My Safari Through Life: Extracts

My Safari through Life: Extracts tracks the author's humble beginnings in rural Kenya to the career of an international civil servant and diplomat. He recalls the problems of his formative years in a large family with scant resources, amidst optimism and social expectations. He singles out parental guidance and discipline as invaluable ingredients of success in those circumstances. A university education and a civil service job expose him to a new world and international opportunities and outlook.

Dr. Kakonge, as an international civil servant, learns that success depends not just on qualifications, but also on informal networks and trust that one nurtures. He demonstrates that the UN system is like any other large organization with its own flaws and distinctions, and that programmes which work in one place may not necessarily work in another.

In the end, he concludes that life is a zigzag safari (Kiswahili word for 'journey') punctuated by point-to-point non-linear travels that lead to places that one may not have anticipated or intended. In the process, one may experience mystery, excitement, satisfaction, frustration, grief and/or happiness and which, he hopes, benefits those whose paths one crosses.