A simple geography lesson on Mt Kilimanjaro at fifth grade changed the newly elected governor of Delaware state Mathew Meyer’s life.
The class sparked an interest for him to visit Kenya because his teacher taught him the mountain is in Kenya and not Tanzania. Meyer, a Democrat, beat Republican’s Mike Ramon 56 per cent to 41 per cent.
When he was studying political and computer science at Brown University, an exchange programme brought him to Kenya in 1992, and the ambition to see the mountain was still alive.
He told the Star in an exclusive interview that at the time, he had the option of going to Ibadan University in Nigeria, but the desire to see the mountain influenced him to choose Karen-based St Lawrence University.
When he landed, he fell in love with Kenya and stayed for a while. In fact, once his studies concluded, he got a job with Oracle, a leading computer technology company but declined to take it up, preferring to remain in Kenya.
Meyer, who is fluent in Swahili and has lived in Kenya long enough to acquire the nuances of the local culture.
He sees the country as his second home and has made lifelong friends. The lawyer and IT specialist honed his political and social mobilisations skills in the alleys of Nairobi’s slums when he participated in rehabilitating street boys and built a social entrepreneurship start-up in Korogocho into a global brand.
Meyer is conversant with all corners of the city, from Outering to Jogoo Road to Kibera. He also had a brief stint in multiparty campaigns in the 90s. His friends say he escaped police brutality by a whisker.
Kamau Ngugi, executive director of Defenders Coalition, who has maintained close friendship with Meyer, told the Star of an incident when with former Mukurweini MP Kabando Wa Kabando and Meyer, they went to Mukurweini constituency for a fundsdrive only for it to turn chaotic.
“Police perceived the gathering as a Safina Party event and descended on us with clubs and whips. Matt (Meyer) got a little taste of that,” he said.
But what stands out for the governor-elect is his time working with street children when he volunteered with Udungu Society.
As a volunteer, he worked under John Muiruri with whom he struck a friendship that has lasted. Meyer lived in Buruburu Phase IV as he worked in Korogocho, Mathare, Kariobangi and Dandora slums.
His passion for changing lives of the indigents had him organise them into groups and teach them skills that not only got them out of the streets, but also earned them a living.
“At the time, many Wazungus would come to such places and throw money at the problem hoping to send it a way. I felt the best way to meaningfully change the life of the people was turning the garbage into an economic source,” Meyer told the Star.
With the street boys, they made akala (sandals made from used tyres), under the Wikyo Akala Project.
This was in 1995. With time, they founded ecosandals, a brand that ensured the sandals made from used car tyres were neat, foot friendly, professionally designed and packaged for selling abroad through a website.
“I think ecosandals was the first ever e-business in Kenya at the time. We would get our sandals well finished and then sell across the globe via the website in early 2000s,” Meyer said.
“This changed the approach in
fighting poverty.”
