“Simiyu Machani is my name… Shall I have the pleasure
of knowing your name”
I told him my name. He said some words and gave his
characteristic laughter. I smiled sheepishly as he did this. Collecting himself
together and, in a rather lower composed tone he asked, “so you are a first
year?”
“No, I am a second year”
He looked at me with that look, and asked, “Really!
But how come…? Anyway, we will talk about this later”
That was early May 2010, I was just from upper
chambers for the very first time in my life. I met him at the balcony just
above the foyer. We were praying for a WESET (Western Student Empowerment Team)
mission that was to start the next day. The reason he told me we would talk
about it later was because at the time he was the treasurer of the group and
they were running up and down just to see to it that everything was in place
for the mission. To date, I don’t think I know what the question he asked was. But
if what we’ve shared in the short period we’ve interacted is anything to go by,
then I believe that somehow, we have talked about what we were to talk about in
this entire span of time.
That is a snippet
of the few instances that ushered me into the service of Christ. More
specifically, he was introducing me to the WESO family. 2 days later, he was
giving me one of the greatest challenges in my life at the time. He was asking
me to share in a morning devotion, something I had never imagined could ever
happen. At the time, I didn’t even have a bible, leave alone having a preaching
experience. I remember having a sleepless night trying to figure out what I was
going to share before these about 15 men, whom I believed were all more “spiritually
superior” than me. Somehow, I remembered a sermon someone had shared in a home-cell
meeting back at home and I replicated the same that morning, because I at least
remembered the major verses he had quoted that day.
That is how my journey with him began. Later on, we
would joke about the fact that he holds several titles in relation to me i.e.
he was a father, son, neighbor, village-mate etc. and sure enough, he has had
an immense contribution to my life. Just like the aforementioned challenge, on
several occasions he has challenged me into doing things that I sincerely felt I
was inadequate to do. Notably, handing over to me the docket of the WESET
treasurer, seemed a joke to me. You see, he was a CPA K, and I had never
smelled the door of a business class. The highest amount of money I had ever
handled was my HELB loan, and here was someone asking me to handle hundreds of
thousands. With his encouragement and promise of support, I agreed and I did it,
not one term, but two.
For the time we served with him in WESET, his
remarkable leadership qualities couldn’t go unnoticed. He always had this way
of making us buy the vision and move with him. His ability to blend with all
people and interact with them at their level was awesome. His conflict
resolution skills were just out of the box. I admired the meticulous approach
to work that left us in awe each time. Even when some of us fell behind with
deadlines, we realized that he had already factored in a way to handle the
same. The man was very organized. So organized that to date, I am yet to see
anyone with folders neatly arranged in their laptop as his were (Numbered and
hierarchical).
Most importantly, he taught me how to live by faith.
I recall those times, when we spent time toiling and raising funds for a WESET mission
budgeted at over 200K, yet on the material date we had barely enough to take
the members to the grounds. He would encourage us on, and we would take the
team to the mission ground trusting God to provide in His own ways. I still
remember the late night meetings we would have long after everyone else had
slept. These were meant to be crisis meetings, but most of the times they
turned out to be a celebration of God’s goodness and provision for the day. What
was amazing was his ability to shield the members from what was happening, and
many of them didn’t even think anything could go wrong at any time. At the same
time, even though most of these times we were discouraged, he always gave us
hope, and our meetings were always lively. My friend Silas and I discovered
that his favorite phrase was “way forward” and we used to give one another a
knowing look and chuckle whenever he mentioned it. Of course, with his
smartness, he soon figured this out. But most important, we discovered that he
did not pick the word carelessly, and he always had a way forward.
As a personal friend, we shared so much of our
lives. I appreciated his approachability and humility. He had no qualm of
learning something from someone his “inferior”. He was always willing to create
time for anyone, no matter how tight his schedule was… yet, at the same time,
he remained effective in everything he did. His charming personality and sense
of humor could not be avoided. I was so much encouraged to be vulnerable to
him, as he also openly shared his life to me. He greatly encouraged me in my
spiritual growth, and lovingly rebuked me when necessary. One of the areas I will
always accredit to him is helping me out of my religiosity and “holier than
thou” attitude that was growing in me at some point.
His sermons were always well prepared and hit on the
core. They always left one truly refreshed. One of the most notable one was “Skeletons
in the Closet” which left many people reflecting in their lives, and a large
number of students made decisions for Christ on that day. I remember urging the
executive committee that he was best suited for that topic (because I had
recently had a similar discussion with him on the same), and sure enough, he
didn’t disappoint.
Given chance, there’s so much I can say about this
man… but this platform may not allow me to do all that. He was a talented actor
and orator among many other things, but what inspired me most about his life is
his devotion to the service of Christ. Having been with him, I knew very well
Simiyu’s passion for Electrical Engineering, Heavy current option. He was so
passionate that he could never afford to miss a single class. In fact, he was
so noted in the department that some lecturers preferred him to be their
personal class representative, even though there was the official class
representative. So his decision to join FOCUS for the 1 year, STEM program was
a little unexpected. But this was not as shocking as when after serving for one
year he opted to do a second term, and this time it was in form of an exchange
program in Norway. Yet still, I gasped when I learnt that after his second term
he had considered another 3 years in service as the FOCUS assistant missions
coordinator.
This to me, portrayed an individual living a life of
total surrender, willing to shelf his ambitions for the purpose of God’s
kingdom. And within the short time he has been out of campus, he has influence
many more than during his times in campus. I believe, hundreds of individuals
out there can relate similar personal experiences with Simiyu.
Receiving the phone call two days ago, about his
demise, I refused to believe it. I thought it was a joke. My mind literary went
blank. Later on, as I was coming to terms with it, I didn’t know how to respond
to God about it. For one, I felt that it was quite unfair for him to go at such
a time, especially when he was just 5 days shy of his 3rd month
wedding anniversary. Yet, at the same time I felt that God could be justified
to take him, because, to be honest, in my entire lifetime, I don’t think my
service is half what I have seen this man do in the five years that God allowed
me into his life. As I was reflecting on this, I again remembered the fact that
all of us have assignments to accomplish… and God is faithful enough to take us
home only when our assignment has been accomplished. Again, it brings me down
to one point, how much of stewards are we to the time that God has given us?
This is the same thing that Simiyu posted in one of his blog articles, “The discipline of time”.
I believe Simiyu has been faithful in dispensing that which God had given him to do in this short period. And sure enough, he has joined the cloud of witnesses encouraging us on, in our service. He truly walked like Christ, and is a true hero of faith… I believe I am one of the fruits of Simiyu’s, Work and consequently, by extension, Jesus’ work. Let’s assess our lives… 50 years or 100 years from now, should Christ tarry, will you be in a position to say that so and so is a disciple of Christ on account of what you did while still on earth? A question to ponder…
