Mirera Dickson’s Story

Born into an economic underclass of farmers, Mirera Dickson spent his early life with a singular purpose of working on his father’s farm. The family planted maize for subsistence use and in order to remedy the financial anguish they were in, Dickson’s father grew coffee in order to sell it to processing factories. As a cash crop farmer, Dickson’s father suffered a structural inequality in which factory owners exploited the farmers by paying them a miniscule amount as they earned obscene profits.

Dickson took the initiative of pursuing a different means of earning. He became a wood cutter. For each foot of timber that he split, Dickson was paid 50 cents. As he continued with this job, he was informed of better opportunities across the border in Tanzania. Far from being hostile to change, Dickson travelled to Tanzania in an attempt to challenge the edifice of poverty.

Dickson was misled. In Tanzania, he lived in a climate of joblessness and lack of any progression. His parents were in a broad consensus that he was wasting his time. Dickson yielded but he did not return to Kenya empty handed. While passing Kilimanjaro, he met and fell in instantaneous love with a Tanzanian girl. Without wasting any time, he approached her parents and brought to the forefront his desire to marry her. They willingly blessed their marriage and Dickson alongside his bride made their way to Kenya.

Dickson’s older brother’s heart was saturated with sympathy for his jobless younger brother and his nascent family. He organized Dickson’s arrival in Kakamega and linked him to a security company named Securicom. With a salary of Ksh. 4000, Dickson’s job description involved guarding various factories. For eight years, he loyally served at this company.

After his final contract, Dickson settled for working as a personal security guard in households earning Ksh. 2,500 per month. To this day, he heads to work from 6pm to 6am. After work, he goes around pursuing odd jobs especially farming and earning Ksh. 150 per day. In order to ascertain a balanced physical excellence, he stops farming at 10am and heads over to rest until his shift in the evening. Belonging to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dickson religiously looks forward to Saturdays where he spends time with fellow believers and prays for a better life. “I have

diabetes, hypertension and arthritis and even though I take medicine from the general hospital, I also pray a lot for God to make it easy for me,” he said. #WAZEEWAKENYA