From Prisoner to President

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Image from Nelson Mandela.

To avoid an arranged marriage, Mandela fled to Johannesburg in 1941, and fought for the freedom of black South Africans. He was arrested in 1962, taken to court, and sent to prison, together with other freedom fighters.

He was released in 1990, and ran for president in 1994. As most of his people rooted for him, he was quite frank with them that they'd still need to work hard to achieve their dreams if they elected him president.

When he was elected president, thousands of South Africans flocked to Pretoria to witness his inauguration. So did famous personalities like Al Gore, Colin Powell and Jesse Jackson.

I like the way Colin Powell summed up the inauguration in his memoir, My American Journey. He recalled: "Mandela the protester, Mandela the prisoner, was now Mandela the president."

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Also check out "Mandela's Wit".
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When Sinning Saved My Life

Picture related to the title of the story
Image from NIV Bible.

When I enrolled at the University of Nairobi in September 2010, I had a wonderful time at the university. And I'll never forget the day I met Chris Ongaga, a high school yearmate, in the library.

We hadn't seen each other for several years, and we had a warm reunion that day. We talked and talked, till the noise we made attracted a tough librarian. She scolded us and demanded we hand over our university IDs to her.

Ongaga gave her his, but when I dug into my pocket to take out mine, I couldn't find it. It was then that I realized I could have left the ID at what's-its-name - the computer station in a library where people search books.

I went to the station, and sure enough, my ID was there. When I went to hand it to the librarian, I found Ongaga leaving her office. He gave me my national ID that I had given her, and then asked me to also go and apologize.

Well, I can't remember apologizing to her, but what I should have done is thank her because if she hadn't asked us for our university IDs, I wouldn't have known where I had left mine. She sure saved my life!

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Also check out "Amazing Grace in My Journey".
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Latest Posts
My MIT Interview
on April 11, 2026

Learning to Strive Hard and Never to Yield
on April 06, 2026

Touching Lives, One Story at a Time
on April 01, 2026

Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~ Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author
Name: Thuita J. Maina
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: Inspiring the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just for Laughs

There was this drunkard called Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"

~ Adapted from A Man of the People


The 7 Deadly Sins
  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note
I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams may never be mine.

Fun Facts
  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~ from Codingforum.net

Health Tips

"So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~ from Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

Wonders of the Modern World
  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

The Kind of Leaders We Need

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~ Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels
  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow Elbert Hubbard's words, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I don't know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents
  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Finding Peace in Turmoil

"Moses' rod on the ground was a frightful serpent; in his hand, it was a marvelous wand. Thus are tribulations. Considered in themselves, they are terrible; considered in the will of God, they are honors and pleasures."

~ St. Francis de Sales

Toughest Colleges to Get Into
  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~ Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists
  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~ Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations
  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~ Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins
  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love
"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~ James Allen

The World's Largest Cities
  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~ Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes
  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~ Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers
  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)