Fairfax, Virginia in the US.

My church

Settling in the US was not exactly easy, but we managed. It was while working in the US that I felt the urge to do more than just office work. I found myself motivating people at my place of work, in my neighbourhood and even my church.

It was like history repeating itself; the little girl who fired up her grandmother’s neighbours was at it again.

I, however, had one problem: I was terrified of public speaking. I always knew I had so much to tell the world, but my courage constantly failed me.

 I mustered all the courage I had and joined Toastmasters a group that helps people overcome the fear of public speaking.

The first time I attended a Toastmasters meeting was a defining moment for me. When my chance to speak came, I thought my knees would give way, but I managed. I soon found myself enjoying standing on a podium and sharing my heart with the world.

Churches, organisations and schools then began calling me to give motivational talks to their children, staff and congregants.

Soon, it became like a second career to me, and the best thing about it was that I loved every minute of it. Motivating people has become more or less like my lifestyle, because I even find myself motivating the person seated next to me on a plane.