After many years of success as a planning strategist for local and global organizations like the Africa Centre for Research and Technology, Plan International, UNICEF and United Nations, and helping African governments like South Sudan stabilize, she found herself out of work and robbed of nearly all her possessions – changing the trajectory of her life and forcing her to start over. After reaching rock bottom, she began to rebuild her life piece by piece and is now advocating for good governance in Kenya and throughout Africa.
Esther Waringa was raised in a small village called Kabuku – located 30 kilometers from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi – and was destined for success.
After completing secretarial, computer studies and accounting, Esther furthered her education in procurement management and strategic planning management at the University of Nairobi. Soon afterwards, she started her own organization called ESMATECH SYSYTEMS (Esther Management and Technology Systems), where she taught students what she had learned in university.
Esther’s sphere of influence expanded when she landed a job with United Nations in strategic plan development.
“After this, I joined United Nations Children’s Fund and worked for seven years in strategic planning and management and was a senior facilitator for Human Rights Approach to Programming (HRAP),” Esther told The Weight She Carries. “I also worked on behalf of the UN to facilitate the development of the South Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement by engaging the Government of South Sudan and other Development Agencies in the region on the need for sustainable peace in governance.”
Following this, Esther was appointed to brief the UNICEF Executive Bureau from New York visiting Nairobi, UN Headquarters on how much the funding released from New York headquarters had impacted the lives of the targeted marginalized societies in Kenya.
This led to continued international opportunities as the UN’s consultant in Kenya, and working in collaboration with Universalia United Kingdom (which was contracted by UNICEF New York and involved monitoring and evaluating UN projects in the country) and later appointed a Strategic Planning Consultant at the Africa Centre for Research and Technology as a consultant in strategic management.
At the height of her career, Esther was appointed as a strategist for former Kenya President Mwai Kibaki’s presidential campaign, in a senior consultancy position in Kibaki Tena Women directorate, which he won.
The sky was the limit, it seemed. Not only was she excelling in her work, she was getting notable recognition for it. She had received the “Best Student Purchasing & Supplies Management” from the University of Nairobi; the “Ambassador For Peace Award” from the Universal Peace Federation; the “African Peace & Security Partner Award” from the Peace & Security African Council, and the “United Nations Distinguished African Woman Leadership Award.”
Then, without notice, the opportunities dried up
“All of a sudden my life took a total negative paradigm shift,” she said. “After my contract ended at the United Nations, I started looking for other consultancy jobs. None came through. I decided to go lower in job status and started looking for secretarial, administrative and receptionist jobs, but nothing came my way.”
During this period, thieves stormed into her home one night and stole three-quarters of her household items, including electronics, kitchenware, phones, laptops and printers.
“I was left with a few furniture [items],” Esther said. “When the thugs left, I thought of vacating that rental house to another location to heal quickly from the trauma. I had no money at this time to help me relocate, therefore, I looked for a place to sell some of the furniture.”
After selling most of her property at knock-off prices, she relocated to a smaller house.
“I had no money to sustain myself and my two boys, and no jobs were coming by. I [proceeded] to start selling items that had remained in the house like furniture, juicers, etc,” Esther said. “I kept on selling so we could buy food, pay rent and sustain our day to day needs. I sold until I had no more to sell.”
Desperate to find a way to make ends meet, Esther began looking for casual jobs in people’s houses like washing clothes and cooking for them. She set out from one house to another and finally landed at one particular woman’s house.
“I asked her if I could wash clothes for her and clean her compound so that she could pay enough to buy food and other household items. The lady asked me who I was looking for a job for and I told her it was for me. She invited me inside her house and asked me to share my life experience with her, which I did.”
The woman proceeded to pray for Esther and offered her a cup of tea and some bread.
“She told me she would give me what I needed to buy. Then she went to her food [pantry] and gave me maize (corn) flour, wheat flour, sugar, soap, tissue and cooking oil,” Esther said. “She then went out to her garden and gave me kale, spinach and onions. Then she gave me Ksh2000 (USD $20) and told me to come every Saturday for the same package.”
So, every Saturday, Esther went to get goods and money from the lady. At some point, Esther decided to start saving some of the money the woman was giving her so she could start a small business.
“I saved and bought shoes to start a shoe business. Unfortunately, everyone I sold the shoes to promised to pay at a later date, but didn’t,” she said. “I sold all the shoes on credit and until today, no shoes have been paid for.
