About Geoffrey

I learnt many lessons as a young child growing up in an environment filled with war, tragedy, broken families, and struggle. When I was about five years old, my father burned my grandmother’s house. My father had come from work in Nairobi, Kenya, to my grandmother’s home in the village. I lived with my mother and siblings in a village in Kirinyaga district, Central Kenya. My grandmother’s house was located behind ours. When I asked my father, “Why are you burning my grandmother’s house?” he replied, “Your grandmother has gone for a journey.” I asked my father where she would live when she came back, and he told me that he would build her another house when she came back. At the time, I did not know about death, and my grandmother had died inside her house. Grandma was important to us; she cared for us, laughed and played with us, and loved us. I’ll never forget her signature sweet potatoes. My father burned the house down to get rid of “that which may have caused the death”. If someone died in their house, it was tradition to burn down the house to eliminate any bad omens. Later in life, I came to understand my father’s intentions and my grandmother’s demise. The Bible taught me about death and eternal life.
We lived without my father for a long time, and missed him dearly most times. One day, our mother told us: “Let us go identify your father because he has been released from detention.” He had been detained during the war for independence. We went with her, and saw many men in a queue. We could not remember how our father looked like, so we watched as our mother walked down the queue looking for him. Suddenly, she stopped and hugged a man tightly – our father! They both walked towards us. We stared and stared, but could not remember him. Our mother told us, “This is your father,” and we believed her because she never lied to us. The joy on their faces was evident. Our father had an old blanket draped over his shoulders and shorts with different colored patches. At last, our family was complete. My father always told me: “I love you because you are made from the ‘seed’ I brought home from World War II. You were born out of the strength I brought from war. You are my strength.” I was the second-born son, and I grew up to finally understand my father’s loving words.
My father resumed work in the same company, and we continued living in the village with our mother. I began primary education at age 12. The year I finished primary school was the same year my father retired and returned to the village. With no funds to continue with my education, I got my first temporary job in a coffee factory. I worked there for a while before moving on to a permanent government position in Nakuru Municipal County. I relocated from my home village in Kirinyaga to Nakuru town in Rift Valley for training, and then worked as a plumbing technician, and I was later promoted to a supervisory position.
In primary education, every child attended Sunday school, and that was the beginning of my life in the church. I later became born again. While working as a plumbing supervisor, I began preaching part-time as an elder in the Full Gospel Church in Nakuru. Eventually, I became an ordained pastor. My beloved wife, Mary, died from diabetes, taken away from me and our eight children too soon. After Mary passed, I took it upon myself to raise the children, taking both the father and mother role. Now, those eight children have given us 23 grandchildren, and there are others to come. After 11 years as a widower, I found new love, remarried, and had the opportunity to visit the USA, where I now happily live with my spouse, Grace.
In this blog, my desire is to encourage and reach families from all walks of life with the Word of God and share my life experiences from the time I got saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey