My Storytelling Journey

Sharing stories has always been the internal force driving me. I first narrated a story way back in 1998 to columns of unoccupied desks in a classroom of my primary school. Though no one was applauding me for my suspenseful story, I enjoyed the experience. The story wasn't of my own making; I had heard it on TV.

It's not until I joined Starehe Boys' Centre in 2002 for my high school education that I had opportunities to share stories with real audiences. At the end of my first form year, I requested our geography teacher - a likeable lady called Miss Mwangi - to let me share a story with my classmates during her lesson. When she obliged, I entertained my classmates with a tale about HIV/AIDS that I had read in a magazine.

I also shared stories with the whole school during evening assemblies right from when I was in first form at Starehe. Rev. Clement Macharia (the teacher who was responsible for approving speeches that students wanted to give) asked me whether I could face the whole school when I presented him with a copy of the first speech I delivered during evening assembly.

Well, I often felt nervous as I sat on the assembly hall podium, waiting to give a speech. But when I stood up and started speaking, my nervousness would disappear like darkness at dawn.

Although I enjoyed standing in front of the whole school, some of the speeches I gave were embarrassing, especially the ones I delivered when I was in second form in 2003. During one evening assembly that year, I attempted to give a speech without referring to my notes. Mamma mia! What I ended up saying was a jumble of incoherent ideas. It made me feel ashamed of myself afterwards.

Never one to give up easily, I continued sharing stories during evening assemblies as my high school years rolled by. And I got better at it with time. When I was in fourth form in 2005, I shared stories about the lives of Albert Einstein and Franklin D. Roosevelt as I had read in the 1999 Person of the Century Time magazine. My schoolmate Mulinge Ndambuki complimented me for the speech I gave about Albert Einstein.

By far, the best speeches I ever delivered during my Starehe years were the three-day evening talks I gave in January 2007 when I was in the institute division of the school. Exhorting the students to think like geniuses, I ended the talks with a shaggy-dog story that set the whole assembly convulsing with laughter. Afterwards, a student approached me for a copy of the talks - a proof that they were really wonderful.

Wonderful though most of my speeches at Starehe were, I have to confess that I plagiarized them from books, magazines and newspapers. Several schoolmates were smart enough to figure out where I had extracted some of the speeches. But that didn't embarrass me at all.

Since leaving Starehe in 2007, I haven't had many opportunities to speak to real audiences. But thanks to the internet, I have been able to carry on with my storytelling hobby by sharing stories on this blog.

With so much criticism and rejection, blogging has been challenging. The challenges have, however, moulded me into a truthful storyteller. I no longer lie, exaggerate and plagiarize. Neither do I poke fun at other people's weaknesses since I, too, have my own weaknesses.

These days, I am proud of the storyteller I am turning out to be. And if asked the greatest lesson I have learnt from my storytelling journey, I would say it is this: if you harbour resentment or are immature in some other ways, those weaknesses will show up in your stories. That's all I am saying.