Kenya: Orphaned Girl Who Pays Her School Fees Through Singing

Kenya: Orphaned Girl Who Pays Her School Fees Through Singing

The Nation (Nairobi)

11 August 2007
Posted to the web 13 August 2007

Douglas Mutua
Nairobi

Although she is 25 years old and the oldest student at her school, she walks with her head held high. After all, having three well selling music albums to her credit and spending the proceeds on her education is no mean achievement.

The story of Rosemary Ogonja Owade seems to corroborate the saying that optimists make it in life and pessimists are always losers. For she grew up an orphan who had to wait for a decade before her dream of acquiring secondary school education came true.

It is optimism that enabled her to defy the odds to become a great gospel musician in her Nyanza province home even before joining Form One.

And now in the third year at Siaya Academy, Rosemary is causing quite a stir on the music scene, especially in Kisumu town.

With a voice that echoes her difficult childhood, she belts out captivating numbers, largely on difficulties encountered by ordinary people. As far as gospel music is concerned in the region, she is sure a household name.

She has been nicknamed Malit Osiko, or no end to sorrow in Dholuo, which is the title of her most popular song.

"It's been a long journey, but I still have a long way to go," she told Review in an interview.

"I have not conquered yet. The desire to defy disadvantages is the drive behind my little success."

Primary education

Rosemary lost her parents in 1995 immediately after she completed primary education, dashing her hopes of pursuing education through secondary school to university. "There was not even a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel," she recalls the trying time.

"Although even when our parents were alive we were wallowing in poverty, things grew from bad to worse.

"I think we became the poorest of the poor at Komenya village of Alego division." After her parents died, better-off relatives shared her and eight siblings to take care of them.

But they could afford only school fees for her elder brothers who were in secondary school.

"They (relatives) did not see any value in educating a girl who, they argued, would be married before or immediately after secondary school," she explains.

While still facing the bleak future that had encroached upon her life at the tender age, she remembered a few songs she had written when she was a pupil at the local Malomba primary school.

And she decided that music was the direction to go, and got in touch with established artistes for guidance.

But it was not until 2001 when she was helped by a friend to record an album, Ma e Ndalo (this is the day).

She says she refused to involve music producers in her debut album to avoid becoming "a cry-baby like most money-hungry musicians" after they are bilked into shoddy deals that merely exploit them.

And as the sales of her subsequent cassettes and CDs soared so did her determination to devote her time and energy to music.

However, it was difficult for her to save enough money to record more albums.

"I yearned to be a go-getter, but five of my siblings were under my care," Rosemary says. "Their welfare had to get the priority." Through thick and thin, she recorded Ayudo Kingi (I've received the king) in 2004. And for proper guidance on how to distribute the second album, she sought the services of Daniel Danger Chacha, a Kenya Air Force corporal who is a self-made gospel singer.

"Ayudo Kingi came as a beacon of hope to my siblings and me. Making a few coins from each album, both in CD and cassette, totalled something substantial."

A career in music definitely changed the life of her family, but the dream of her lifetime was yet to come true.

And it is that something substantial that enabled her to do what she loved doing most - pursuing higher education.

Backed by a bursary from the Ugenya Constituency Development Fund, she joined Siaya Academy in Form One at the age of 23 in 2005.

"Although some people pitied me for being the oldest in the school, I felt great," Rosemary recalls.

"I had longed for education for a decade and nothing would deter me from utilising that chance."

 

Kenya: Orphaned Girl Who Pays Her School Fees Through Singing

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Late last year, she went back to studio and emerged with a third album, Malit Osiko. She terms the hit song of the same title the tune of the moment.

"It's the song that has made me a name and brought a great difference in my music career," she says.

Contrary to her intention, most of her fans say all her songs reflect on her life as an orphan. For instance, Malit Osiko tells of the trials and travails of Aids orphans. In the song, she talks of homes that have had to be closed down after the inhabitants are wiped out by the disease.

By reference to the bible, she also encourages orphans and other people affected by the scourge to trust in God, saying: "He said that He is the God of orphans and widows." Another hit song in the album is Pinyni Galagala (This world is mysterious), which depicts the world as a place full of enemies.

In Form Three and still the oldest student at the school, she maintains that she is not conscious of her age.

"I'm poised to achieve my goals against any odds. I don't care at all about the odds. Some of my teachers are almost my age, but I respect them a lot because I need knowledge from them," says the student-musician.

Her respect for the academy community and dedication to classroom and outdoor activities have made the school appoint her head girl. Her duties include ensuring a high sense of discipline among the students and being a useful link between them and the teachers.

And her popularity goes beyond the school fence because the songs are receiving considerable airplay in the local vernacular FM radio stations.

This has seen famous preachers approach her to perform during their open-air prayer meetings, but she is too busy at the school to oblige. But she pledges: "I'll be at their service once I accomplish the very important mission before me - studies."