Kassim Ziro: Cleaner at TUM realises his vision to become a top professor

The only son of a polygamous family at the Coast, Kassim Ziro has known nothing but struggle throughout his 45 years.

Early in life, he was plunged into responsibility, the cultural norm of the Mijikenda community in Ganza, Kilifi county. He struggled through education and completed high school at Ganze Secondary in 1999, two years after his father retired.

“I wanted to go to college but my astonished father reminded me he had retired and could not afford to educate me. I was on my own and had to hustle,” Ziro recalled.

He spoke to the Star in his small but beautiful and still unfinished house in Utange, Kisauni subcounty. He is building it himself for his wife and three children.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say.

For three years from 2,000, Ziro worked as a mason for a company owned by an Indian businessman, then changed to carpentry, learning on the job because he had no prior knowledge of either skill.

“I earned Sh120 a day and worked for six days a week, totalling Sh720 a week. I never for a single moment had Sh1,000 in my pocket all that while,” he said.

One day, Ziro almost chopped off his right hand as he was working at a hectic pace with a wood-planing machine because his boss was on his neck that day.

“Luckily, after X-rays, the doctor said there was no need to amputate. Today, it’s hard to see, but my right hand is not normal,” he said.

At the company, a security guard, who dropped out of school, used to tease him that his secondary education was no help because they both earned the same salary.

“I also used to work under a standard eight leaver who went to a village polytechnic and became a mason. The two used to tease me and this fuelled my desire to continue my education. But I did not know how,” Ziro said.

A chance talk with a family friend, Khamis Juma Mkoka, changed everything for the boy with big dreams.

“Why should you struggle for a job yet your father used to be the driver of the Mombasa Polytechnic principal. Talk to him to talk to the principal,” he advised Ziro.

“That was the start of a new lease on life for me and I respect it,” he said.

He talked to his father who approached his former boss, who simply asked for Ziro’s documents. It was a favour to his former driver, whose work he had valued.

He was employed at Mombasa Polytechnic as a clerk, but since he had no papers, he was made an office assistant, a fancy name for a cleaner-cum-messenger, in the Applied Sciences department.

“The week I reported to work is the week students went on strike calling for the departure of the principal. And he went. So I do not know the principal by face to date. I just know he was called Koech,” Ziro said.

A month into his new job, the head of department, a Mr Ochola, impressed by his dedication to work, advised Ziro to look for a course to pursue. He said he would not want to see Ziro, a cleaner without papers, spend his life in an institution of higher learning.

However, Ochola, had to bend the rules a little to allow Ziro, who chose a certificate course in Food Technology. He allowed him to ‘steal’ institution time to go to class. That was in January, 2005.

Ziro was not qualified for study leave because that required him to first complete six years on the job first.

“I had seen there was no assistant technician in the Food Lab. I chose the one-year certificate course, eying that position,” Ziro said.

It was not easy juggling work and class. He had to arrive at work at 6am, clean the classes and the lab, before lectures started at 7am.

Classes ended at 8pm for the part-time students, so every morning it was dirty.

On top of that, Ziro was given another responsibility of preparing tea for more than 40 lecturers in the department.

“I used to take the slightest opportunity to clean the classes. Sometimes I had to miss classes to clean other classes. It was hectic but I managed. I am glad no student ever disrespected me for being a cleaner. In fact, some even volunteered to helping me clean some classes,” Ziro said.

In October, 2005, he was transferred to the examinations’ office and Ochola had to explain Ziro’s situation to the new department, which they understood and supported his ambitions.

“I had one month to the final Knec exams. I was worried I would not get time to do my exams but the new bosses created time for me to do the exams, which I passed,” Ziro said.

He stayed in the examinations’ office from October 2005 to August 2007 when the personnel manager in the department advised him to transfer back to the Applied Sciences department because his certificate was wasted in the examinations office where he was doing clerical work.

In January 2008, he started his diploma course in Food Technology, using the same time tactics he used to do his certificate course under the watchful eye of Ochola. He completed it in 2010.

In 2012, Ziro started his degree in Food Technology, completing it in December 2014.

By then, he had been promoted from office assistant to food technologist at the renamed Technical University of Mombasa. Because of his degree, he is now a part-time lecturer for the diploma groups.

“I have now applied for a Master’s Degree in Food Science because the Commission for University Education this semester approved the Master’s and Ph.D programmes for Food Science at TUM,” Ziro said.

“I don’t know where the fees will come from but I have faith I will manage. I have that urge for education because I want to eventually become a professor,” he said.

Since he is the only son in a polygamous family that stays in Ganze, he has been using his little pay to cater for almost all his siblings at home.

“You know, in our setting, whenever people see you working in Mombasa, they assume you have a lot of money, and all responsibilities are left to you,” he said.

This misconception even forced Ziro to cater for the daily needs of some relatives back in Ganze.

“Since I started working at TUM, I have never enjoyed my salary because it has always gone to taking care of my extended family,” he said.

He has been taking loans from the TUM Sacco to educate his siblings, as he knows the value of education.

“It has been a delicate balance and I have been lucky as back then you could still sit your exam, even if you hadn’t paid your fees; it’s different today. I used to talk to the head of department and they allowed me to sit for exams even with fee arrears, while I repaid slowly,” Ziro said.

“Despite all the challenges and burdens, my ultimate goal is to be called Professor Kassim Ziro. That is what has kept me going,” he said.

He believes the more he climbs the education ladder, the more his financial resources will increase and he will be able to take care of his extended family more comfortably.

His father died in 2015 and there was no one else to help him with the burden of the extended family.

“My father had two wives. My mother has five children and I am the only son. My stepmother has nine children, all girls. So, being the only son, all responsibility falls on me,” he said.

Ziro’s easy-going charm, evident hard work and leadership skills have made him head of the Kenya University Staff Union, TUM branch, for the last 10 years.

“I am lucky because I am always vocal and I do not like seeing anyone trampled on. I speak up. Even when I see a conductor in a matatus doing an justice to a commuter," he said.

“This has helped me get elected to various union positions ever since I joined TUM when it was still Mombasa Polytechnic.” 

The management at TUM has helped Ziro ease his union work.

“Unions and management usually do not get along. But in TUM, we take each other as stakeholders with a common goal.

“Although we differ sometimes, it is always in a respectful manner and in the end we usually reach an amicable solution,” Ziro said.

He has served as the chair of Poly Sacco for six years.

He also rose through the ranks and served as shop steward for the Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals & Allied Workers (Kudheiha). 

Ziro said no one is limited and advises people not to waver or give up but to focus on what they want in life.

“Do not be contented with where you are. Always take the first step to where you want to go, even if it takes you years. The first step is always crucial,” Ziro said..

He said the friends one keeps is always key.