[Story Removed]
A True Story
Copyright ©
A True Friend
A True Story
on Mar 31, 2019
Copyright ©
I first met David Mwakima in 2011 when I visited Starehe Boys' Centre, my Alma Mater. He was then serving as a deputy school captain of the school. When I introduced myself to him, he blurted out, "I've heard about you!"
When I went back to Starehe in 2012, I again met Mwakima who had then been promoted to be the school captain. I engaged him in a conversation in the course of which I informed him I was studying political science at the University of Nairobi. He then asked me whether I had read The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.
Being the honest young man that I'm, I told him I hadn't read the book and added that the name 'Machiavelli' sounded familiar to me. Perhaps challenged by Mwakima, two or three weeks later, I read a biography of Machiavelli that I had here at home.
Mwakima let me know that he was applying to MIT, Cornell and Stanford. Having applied to those top American colleges when I was in Starehe in 2006, I advised him to "prepare for the worst but hope for the best".
It seems he listened to my advice because he didn't let an opportunity to enroll at Deerfield Academy slip by. (Deerfield Academy is one of the best college preparatory schools in the United States.)
As it happened, Mwakima wasn't accepted into any of the three American colleges. While I'm unsure whether he was depressed to receive the rejection letters like I was a couple of years before, I tried to lift his spirits by telling him that he could still get into the top colleges when he enrolled at Deerfield Academy.
Sure enough, he was accepted into several top-flight colleges he applied for admission during his days at Deerfield. He chose to matriculate at Harvard. And I was happy for him that he had succeeded where I had failed.
Mwakima became a true friend of mine as the years wore on. In 2014, the stories I posted on my blog impressed him so much that he requested we meet in Nairobi during his long holiday from Harvard. When we met, he gifted me a vase with the name "DEERFIELD" printed on it, and I gifted him Charles Swindoll's David: A Man of Passion & Destiny.
They say friends are there for us to turn for help. So in February 2017 when I was supposed to pay the web hosting fee for this blog and didn't have any money, I asked Mwakima, who was then still at Harvard, if he could help me settle the fee. He came through for me.
I would have loved to tell you more about how Mwakima has helped me but let me stop there, for to say too much is worse than to say too little. So let me end my story by telling you that Mwakima is to me the kind of friend the Bible says sticks closer than a brother.
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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "A Classmate Who Helped Me".
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