Music is the passion that motivates the action

For years now Hellen Mtwali has been on staff at Daystar AND a musical celebrity in Kenya. Hellen has started many musical groups and continues to assist Daystar with corporate affairs and fundraising events. Hellen has been on the judging panel of a number of Kenyan talent shows, including one that was completely online during the Covid 19 Pandemic called Talenta Ajira. Its focus was to help musicians to build an employable career in music. Among Hellen’s many talents is mentoring, one of her mentees is Godfrey, a Daystar student already putting his musical talent into gainful employment.

Godfrey comes from a large family – you know the story, many children, not enough school fees. Godfrey’s education was interrupted a few times, but he finally finished high school at age 20. By then he’d given his life to Christ and discovered his love of music. He was able to find manual labor jobs to supplement the family income. He found odd jobs in the construction business. Somewhere along the line he saw Hellen’s musical post on social media and left her a fan-boy message about how he wished she could mentor him in his music. A few months passed before he heard back from her. Due to this connection an on-line mentoring relationship began!

Through Hellen’s mentorship he applied to be a part of Talenta Ajira the online talent contest to turn music into employment. Though the contest was competitive, Godfrey won the competition! When Hellen told him he was the winner of a large cash prize, he told her, I’d rather go to Daystar! Even though he’d been mentored by Hellen he didn’t know of her connection to Daystar. Once he knew this, he got all his school records together in the hopes of getting in. His delays in finishing high school showed up in poor final grades, even though he had the aptitude for university. So, when he saw on social media that Hellen would be traveling with Daystar to a university and college fair in his area, he jumped on a bus to the high school where the event was happening (5 hours away) to see if he could see Hellen and maybe even get an application to Daystar.

When he got there, he met Hellen. (This was his second time to meet her in person, first being the awards portion of the talent contest he won.) When he arrived at the college fair, he found the Daystar table was not very popular. So he headed to the middle of the high school compound and just started singing. Hellen joined him. Within a few minutes, crowds gathered. The students flocked to the Daystar table and were very interested in the university.

This earned Godfrey the notice he wanted. He was ready to hand over his high school information and his entrance exam scores. Finally at age 24, he was ready to start university. In fact, he reported for classes three weeks early because he was so excited to be there. Godfrey now has a one-year certificate and a two-year associate’s degree in music. He’s just started a bachelor’s in International Relations with a minor in Electronic Media.

Godfrey continues to earn money to help himself through school and his family too. But instead of hauling sand and making bricks, Godfrey is singing in his own band or is the Master of Ceremonies at local events. Breaking out of the cycle of poverty has also inspired his siblings, several of which are in college or university now. Being on scholarship is making Godfrey’s dreams come true.