Some of the attendees of the conference pose for a photo on the last day of the inaugural North Eastern Regional Men’s conference held in Whiting, New Jersey. pic by Joab Magara/Ajabu
Story and pics by Joab Magara, AjabuAfrica.com
WHITING, New Jersey, OCTOBER 30_Kenyan men in America were in for a rude awakening when they were told their women now earn 75% more than them. The bomb shell news was dropped by the President of Kenya Christian Fellowship in America, Mr. Lucas Kimani at the historic inaugural North Eastern Regional Men’s conference held at the Americas Keswick between October 23rd and 25th in Whiting, New Jersey.
“It is true men earn more than women almost everywhere else in the world, but on the average, Kenyan men in the US earn 75% less than their women,” Mr. Kimani said.
He said most Kenyan men came to the US for economic reason but failed to follow through with the acquisition of skills necessary to boost their incomes.
Mr. Lucas Kimani told the shocked male only audience that Kenyan men were becoming paupers while their women prospered. “I am calling on the Kenyan women to midwife their men into prosperity because the Kenyan man is a dying breed,” he said.
The formidable 75% income gap Kenyan women had opened against their men did not happen per chance. “They are doing something right,” Mr. Kimani said.
While delivering his speech to officially open the conference, Mr. Kimani said that more Kenyan women are enrolled in universities and colleges than men. The men on the other hand have a commanding lead in attrition rates from colleges while the women go on to graduate in greater numbers.
Later speaking to ajabuafrica.com during a recess, Mr. Kimani, the President of the largest Kenyan Christian organization in the US explained that Kenyans in the US were a special population whose demographics were different from other groups. Men in Kenya have a huge income lead against women, and they enter the US with that gap intact. However, within the same immigrating cohort, the Kenyan women erase the gap within a few short years.
Shocked Kenyan men listen to the not so good news of how their women in the US make much more than them
Mr. Kimani pointed out that although Kenyan men enter the US much better educated with many of them holding academic and technical degrees, they fail to adopt and re-strategize to acquire skills that would enable them improve their earning potential.
As if the above was not enough, the attentive Kenyan men were again pulverized by a speaker who promised to tell them the truth “even if you don’t like it because it hurts.”
Speaking immediately after the KCFA President, Dr. Joseph Nzeketha, the founder and Senior Pastor of World Compassion Outreach Ministries International in New Jersey told the audience there was an acute leadership vacuum among Kenyan men.
“I am not telling you to go fight your wives. Go do the right thing and take over leadership in your families,” Dr. Nzeketha urged the attendees.
Dr. Nzeketha said that Kenyan men were attending fellowships and churches at increasingly negligible numbers at a time when women were experiencing a revival, not only maintaining their enthusiasm for things of God, but also reaching higher levels in matters of faith.
Dr. Nzeketha who holds a doctorate in Divinity told the men they were leaders by default having been created as men and heads of households. “It is not a sin to be a man. It is Godly. Stand up and take charge,” the Pastor roared.
The biblical scholar said that Kenyan men must identify areas in which personal growth were required: “You begin to die if you cannot identify areas in which you can grow.” Dr. Joseph Nzeketha is currently pursuing two fully sponsored post doctoral researches at two universities in New York and New Jersey. His research area of interest is why mainstream churches are dying.
Pastor Nzeketha castigated Kenyan men for having not learnt to be interdependent with their women and one another. “Our men have not learnt to be interdependent with the women. Our women run the show while the men are missing in action,” he said.
From right to left: Dr. George Mungai, President of the Caroline W. Mungai Foundation and Educationist in Brooklyn, NY, Mr. Lucas Kimani, President of KCFA, and Ajabu Africa writer, Mr. Joab Magara.
Dr. Nzeketha taught that the devil does not like people to learn to be interdependent. He explained that interdependence leads to mentorship which in turn spawns desirable growth in a community.
“Only Nelson Mandela had to spend 26 years in prison; the rest of South Africa did not have to,” Dr. Nzeketha said.
He told successful Kenyan men to become mentors so that others could overcome obstacles as well.
Unfortunately, he said, the African community is good at shooting down those who are up, and excellent at stepping on those who are down and coming up.
Dr. Nzeketha told Kenyans to tell those they mentor the truth even when it hurts. “Can Kenyan men handle the truth without quitting the church?” he posed.
He advised Kenyan men to admit their weaknesses because doing so did not make them weak. Rather, it would mean they recognized their identities.
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Dr. Nzeketha urged Kenyan men to develop Godly visions. “You must have a vision to understand your mission, and missions require skills,” he said. He said Kenyan women had mastered this process, and that was why studies indicated they were ahead of their men.
Dr. Nzeketha lamented that men were responsible for the negative reputation Kenyans had in certain cities in New Jersey and elsewhere in the US where they were known to be hard partying and careless consumers of alcoholic beverages. “Hi maneno sitaki kabisa,” (“I abhor that kind of behavior”) said Dr. Nzeketha.
From right to left: Mr. Lucas Kimani, Dr. George Mungai, Bishop Manasseh Mankuleiyo of South Carolina; Rev. Peter Osano, the KCFA National Director for Men's Ministry and Mr. Mike Njenga, the Deputy National Director for Men's Ministry.
“That is how you kill the dream of a nation.”
“In whatever enterprise you are involved in, your area of employment, strive to be the best. Do your jobs per excellence. Acquire the maximum training and set of skills possible in your field,” Dr. Nzeketha said.
Dr. Nzeketha shocked the audience when he said second generation Kenyan immigrants had no business working in group homes.
“First generation immigrants worked hard in group homes to build a better future for our children. Why are our children also working in group homes? We have to nudge our children towards better professions like medicine, law and pharmacy.”
Dr. Nzeketha asked Kenyan men to plant seeds in prayer upon their children, “and the prayers shall not go to waste.”
The conference was also attended by Rev. Peter Osano, the KCFA National Director for Men’s Ministry, Mr. Mike Njenga, the KCFA National Deputy Director of Men’s Ministry, Bishop Manasseh Mankuleiyo of South Carolina, Rev. Nathan Culver, the founder of Freedom Financial Ministries in Virginia, Mr. Njoroge Muchiri, the Chairman of the KCFA North Eastern Region, and Dr. George Mungai, President of the Caroline W. Mungai Foundation and educationist in Brooklyn, New York.
Attendees came from all the way from South Carolina to New York. New England was not represented at this ground breaking conference.
All is not lost. Kenyan men relax in a Jacuzzi to absorb the shocking news revealed at the new men's conference.
KCFA was launched more than 20 years ago and encourages its members to be responsible and effective members in their own local churches.
