Why I blew 30 million on my wife’s birthday

Business recently came to a standstill along Nairobi’s Koinange Street, when Bonfire Adventures founder, Simon Kabu, surprised his wife, Sarah Kabu, with a show-stopping Sh30 million birthday offering.

The new Range Rover Sport, five-tier red velvet cake and an after-party at the upscale Kiza Lounge in Nairobi was not meant to be a publicity stunt, clarifies Kabu.

“I decided to have the cake and car brought to the office because I wanted to surprise her. She was not at home, she was working and that was the best way to surprise her. If she was at home, the gifts would have definitely been taken there,” he said.

The Sh30 million birthday party has put Kabu into trouble with his friends and colleagues for raising the bar so high, other women are demanding similar treatment.

While the birthday was for Sarah, his wife and mother of two, for her 39th birthday, the Kabus have always celebrated birthdays in a big way.

In 2015, they went for a cruise in Europe while in 2016, they toured the Seychelles. This year, the birthday would have seen them tour London, but “our six-month old daughter does not have a passport, hence I settled for the Range Rover,” says Kabu, who met his wife on a blog about 10 years ago. The Range Rover Sport was the befitting gift for his wife as it has “always been her favourite car. When we are in traffic or driving and one passes by, she would point at it and promise to get one by the time she is 40. So, I decided to get it for her 39th birthday as a surprise,” Kabu.

He added that, “The cake was intentionally big because we wanted to share it with the street kids but the spectators took over.”

Sarah chips in and explains that she has always yearned for a Range Rover Sport “and I always go online to check out new models. Recently, I saw there was a new model called Velar and I told myself I will get it for my 40th birthday, but my hubby surprised me,” she gushes. “I was over the moon. After five years, I will get a different one,” she vowed.

When their photos went viral, comments were fast and furious, with women picking on her weight without knowing that the mother of Austin, 4, had given birth to Anita six months ago. “My body is not at its best, but it is work in progress. I am still healing and with time, I will get there. I am not bothered by the online comments because it is my journey and my body,” says Sarah, adding that women are now asking her where they can get a loving husband like Kabu.

“I advise them to be like the woman in Proverbs 31 and also work hard. My husband knows how hard I work and he decided to give me the gift. Women should stop spending hours on social media groups gossiping and instead, spend time working and helping their husbands, and they will be rewarded. Women should drop the mentality of getting things the easy way, bleaching themselves and cutting down weight to attract rich men. Let them grow with their men.”

Since assisting the Sh100 wedding couple Wilson Wanjohi and Ann Muhonja, the Kabus have received requests for financial support from other couples “but we have turned them down because they were just copycats,” says Kabu. “We recently had some guys claiming their wedding cost Sh50, but we did not see the need of chipping in because it was not an original idea.”

And although they met online, Kabu cautions men to be careful with what they post online as they could be talking to their future bosses or husbands. “The best way to look for a partner online is to check their posts and their friends before you get on their DM. Get to know what kind of a person they are before you even start engaging in conversations,” she advises.