When life hands you a lemon, you make a lemonade out of it. In times of corona, you make a concoction that can be used to prevent corona, as proved by the Tanzanians. That is the story of a Kenyan man who has moved from being a Kenya Mpya driver to a pilot in Qatar.
The Kenyan born man is now an experienced pilot in Qatar, years after perfecting his transport portfolio as a Kenya Mpya driver on Thika Road.
Born in Kirinyaga County, nothing prepared him to the fact that he could end being a Kenya Mpya driver. This is a job he did for three years before he was unceremoniously fired for not being aggressive enough. “I don’t even know what that means, but the thought I was not good enough as a bus driver hit me hard. I had to prove them wrong.”
It was after this incidence that Josiah Kaburu decided to treat life in a similar way to how it was doing to him.
Armed only with a Diploma in Airport Operations from a little known Aviation College in Githurai, a PSV driving license and three years of experience as a Kenya Mpya driver, Kaburu decided to place his bet on Qatar. It is rumoured that he used took a household job in Qatar and six years later, he is a pilot with Qatar Airways.
The details of what transpired between the landing in Qatar as a household worker and becoming a pilot are scanty, but we can say that his experience as a driver in Kenya Mpya came in handy. This is a case of daring abroad.
His experience is now the envy of young Kenyans who are fighting for the chance to do household jobs in the Middle East, many of them with Masters degrees. For other Kenya Mpya drivers, the lesson is that you can be whatever you want to be. This is why you see them attempting to take off from Thika Road but I guess the buses are not fast enough.
