Redbull and persistence, the perfect cocktail!
Memoires by William Dekker
Seated at the left end of the last row of Matunda Bus, I’m woken by cold water and a brush scrub around my nose. The time is 3.47am and most of the buses at Machakos bus stop are undergoing cleaning in readiness for the next upcountry trip. It’s been 20 minutes since the bus arrived from Eldoret and the touts are not shy of harassing the last bunch of passengers to alight. However cold, risky and insecure the place was, a Machakos bound Matunda Bus was my only option then – brethren when you survive off HELB, there’s lot of financial choices you must make. With a thorough bargain, Ksh.550 would get you a backbench seat on an old, overloaded, stuffy bus outbound to Nairobi (saving you Ksh.150). WG Eldoret branch here we come!
Long story short, the hustle was to get to KCA University for the 3rd Edition of InterVarsity Cocktail Party. Brethren, you see, in Kesses (Moi University Main Campus), we never have cocktail parties, the best would be tea parties (insoluble grade 7 sieved coffee along with home baked doughnuts). Cocktail in the city was big, I travelled for it!
Vividly, I recall the events of Friday, May 22nd, 2015; young enthusiastic minds, filled with too many expectations (I dare say too much). Well, Writers Guild was just in its heydays and everyone wanted to be part of the group, to be involved and more importantly to reap from it; authors, artists, thespians, models, cooks and caterers, engineers, photographers, publishers, mathematicians, journalists, theologists, economists, dancers, guitarists, pessimists, optimists and loyalists…for once we found a home that accommodated everyone and anyone. And that was the fun of it! It was a cocktail of passions.
We tried things, we learnt things, we experienced things! The passion cocktail party, just like every Writers Guild Kenya gathering, presented an ideal opportunity to hear the ambitions of fellow peers, share in their dreams and fears (of course besides drinking 8 cans of redbull in under two hours ?). As unique as they were, the moments stirred passion and visions; some of which we gradually endeavor to achieve.
Indeed, “there is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” To date, confidently confessing, I owe my career to the little lessons I reaped out of Writers Guild; enthusiasm, endurance and persistence moves you further than experience. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many people drop out of a good idea, it takes the commitment of a few who believe in the idea to actualize it.
And so, as we reflect on the progress made over the last four years, it is prudent that we internalize the words of Calvin Coolidge, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Long live Writers Guild Kenya!
Tunataka cocktail na Redbull!
Dekker William served at Writers Guild Kenya in different Capacities such as Associate Editor, Chief Editor and IT Director. He is now a Strategic Communicator at Impact Research.