“I stopped the business and realized that I was in a tough spiritual battle. I started praying for strength to carry on. The house agent came and demanded the rent which was already in arrears. They said if I had no money to pay rent, they would [evict] me from the house. They kept their word. In a short while they started throwing out our clothes and other items in the house. They left some items in the house like beds and utensils and said they would sell them to recover their money.”
– Esther Waringa
She tried desperately to lean on family members for support for her and her two young boys, but no one came to her rescue.
“I was left in the wilderness with my two boys Samuel and James. I had nowhere to go. I called my mother at our rural home and I told her that the tribulations were too much and I had no shelter. I asked her to keep a room for me to which she agreed,” Esther said.
Esther asked someone to help her with transportation costs so she could take public transport to her mother’s home where she had grown up.
“I left for home with nothing other than cloths as I had lost all that I had. For the one year I was at home, I assisted my mother with taking care of the chickens, farming and cooking,” she said. “I salute my mother who kept praying for me and encouraging me.”
“I kept praying to God to let me know the reason I was going through such a magnitude of tribulations. One morning, I woke up and before I ate breakfast, I felt something strong in me and I was deeply inspired to write it down. I felt this great spiritual inspiration to turn around world governments, starting with our government of the Republic of Kenya, to be transformed and conform to the divine Will of God, where God Almighty would be at the centre of all governments’ strategic interventions for development.”
– Esther Waringa
This would mean responsible, accountable,peaceful and divine governments where all citizens would enjoy efficient andeffective services, delivery like good services to water, food, education etc, Esther explained.
She wrote down this vision and shared iwith her mother that God had revealed to her why she was going through such a tough time.
“She was very positive about it and we prayed that God would will us towards establishing governments that would glorify His name,” Esther said. I decided to call the program Public Service Governance (PSG), which is now my organization’s name. ‘Together Healing Nations’ is our slogan.”
A few days after this revelation, Esther felt her time at her rural home with her mother was up. She returned to Nairobi shortly after to start implementing her vision.
“I left immediately for the city and carried a few clothes in a polythene bag. I engaged the power of faith that I would start my life again in the city against all odds. I told my mother I will find a place to start my life again and then go back to my rural home to collect [the rest of] my clothes and my boys,” she said.
Esther believed God would make a way for her. She found a single room to rent. It was a shack.
“When I went there the landlady asked me who wanted to live in the house because I didn’t look like I would live in such a structure. I told her it was for me. She asked why I was seeking to stay in such a mud structure. I suddenly broke down, remembering where I had come from. I told her that as long as I had a roof over my head, the house materials or size did not matter,” she said.
The woman was sympathetic and bought Esther a soda and cake, and told her to narrate her life experience to her.
“For the next 3 months, I was in that house. I started sharing with people about my vision to transform governments to conform to the will and purpose of God for governments. I would go to marketplaces, to women groups, youth groups and places of worship to share with people about this,” she said. “In the process of my sharing, I met people who could agree with me on my vision and agreed to start moving with me and even sponsor what they could to support the vision.”
Little by little, Esther began to rebuild her life and eventually moved to a house large enough for her and her boys.
“Today, the Lord is continuing to elevate me from one level to another. As I narrate my life experience now, I am still in the process of recovery. I believe the Lord will rebuild my broken walls and bring my broken, dry bones back to life. I am still pushing against all odds with the God-given assignment to transform governments to establish good, responsible, accountable, peaceful, accountable and divine governments.”
– Esther Waringa
She now has a small team to people who help plan for activities and fundraising efforts. Esther has caught the attention of several organizations who have recognized her for her work and influence.
“During the celebrations of the United Nations International Women’s Day, I was awarded the Distinguished African Leadership Award, among others. To God be all the Glory because to get this accolade was not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the living God. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us,” she said.
Esther is determined to facilitate the establishment of transformed governments with high moral standing that are governed by the right people with the right heart for God.
“I am not giving up until this is realized. It’s not an easy road but God’s presence in our journey gives us joy everyday. Those who are guided by God and doing His perfect will shall always soar on wings like eagles and will never grow weary,” she said.
“When God has destined His chosen one for a divine purpose, He wants you to be strong and courageous to overcome all tribulations and obstacles that would hold you back from executing that which He has put in you and created you to go through.The presence of storms does not mean the absence of God. He will take you to several levels of trials so that He is sure that when He gives you that divine assignment, you won’t give up in the middle of the journey.”
– Esther Waringa
To reach out to Esther Waringa for encouragement or any form of material, financial or technical support towards her vision for good governance in the Republic of Kenya and Africa as a whole, contact her on the following numbers.
Tel: +254 711 818 170, +254 720 925 867, +254 737 818 547
Email: estherwaringa@yahoo.co.uk
