She used her time abroad to write

By Michael Oriedo

She stormed into Kenya’s literary scene in 2008 with the publication of her first novel, A Journey Within.

Since then, author Florence Mbaya has left the book, which explores the struggles of young women after completing college education, to journey and speak for her.

The diplomat’s wife turned writer says she never thought of becoming an author. However, that it came late in her life is a crown that she is taking with much esteem.

"I was a ‘career’ ambassador’s wife," Mbaya quips. "I retired last February after working for more than two and a half decades."

Then aged 25, she began her journey in diplomatic service in 1983 when her husband was posted to Rwanda as a third secretary at the Embassy of Kenya.

"I was then teaching English and Geography at Parklands Arya Girls Secondary School in Nairobi. I had to abandon my career and relocate with him," she recounts.

Hosting dignitaries

Her new work involved accompanying him to various functions and hosting dignitaries. "It was a challenging task. I learned many things about protocol on my own," she recalls.

Ms Florence Mbaya with her husband, centre, as he receives a dignitary in Paris. Attending functions and hosting dignitaries is a full time job as an envoy’s wife. [PHOTOS: MICHAEL ORIEDO AND COURTESY/STANDARD]

Kenya’s Foreign Service Regulations, she elaborates, forbid ambassadors’ spouses to pursue their careers while staying with their husbands or wives abroad.

"As a wife, your duty is to help the envoy represent the country best by hosting dignitaries," she says.

However, the major challenge came when she found herself a stay-at-home-mum two years later when her husband was transferred to The Netherlands to set up Kenya’s embassy.

While in Rwanda, she had done this job diligently. But in The Netherlands, she had little to do to complement her husband’s duties since the embassy was just opening. To occupy herself, she decided to learn typing. However, unbeknownst to her, her journey as a writer had begun.

"I was at home one day when I decided to use the time I had to learn to type," she recalls. "I picked a piece of paper and placed it on a typewriter. With my index finger, I typed the name Monika and a few other words."

Days later, her husband bumped into the paper on the typewriter. "Are you writing a book?" he asked her.

Exciting news

When she told him she was teaching herself to type, he told her that she could write a book.

"He told me he liked my work and I should develop it into a book," she says. It is then that the idea of writing a book about the experiences women undergo after graduating from college struck her.

She completed the manuscript after about two years and tried to publish it in London in 1992, but a publisher rejected it. Later, friends who had read and liked the script offered to help her publish it there, but she had changed her mind. Mbaya wanted to try Kenya’s publishers.

"I felt this was a story about Kenyan women. I could not imagine it not being read first in my own country," says the soft-spoken author. She thereafter submitted the manuscript to East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) in 2002. However, she had to wait for three years before they informed her they would publish the book.

"It was the most exciting news I got that year. My family and friends had asked me not to give up, but as time lapsed, I was expecting a rejection slip," she says.

It took the publishers another three years to release the book. "The book finally came out in 2008. I could not believe that 22 years had elapsed since I started writing it," she says gleefully.

She promoted it in Kenya and Tanzania where she was the then patron of Kenya Women Association in Tanzania, a member of the Diplomatic Spouses Group and the African Diplomatic Spouses Group.

Through these groups, she believes her book, which is published in EAEP’s Peak Readers Series, has found way into many homes in various countries.

"My colleagues were very supportive and happy for me," she says. "That I had used my time abroad to write a book really encouraged them," she adds.

As her ‘diplomatic career’ ended last February, her journey as an author began at about the same time with the publication of her book.

New chapter

"The book opened a new chapter in my life. In diplomatic life, when your husband or wife retires, as a spouse, your ‘career’, too, ends. You retire. Luckily for me, I had discovered writing,’’ she says proudly.

Mbaya says writing requires dedication and discipline. "It takes time to sustain characters. And it needs patience for your work to get published."

Though diplomats’ spouses must sacrifice their careers while abroad, Mbaya does not advocate for change of laws to allow them to pursue their careers.

"Attending functions and hosting dignitaries is a full time job, you cannot manage to balance it with any other work," she notes.

In all the foreign missions her husband served, she says Paris in France was the most challenging. "My husband had a huge responsibility. He covered Spain, Portugal, the Vatican, Serbia and Montenegro besides Paris."

Mbaya says diplomatic life is disruptive especially when one’s children are still young.

However, she says it was a privilege to serve the country. "You experience new cultures, learn new languages, meet new people and make friends from all over the world."

When the 51-year-old mother of three grown up children is not writing, she is giving talks to the youth who her book passionately addresses.

"I visit schools and talk to students about my experiences as an author and how they can make wise decisions about their future careers," she says.

She exhorts stay-at-home mothers to use the time they have to better their lives by engaging in meaningful activities. "Discover a talent you have and explore it," she advises. Mbaya is working on her second novel.