By Gilbert Wandera
Proverbs 24:16a, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.”
Teens from the Western block had a surprise guest during their devotion on October 20 at Jaffrey’s club.
Top Kenya Television Network (KTN) sports anchor Hassan Jumaa was the special guest during the teen devotion where he gave them a motivational talk on the importance of discipline in choosing and succeeding in a career.
Brought up in a children’s home, Jumaa shared with the teens of his difficult up-bringing but he never gave up on his dream to become a journalist.
“I don’t know even when I was born because by the time I was old enough my parents had already died. We were left to stay with relatives but they mistreated us and forced us to go and stay in children’s home,” he explained to the attentive teens.
After his Secondary School education in Eldoret, Jumaa told the teens he went to United States International University (USIU) to study journalism.
“It was not easy getting into the mainstream media after my studies considering that I was all alone and didn’t have a tall relative to push me into the media. When I applied to join KTN there were 2,700 of us but eight of us made it and were hired,” he explained.
From a trainee reporter in 2006, Jumaa rose to his current position of Sports Editor and also hosts the popular ‘Zilizala Viwanjani’ a weekday program on KTN.
Inspired by his life, the teens and their parents had a lot of questions to ask and he respectfully answered each and every question encouraging everyone to be disciplined and to believe on what they want to pursue irrespective of one’s background.
