Grishon Munene

After being banished from the school at only 15years, he escaped from their Nairobi home where he grew and crossed the border to Tanzania where he found himself without a single coin in Dar es Salaam! Traveling through Mombasa he passed through the Lunga Lunga border point without papers and was only rescued by a whore who took pity on him lying outside the Sheraton Hotel.
Lucky enough his father worked for an international audit firm which had a branch in Tanzania. They were able to identify the office and took him to the Manager who contacted the father. When the dad received the information, he booked the next flight to come pick him up. Mind you, the dad was away from the country for work related issues.
The love of the parents was demonstrated when they got a new school for the rebellious teen. “They got me a place at Aga Khan High School since my offer at Sunshine school along Lang’ata road had failed,’ he narrates, ‘I never bothered with books.”
Aga Khan is a day school where instead of appreciating second chance seriously, he saw as a golden opportunity to guzzle alcohol. He managed to hustle on the side which gave him money to swallow a quarter of vodka each morning before he attended classes! Nonetheless, he was able to escape detention for more than a year. “I would take shots just before entering the school gate,” he says.
Aga Khan School prides itself for discipline so when he was caught he wasn’t spared. “I was expelled once again without recourse. My ‘old man” had given up on me by this time so my aunt took me to Ruiru High School,” he says, “This was a rotten den which served as a holiday camp for most students.”
Lawlessness was rampant in the new school where drugs like bhang, changaa among others circulated. “I was forever high!” Surprisingly enough, he sat for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and he managed to get a C+. “My dad thought I was stupid so besides paying the school fees nobody bothered with me.”
After school he did driving and joined Nairobi Institute of Business Studies (NIBS) college for a course in Sales and Marketing but he dropped out of college not for lack of funds but because he was always drunk. He was forever in trouble with the law and even when he joined Griffins College later, for a course in Hospitality Management, he had to drop out of college again. He was into alcohol and weed all the time!
His side hustles of producing music for his friends gave him enough money to neutralize his vices. The next thing Munene remembers is being involved in road accident and being locked at a police station for drunk driving. In 2008 his parents had pity on him and took him to Asumbi Rehabilitation Centre in Karen hoping the hyper youth would change. He started appreciating himself at the Centre.
After coming out he decide to do branding and programming. His business plans brought him good money but faded a year later (2009) and once again he went back to misbehaving.
He was forced to drop out Mt Kenya University where he was polishing his skills in computer Graphics, Programming and Branding. Eventually last year, after trying so many things and taking too much alcohol, he was involved in another serious accident which broke the ‘camel’s neck! It was while at the police cells he realized that he was wasting his intellect and he cried for help.
“I had reached the end of the road and was not sure what would happen to me,” he remorsefully said. Help came in form of Levuka, a Centre that Jamii Bora started to rehabilitate people who have a problem with alcohol and drugs. His mother drove him to the Centre.
Tom Thiong’o, the Director of the Centre thinks highly of Munene, “He is a very intelligent young man who has been very positive about the help offered here,” Tom confided in me, something that I have since established since he joined the rehab. “Munene came here with a purpose and he absorbed everything that was said to him by the counselors and the doctors which I believe will help him in his healing process and to be a useful member of the society.
Munene concurs with these observations and says that it is at Levuka that he realized how he had wasted his life and now he looks forward to have purposeful life. At Levuka he discovered that alcoholism is a disease that leaves many stigmatized and with low self-esteem. “I discovered myself at the Centre and I saw much potential in my colleagues most of whom suffer from humiliation and low self-esteem,” he explains, “I want to give these people a professional presence and return their dignity even if they cannot afford it.”
During his three month treatment at Levuka he interacted with patients who gave him his ‘groove’ back! “The counselors were very good and I am truly grateful. I meditated a lot and since I saw so much potential in the patients who are admitted at Levuka, I want to help them in one way or another. I realized the number of times I missed death so narrowly and I am now focused and want to give back to the society,” he tells me.
The father of 7 years old boy has a mark that cannot be broken. He says that alcohol is a vice that the society should be cautious of. “I am very positive about the future and I believe everything is possible with the right attitude.” He is already helping his friend Jesse, a florist to set up website that drives traffic to him for online business. Jesse was also at Levuka.
We wrapped up the interview as he joyfully said he was going to pick his son from school. This shows how focused and having a purpose in life can make you a valuable asset in society.