Passaris’ passion with light and life

By Maseme Machuka

She sits on a comfortable sofa and answers questions in an unbroken string of narration.

Often she looks up to a shaded ceiling light that reflects into her glittering eyes.

And talking of light, she is credited with initiating the biggest Nairobi lighting project.

Ms Esther Passaris talks about light with passion and the glow in her eyes remains throughout the two-hour interview.

The subject of Adopt-a-Light, the company whose impact is still on many major Nairobi streets, dominates discussion for a while.

She says high-level corruption is killing enterprise, both in public and private sectors.

When she started Adopt-A-Light, she says, she knew what she wanted.

"I wanted to solve a big problem on our streets. Nairobi had dark streets and dark alleys. It had stagnated all evening businesses," she says, and again looks at the ceiling light.

Job opportunities

The project rehabilitated some street boys who she employed in putting up the light posts.

Esther with her grandmother, Mrs Esther Wanjiku Jourbert.

But she is sad she had to retrench some of them when the projected stalled.

"Giving hope and then having it taken away so unceremoniously, was so sad for me and the workers," she says.

She speaks passionately on the battles she fought to keep her business. She particularly accuses City Hall of breaching the contract.

"I saw it messed up through cartels and corruption. Not to mention partisan leadership and impunity. It has been hard," she says.

Then she dabbled in politics, where she found it even harder.

Her nomination as an ODM councillor, which could have set her on course for a bid as Nairobi Mayor, was thwarted mid-way.

Her stab at the Embakasi parliamentary seat through a by-election was her closest chance but it, too came to nought.

Twice bitten

Today, Passaris says she has given politics a wide berth and will not run for any seat in the 2012 General Election.

Passaris speaks on her background and it emerges she owes a lot a lot of her determination to succeed to her parents and upbringing.

She is a child of several worlds and she says she has come out with the best.

Born in October 20, 1964 in Mombasa, Esther Muthoni Passaris grew up in a conservative, strict family.

Her parents, Elefterious Passaris (Greek) and Mary Wanjiku Joubert (a Kikuyu-Dutch) were very strict.

Her maternal grandmother Esther Wanjiku Jourbert was married to a British-Dutch, Mr Henrick Jubert.

First trip

The second born in a family of five, four girls and a boy, Passaris was confined in Mombasa until she turned 16 and made her first trip to Malindi and Lamu.

She visited Nairobi for the first time at 25 when she left for Europe for a hotel and language course.

"I look back and relish the environment that I grew up in. Although I did not have the benefit my children have in terms of travel, toys and clothes, I am happy my parents made me what I am," she says.

Her mother is a housewife, while the father is a retired naval architect and Engineer. They still live in Mombasa.

"We recently had a party to celebrate my grandmother’s life who is nearly 90, and I saw the value of family unity and congregating together," she says.

She says she has relatives in Greece, Europe, India, Mombasa and Machakos.

Her first step to ‘independence’ was in 1991, when she emerged the runner-up in the Miss Kenya beauty contest.

"I joined the contest as a quest to assert myself that I was beautiful," she admits, laughing.

"As a young girl I had always thought of myself as too skinny and with a long nose. I wanted to break that self-condemnation or rather the feeling of inferiority," she adds.

Passaris ventured into her first business at Sharp Images where she hired hearing-impaired people.

She later moved on and has been involved in helping the less fortunate.

A founder member of Starehe Girls School, Passaris has been a role model and a mentor to many aspiring women entrepreneurs.

She sees her life as a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces she wants to collect and put together.

She is a single mother of two, Makena Maria Ngugi, 12, and Lefteris Pierce Ngugi, 9, whom she says are her driving force.

"Parenting is challenging and as you know children do not come with manuals on how to guide them. The world is moving at such a fast pace that it is tough being hands on throughout," she says.

Their choice

She says she will not choose careers for her children but will guide them.

She declines to discuss a court altercation some years back with the father of her children.

She says it was an experience she would want to keep out of public debate.

"I have two beautiful children. They are a blessing and a gift from God. I need to look after them and offer them my best," she says.

Some of her role models are the late Princess Diana and America’s top talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

On her free time, she says she likes spending it with her children around the house, reading, watching movies, or just watching them play.