My name is Robert Bisase Ongera and I am 31 years old. I have a beautiful family of a wife and two girls. I was born in a place called Bogetutu in Kisii County. I started my schooling at Kyoge Primary School in 2003 and thereafter proceeded to Cardinal Otunga High School and sat for my KCSE exam in 2007 and scored a B- (minus). My parents were farmers and I have been brought up adhering to very strict work ethics. My father was an agricultural officer who worked very hard to ensure that my 7 siblings and I had everything we needed to live a comfortable and decent village life.                                   

We were not flashy but we were not poor either. The memory I have of my father was that of an extremely loving man, he loved my mother and we could all see that and appreciate it because none of my neighbours’ homes lacked a second wife set-up. However, their love was to undergo the ultimate test as one sad day my mother developed severe hyperacidity and my dad had to stop working to take care of her. After my high-school education, I proceeded to Embakasi to live with my elder brother who had been paying my school fees.

Life at my brother’s house was blissful and I, being the extra assertive person that I am, made a lot of friends in a very short period of time. One of my newly acquired friends introduced me to an organization known as Street Kids International– a Canadian Organization that was involved in giving skills to vulnerable youth to ensure future self-sustainability.

I joined the organization and immersed myself in it fully. Come 2008 I received training in Business and Banking and immediately became a trainer of trainers (ToT). In the midst of all this, I got a volunteer opportunity with Youth In Action Program from 2008-2013. The program was under funding from the Portuguese Embassy. In 2012, a crisis broke out in Greece and as per the EU member convention rule, in the event of a crisis, all countries were required to drop all overseas programs in order to support the member country undergoing the crisis. That is how I lost my job.

After losing my job I had no option but to go back to the village and begin life afresh. It is when I got to my mother’s house and asked her why she doesn’t have electricity and she told me that she got electrocuted while trying to change a light bulb. It bothered me and I decided that I would want to do something in connection with electricity in my career.

After coming to live in Rongai, I met some ladies on the street who gave me a BTTI flyer and I enrolled in 2014 for the Electrical and Electrical Engineering course. Coupled with my assertiveness, I registered a new firm- Borderless Electrical and not so long after that I started getting contracts especially in my home village of Kisii.

At the moment, my company is involved in lighting the Kisii market. I am now getting a decent living and would want to urge anyone looking for a college that BTTI is the best college one can find around the area. The lecturers training us were experts from other countries and they gave us education that is unparrarelled and destined to take us places. I strongly vouch for Beacon Technical Training Institute; it has truly empowered and transformed my life”.