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| The Life and Times of a Neglected British Goodwill Ambassador in Kenya and Abroad |
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“All my life I have lived like a British Goodwill Ambassador in Kenya”, he says. This has ensured that his community was among the first in the constituency to have a school close to them. The next task was constructing a church, and that too he has completed with a beautiful stone-made church in his community. The church building was officially inaugurated in 2005. His next wish it appears would be to see the construction of a hospital in his community. Many in the area have to travel over 20 kilometers to Chulaimbo Provincial Health Hospital in another part of the constituency to seek medical care. Considering the endemic poverty in the region, this becomes an uphill task, as one is required to regularly fork out cash for bus fare.
Mr. Achieng’ asks where the money Princess Charles and Princess Anna remitted to them, after pledging to do so during their 1971 visit to Kenya, went as he is yet to see any part of it. “I am sure they sent the money”, he confidently asserts. The money in question must have apparently disappeared a long the way, probably after getting into the hands of a ‘roving-eyed’ Kenyan. With his young children looking up to him for school fees, and as the sole family breadwinner, the money would definitely go a long way in educating and providing for them. in addition, it would help unshackle Mr. Achieng’ from his current mire of financial quandary.
With no one to support him, neglected and blindness stoking him, Mr. Achieng’ is an example of how the Kenyan and the African society at that, forget their heroes. If his dilapidated living conditions are anything to go by, then the ‘Old Age’ Bill much crusaded for by among others, Help-Age Kenya organization to cater for the plight of the aged in Kenya, should be formulated and passed in Parliament. This would ensure that policy frameworks are in place such that the welfare of the old people, especially the disabled ones like Mr. Achieng’ is taken care of.
As Mr. Achieng’s biography is being written, his life is a manifestation of honor. An honor, which given by the British, would stamp his work in promoting British policies not only in his rural community, but also in the entire Kenyan nation. His work with the British government officers and royalty is indeed a manifestation of the goodwill of a man who is living for his society and not for his own. A man who stopped short of exporting and stationing his expertise in the Buckingham Palace. A man who exemplifies the saying, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. The real life story of a gentleman, who even as he starts his octogenarian years, still cares about and positively so, contributes to his rural and global society.
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Antony Felix O. Simbowo
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