By Betty Luke
As the Irish poet Oscar Wilde denotes that the smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention, there is indeed an amazing feeling with touching the lives of less fortunate people without necessarily showing off.
Ms Lydia Muthoni Ngichili has for more than a decade lived to the quote, desiring to not only offer a fleeting solution to societal challenges but ensure those she helps are able to assist others in the future.
Ms Ngichili developed the desire to seek Bulapesa MCA seat following the endless challenges the ward continues to face and therefore needs to extend a helping hand.
Having lost her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, at a younger age, Ms Ngichili was unable to join secondary school as the family was financially strained dimming her hopes of becoming a laboratory technician.
She would pursue a cheaper Art and Design course at the Isiolo Catholic Mission’s St Joseph Polytechnic in Isiolo town from 1993 to 1995.
Her strenuous experience bore the desire to help children from less privileged backgrounds access quality education and Ms Ngichili vowed to do anything within her reach to actualise the dream.
Her undying desire to help the needy in society would later be stirred by the pain she experienced in 2003 when she bumped into an abandoned three months old baby at Mariri market.
“I was carrying my secondborn child on my back but on hearing the cry from the abandoned baby, I had to help the innocent child,” she said during an interview with The Press Point.
The 43-year-old immediately alerted a nurse who took the baby to a children’s care centre and onwards got more interested in offering solutions to challenges that local residents face.
Her desire to pursue formal education was however not shuttered. Later in 2011, Ms Ngichili enrolled for secondary school education at New Dawn Secondary school as a private candidate.
While she thought all was not lost, challenges kept creeping in and she dropped out of school a year later to take care of the family.
“I did not lose hope. I resumed after some months and sat for KCSE in 2014 and later proceeded to pursue Theology and Leadership,” she said.
The passionate mother of three graduated with a diploma from the International Seminary of Theology and Leadership and is almost completing a Degree in the same field.
Ms Ngichili who runs a Mali Mali business in Isiolo town warmed the hearts of many residents and Kenyans at large few months ago after assisting 12 children from needy families join secondary school.
She says the move was motivated by her desire to alleviate parents from struggles occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“The pandemic pushed me into seeking ways to help children on the verge of never setting their foot in secondary school access education,” said Ms Ngichili.
With the help of church elders and friends, the Bulapesa MCA hopeful identified the children who genuinely deserved and embarked on a journey to seek sponsorship months before forms one reported to school in July this year.
“Not one or two. I have some children whom I have adopted. This year’s case was special due to the effects occasioned by the pandemic. I, therefore, had to seek help,” she happily says.
She would visit school by school hoping to secure places for several learners and on some occasions was forced to spend the night away from her home due to curfew restrictions.
Amid the challenges, she soldiered on and fortunately secured a four-year scholarship for the students at a school in Tharaka Nithi.
“Their entire fee to Form Four is fully sorted and we are making arrangements on how they will be getting their personal effects at the beginning of every term,” Ms Ngichili assured.
The enthusiastic mother of three takes pride in seeing children who were once hopeless getting back on their feet and hopes to alleviate several other Bulapesa residents from the yoke of poverty once elected the MCA.
She says, “If a child scores well in KCPE and is not able to join form one, then there was no need of them enrolling to school in the first place.”
Having grown up in a humble family, she believes she is best suited for the Bulapesa MCA’s position so that she can assist the needy who she says have been neglected by the incumbent ward representative.
“I intend to restore the lost glory of our ward if electorates give me a chance,” Ms Ngichili told The Press Point.
If elected the MCA, she says will prioritize education by providing timely bursary funds while also supporting youth, women and persons living with disabilities and vulnerable groups in the society for improved livelihoods.
Having been in business for nearly two decades, she has learnt several things including the need to mentor young people to be self-reliant and engage in productive activities.
She says Bulapesa needs a mother who understands the needs of every group of people and one who is available for the electorates.
The contestant says she does not consider herself better than her fellow contestants but is certain that she is best suited for the position.
“I am not special than other contestants but I believe my passion for Bulapesa is unique and that is what drives me,” says Ms Ngichili who promises to ensure fair and equal representation for all residents regardless of their tribes or religion.
In her opinion, if the incumbent Idd Hassan was fully representing the needs of his electorate, no one would be seeking to replace him.
Coming from the minority tribe commonly known as M37 group, the contestant believes the time had come for the majority tribes to reciprocate the support the minority counterparts had offered in past elections.
“We will reach out to all tribes and seek their support but my fellow aspirants should remember that politics is seasonal and we shall need each other even after the elections,” she advises while stressing the need for unity of purpose.
The business woman-cum politician seeks to ensure the creation of job opportunities for young people as that would help reduce their indulgence in crime and drug and substance abuse.
She says, giving handouts to young people is not enough but equipping them with the necessary skills to start and run their business.
If elected, she promises to ensure young people are fully engaged in income generating activities by first offering training sessions on how to start self-sustaining initiatives.
She takes pride in mentoring several young people through her small-scale business to known business persons in the area.
“I used to pick a group of young people from the streets, give them mali mali products to hawk and I pay them some commission,” she recalls.
Asked on which party she intends to ride on, MS Ngichili says it is still early but is quick to state that she might as well vie on an independent ticket.
The Press Point is running a series of profiles for Isiolo MCA aspirants. If you would like to be featured or know someone who is eyeing for the seats, kindly reach out to us through Sms/WhatsApp 0768005180.
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