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I found a home in the church

Living
ABOVE:  Festus with his wife, Eunice, and children, Wambui and Madere. [PHOTOS: EVANS HABIL/ STANDARD]

By JECKONIA OTIENO

On his way home from the market one evening, with a bundle of brooms on his head and a packet of omena in one hand, his feet heavily infested with jiggers, young Festus Madere knew his end had come when he came face-to-face with two leopards. Worse, that particular area of rural Ugenya in Siaya County was known for night runners, so where would he run, if he could?

But the leopards did not devour the young man. The two animals playfully escorted him through the dangerous bush to the main road and disappeared into the bushes when vehicle headlights approached. He jokes that they were sure he was safe from that point.

“I’ve never really understood what that incident meant, but I vividly recall the leopards grabbing the omena as soon as we met, then jumping on me playfully like dogs do. I believe they were sent by God: They walked ahead of me until I was safely on the main road and didn’t even eat the omena they grabbed,” recalls Festus

From these humble beginnings, Festus has risen to become the administrative secretary of the Anglican Diocese of Nairobi. In this position, he assists the bishop in ministering to and managing the 57 parishes and 121 individual churches in the Nairobi Diocese.

As he sits in his office, his mien never betrays a background of a broken family, living on the streets of Nairobi, and frequently being in and out of school due to financial problems.

“I was born in Embu, to a civil servant; I was the last born in a family of nine,” begins the 39-year-old church minister.

In 1978, when the family was living in Kitui, and Festus was just four years old, his parents separated. His mother took all her children, except one daughter who was in school, back to her matrimonial home in Ugenya.

He narrates, “I joined Nyang’ungu Primary School in East Ugenya. One day, when I was in Class Four, our whole family was sent away from my mother’s home. We went to live with an old relative whose only son had been in Nairobi for 15 years without going back home. We lived in this son’s house.”

“Two years later, the long-lost son came back, and we were thrown out of his house. With nowhere to go, and our mother sickly, we put up under a tree for six days. It under this tree that an Anglican priest saw our dire situation and took us to live in the vicarage.

“In the parsonage, Mum’s high blood pressure became worse and we had to work hard to look after her. I would make brooms from grass and sell them in a far-off market to help sustain the family. This set up my meeting with the leopards.”

The family’s seemingly stable life was thrown in disarray when the vicar who had housed them was transferred to another church. They had to leave the vicarage, with Festus finding work as a farm hand while his mother became a house-help in another home.

Another vicar took pity on the boy, and offered to take him back to school in Nyang’ungu, from where Festus left for Nairobi. But how did he get to the city?

“I came to Nairobi in the boot of a bus and landed at Machakos Country Bus Station. Then I walked along a road, which I later came to realise was Jogoo Road, and ended up at Umoja, where I put up with other children living on the streets.

MENIAL JOBS

The teenager did menial jobs for two years until his sister, who was also a housegirl, got married and her husband took her to a teachers’ training college. When she got her first job, one of her priorities was getting Festus back to school, and he was admitted to Ilala Primary School (now Mukumu Boys Boarding Primary School).

“In the first exams, I topped the class, but there was a challenge; I had to walk all the way from Kakamega to Mukumu daily to attend school. My sister pleaded with the headmaster at Kakamega Township, where she was teaching, and he allowed me to attend classes there, despite having registered for my exams at Ilala.”

Madere only went to Ilala to sit the final exams. Afterwards, he joined Kakamega High School where he started horning his leadership skills and strengthening his faith in God.

“In Form One, I became the class prefect; in Form Two I was the Christian Union treasurer as well as the junior house prefect. When I got to Form Three I became the school captain as well as chairman of the Christian Union.”

On completing Form Four, Madere attained a B- (minus) aggregate, which could not gain him admission into a public university, so he returned to Nairobi and studied for a certificate in counselling. He then joined the Kenya National Examination Council, where he worked for two years.

INTERESTS

“I resigned and joined St Andrew’s Theological College, Kabare, in 2000. I was ordained in 2003 and posted to St Andrew’s Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) in Zimmerman as a deacon. In 2004, I was posted to ACK St James Buruburu as a curate — an assistant priest.”

Notable is the fact that as a curate in Buruburu, Festus was an assistant to Right Rev Joel Waweru, who is also his boss as the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nairobi.

“I was then transferred to Church of the Good Samaritan as a vicar, then to ACK St Elizabeth, Kahawa, in 2006,” says Festus.

On October 1, 2010, Festus was appointed to his current position.

He is also a family man; married to Eunice Wanjiru and father to seven-year-old Wambui Apondi Madere and three-year-old Madere Muchira Madere.

One of the most painful things Festus underwent as a boy was the breakup of his family, but this did not deter him from looking for his father and reuniting with him.

“Creating a working relationship with my father was a bit tough, but we managed to bond fully by the time he passed on,” says Madere.

About his daily work, the reverend says that managing a diocese is no mean feat due to the various groups of people that make up the flock, each with its own interests. He admits that in discharging his duties, he sometimes has had to step on some toes, but insists that the work has to be done because it belongs to God.

He asserts, “The far God has brought me, my trust in Him will never ever waver because without Him, I would be ineffective. I am accountable to God, the Bishop and the body of the church.”

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