Once a writer...

Jason Kap Kirwok is the country director of TradeMark East Africa and is also an acclaimed author. He spoke to BEATRICE OBWOCHA about humble beginnings and pursuing what he loves most — writing

Jason Kap Kirwok, or Kap, as most people call him, grew up in a small village in Mt Elgon and attended local schools, but later served in high positions including consulting for the World Bank. He has also published four books.

"I see myself as a man with a third grade mind who got a second rate education but has been lucky to end up with first rate jobs," Kap says of himself.

Kap with his wife Lucy Cheptoo.

He remembers attending classes under a tree at Chemoge Primary School, where they sat on stones.

"When it rained, and it used to rain most of the times because we were at the foot of Mt Elgon, we never had classes. The situation changed after we joined Class Five as there were mud classrooms," Kap remembers.

But despite the hardships, the boy soldiered on. He had a passion for reading but recalls there were no libraries those days. Thus he had to read what he came across, which turned out mostly to be newspapers used to wrap meat brought home by his parents.

Education

Kap joined Kapsakwony Secondary School and later Nyeri High School. His interest in literature continued to grow and a passion for writing also begun budding. Kap recalls he wrote his first story while in Form Two.

"I still have that book somewhere. I kept telling myself that I will write it someday," he says.

However, since Sciences were deemed more marketable in the job market, Kap joined the University of Nairobi for a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry.

He taught Laboratory Technology at Kenya Polytechnic for a while before moving to Molo to work with the Agriculture Development Corporation as an assistant in charge of agriculture production.

This is where he started writing more seriously by contributing to a farmers’ newsletter, African Farmers Voice.

Later he joined International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) as a research assistant before proceeding to the US for a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA), from the Eastern University in Pennsylvania.

"I used to contribute articles to the newspapers in Kenya and I continued when I went to the US and later when I was in Zambia where I worked with Comesa as the head of research and strategic planning," Kap says.

It was while working with Kenya Airways as the director in charge of strategy and planning that Kap decided to pen his thoughts in a book. During that period, he worked long hours, travelled a lot and wrote two poetry books, Heartbeats of the Mind and Loud Monologue, Silent Dialogue.

"Writing is therapeutic to me. It is a stress remover," Kap says.

In Heartbeats of the Mind published in 2001, Kap depicts life as a struggle between desires of the heart and desires of the mind.

After his stint with Kenya Airways, Kap went to the US to work with Heifer International as the senior director in charge of operations and global strategy and later as a consultant with the World Bank. While in the US, he started contributing as a columnist to The Standard between 2007 and 2010.

"During election time, most of my articles touched on election issues. Then came 2008 during the trying moment in this country due to post-election violence. I wrote a lot about this in the articles," he says.

Inspiration

His recently launched book, Telling it to the Birds, is a collection of articles, most of which were published during the post-poll violence.

"I wanted to preserve what I wrote during that time so I selected articles for the book from the columns," he says.

The other book launched alongside Telling it to the Birds is I Blame the Sky, written for children. But Kap says adults can draw lessons from it as well.

He also has written a novella for young adults that is yet to be released.

Kap returned to Kenya in 2010 and joined TradeMark East Africa as the country director. TradeMark East Africa supports regional trade and integration within the framework of the East African Community (EAC) Treaty and works with government ministries, departments and agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations in the region.

Despite his busy schedule throughout his career, Kap says there is always time to write.

"I have a goal that every day I must write something. It can be a sentence, a paragraph or a page; but I must jot something down," he says.

Writing requires consistency, as sometimes one may start writing about something and it ends up taking a different line than originally intended.

Kap draws his inspiration from nature, especially human nature - what people do or fail to do against the complex reality of nature.

"What drives me is the mystery of life and the universe. It urges me to share my wonder and awe," says he.

Kap has served in several boards, including as a member of the Strategy Committee of the Board of Nairobi Stock Exchange and board director for Kenya Flamingo Airlines Limited and KenCargo Airlines. He is currently a board director for Sergoit Holdings Limited.

He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Washington International University.