When his mother died while he was
still in Class Six at Mwatate Primary
School in Taita Taveta county, Patrick Mbelle was forced to grow up
suddenly.
His father, a hotelier, was working in Ukunda, Kwale county and his mother was the pillar he had always had. “I had to be the mother, partly father and the elder brother to my siblings all at the same time.
My responsibilities had just increased,” Mbelle says. Born on November 25, 1991, he was still too young to be thrust into the role.
“But I thank God because He does not give you a load that you cannot handle. He will always give you a means to cope.”
He had to wake up earlier than usual to prepare his siblings for school. “The last born was too young for me because my mom died of complications from the caesarian section she had. The baby survived,” Mbelle says pensively.
Things were not rosy and their father moved them to Ukunda. The baby had to be brought to Ukunda a year later.
After completing his primary school education at Redeemed Primary School in Ukunda, Mbelle, who performed well - scoring 360 marks out of 700 - was enrolled at Shimo la Tewa Secondary School.
But bad company derailed him. He joined a gang of childhood friends who played truant regularly.
“We got to know Mtwapa, nicknamed Sin City. We used to sneak out of school to go swimming at the beach,” he narrates.
“Sometimes, we skipped preps to go dancing in clubs using different trickery to get ourselves in. There was this famous club called Surfside at Pirates Beach. We lost focus on our education.”
He adds, “In retrospect, I thank God we finished high school alive and in good health.”
He got a C- in KCSE and with it, his dreams of becoming a pilot evaporated. His father established a food kiosk for him in Mtwapa to enable him earn some money.
“The hotel was my house and my business premises at the same time. It was a one-room place which used to be a food kiosk during the day and at night, I would push aside all the tables and chairs and place my mattress and sleep. It was my bedroom during the night,” Mbelle says.
At that time, he was barely 18 years old and had no national ID card. Neighbours frequently called police on him, saying he was operating a business while underage.
“My dad never got a license for the business and it’s like he knew this would bring trouble in future, so he either blocked me or something because I could not reach him on phone,” he says.
County askaris were often at his place. “I got arrested several times but each time I would explain myself to the authorities and they let me go. Somehow, I had power of the gab and could talk myself out of trouble. Also, because I was hard working, people saw my genuineness,” he says.
The challenges he underwent while running the eatery shaped him to be a better person in life. He became street smart. One day, a woman neighbour who ran a cyber café asked him to recommend an attendant for her premises.
“I told that lady I had someone who could do it but needed three months to be available because he was still in college. The lady agreed because it was not urgent,” Mbelle says.
He used that opportunity to enroll into computer classes and after three months, had acquired the relevant skills.
“I then went to the lady and presented my papers. I told her the someone I knew was myself.”
Mbelle got the job and left the running of his eatery to his cousin. While at the cyber café where he had access to the internet, he learnt graphic design and video editing.
The youth saved up until he had Sh20,000. He wanted to go to college. But most colleges could not admit him because he did not have the requisite qualifications for the course he wanted to pursue.
Mbelle had trained his sights on an Information Technology course. When Mombasa Aviation College advised him to enrol in a journalism and mass communication course, he accepted.
“By this time I could set-up an internet network and this is what I did part time, earning at least Sh4,000 per job. This was at a time when people were just getting into the internet thing,” he says.
At college Mbelle and two of his friends, Salim Cheka and Salim Said, both of whom also helped him secure industrial attachment at Radio Salaam, formed a photography company called Chekadime Enterprises, documenting weddings and social events.
That was in 2012, during the campaign period for the 2013 elections. It so happened that Kisauni MP at the time, Hassan Joho, needed a good photographer after his official one fell ill.
Mbelle was contacted and met with the MP.
“He said he had seen my photos and asked if I could take photos at a rally. I had taught myself never to say no to any potential opportunity. So I said I could, though I had never done it.”
He worked for Joho and the politician was impressed. When Joho won the gubernatorial race and became Mombasa’s first governor, he took Mbelle in as one of the official photographers.
“One day, Joho sat me down and told me I have to grow, not to be content with where I am,” he says.
He enrolled at the Technical University of Mombasa to study Journalism mass communication.
At TUM, he met Dr William Kingi, who would become Joho’s deputy. Kingi also had an organisation called Jumuiya ya Wanafunzi wa Pwani, which he later asked Mbelle to run.
Mbelle became Juwapwa president and met many who were on the verge of losing hope after failing in secondary school.
By this time, the government had started Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, through which he helped register almost 2,500 students.
It is during this time that he met a friend called Chai, who introduced him to the Blue Economy concept. Mbelle attended his first Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi where his interest piqued.
“The interest I developed led me to making sure that youth got jobs in ships in the maritime industry. That was the lowest hanging fruit,” Mbelle explains.
The venture made him popular at the local level and saw him invited to related events. Mbelle’s knowledge of the blue economy was also growing.
He also realised many youth had ambitions but did not know how to actualise them.
“I did fora at Tononoka Hall in Mvita. The hall used to be jam-packed. I taught people what I knew about the blue economy while also enriching my knowledge through seminars and reading more,” he says.
He got wind of recruitment at Bandari Maritime College, which interestingly, most of the people in Mombasa and the Coast did not know about.
“I took my salary that month and hired three buses which were placed in Bamburi Mwisho, Likoni Ferry and Changamwe. These were to ferry Mombasa people to BMA for the recruitment,” Mbelle says.
“I just announced that there are jobs on ships and people should go for interviews. The place was jampacked and the interviewers were overwhelmed.”
He wanted to make Mombasa residents aware of the job opportunities and at the same time enlighten the government that there were interested candidates.
At first, most of the applicants were from as far as Ol Kalou, Turkana, Lodwar and Nyeri, with very few from the Coast.
But Mbelle’s quest to link locals with jobs got him into trouble. He was approached by “mean looking people” who wanted to know what his interest was, saying he was “disturbing the government”.
This made him realise that to help Mombasa youth, he had to be in a position of influence. He wanted to vie for senator in the 2022 general elections but Joho advised against it, encouraging him to start small.
Mbelle ran for Bamburi MCA,
which he clinched.
He is now a champion of the Blue
Economy and has helped 176 youth
secure jobs in ships, as well as know
more about the sector.
