Renowned Kenyan Broadcaster Fred Obachi Tells Kenyans Abroad to Remember Humble Roots, Help Beyond Relatives

Renowned Kenyan Broadcaster Fred Obachi Tells Kenyans Abroad to Remember Humble Roots, Help Beyond Relatives

Renowned Kenyan broadcaster Fred Obachi Machoka has urged Kenyans living abroad to always remember their humble beginnings and the pivotal role their communities played in their journey out of poverty.

In his recent address at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest Hotel in Brooklyn Park, Machoka acknowledged that many Kenyans in the Diaspora were raised by parents and guardians who had virtually no resources. At the DEAR Awards that honours notable Kenyan diaspora members, Machoka kept the audience engaged by entertaining them with his famed sense of humour which has become his signature throughout his nearly five-decade-long career.

As diaspora members, a number of Kenyans confronted challenging conditions within their households. Often, parents and guardians attempted to make financial ends meet for their families by resorting to the sale of illicit liquor to fund the education of their children. For others, arriving in a new place was an isolating experience made bearable only by community support. Obachi says that the community came together and drummed up resources to see Kenyans in the diaspora succeed. According to Obachi, satisfied Kenyans who now settle in Minnesota should help those who bolstered them to success.

He says that Kenyans in Minnesota faced significant hurdles at the start, yet worked towards creating a vibrant presence. Minnesota boasts the highest concentration of Kenyans in America, according to the United States Census Bureau. This budding population has captured the interest of Kenyan businesses and the government. Kenya Airways has helped elevate opportunities for migrants in the Twin Cities, given there is now daily direct access from New York to Nairobi. Kenyan governmental services have striven to facilitate ease of access to a wealth of consular services within the state. However, these tremendous strides by the Kenyan community are sometimes unjustly overseen and undervalued by the public at large.

The DEAR awards serve as the community's way of bestowing recognition upon individuals who are actively making a positive impact on society. Machoka has expressed gratitude at the effort being made to spark dialogue surrounding the hardships plaguing Kenyans both at home and in the diaspora. He emphasizes the importance of uniting the Kenyan diaspora with those residing in Kenya to address various issues and dispel misconceptions about life in the Western world. Machoka acknowledges the misconception that many Kenyans see their overseas brothers and sisters as having good fortune in financial matters.

However, Machoka recognizes that there are Kenyans in the diaspora who have achieved financial success. He urges them to go beyond supporting their own families and to contribute more to the community. Rather than focusing solely on protecting their loved ones by building fences, employing guard dogs, and hiring security, he encourages them to invest in others within the community. This way, their parents would not have to reside in impoverished areas.

Comments

Guest (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 04:08pm

Inaccurate Minnesota is where all the people of Kisii go however there is a much higher number of Kenyans aka non Kisii in Dallas

MakOnyango (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 04:33pm

Machoka akichapa ma doubles mwezi mzima bila day off atachoka the ndiyo atawacha hizo story za kusaidia wakenya home ambao hawatosheki hata ukiwatumia $1M. USA hatujui Bottoms Up unless tunaosha tushosho na tuguka makalio kwa nursing homes. Kumbafu.

Wesley (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 07:52pm

In reply to by Vic (not verified)

“How United Do We Stand” while those folks back home keep voting for crooks who steal everything in the Kenya’s coffers??

I also do not like the idea of grown ups getting given free things! They should become innovative to resolve their own problems without having to depend on others to meet their needs. Give us a break you broadcaster! I am tired of feeding lazy people; him included! Get a job, any job! That is exactly what we do here in the diaspora!! Nonsense.

I am also very suspicious of this dude saying those in the Diaspora should lender a hand to those they left behind. Does he understand how much conmanship goes on in Kenya today?

Ciro (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 07:31pm

Well Machoka, well! A lot of us in the diaspora have tried to help those we left behind but the problem now is the dishonesty, theft, corruption that the diasporans are exposed to back home. Apparently it seems like everyone in Kenya have turned out to be a scammer of some sorts. You could educate those in Kenya to understand that we do not have a money tree 🌲 in the BACk yard here in America where we harvest sucks of free money which should be squandered on useless projects back in Kenya. Could also tell them that we have our own needs too? Thanks!

Kelly (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 07:34pm

Machoko, have looked at how much money the people in the diaspora remit to Kenya every month? You would not be coming to the US to lecture us f you have reviewed the diaspora remittance to Kenya! How much money did send out there yourself, and What do you want?

Maitha (not verified)     Sun, 10/15/2023 @ 02:12pm

In reply to by Yllek (not verified)

@YLLek - what is wrong with the man’s name? You seem to chastise @Kelly for reasons I personally do not understand. Your name ‘YLLek’ sounds more fake than Kelly which is a very common name. Again, does Fred have to be special because he comes from Gusiiland?? Doesn’t that sound quite self conceited of you to claim? I tend to think he is just an ordinary guy like any other Kenyan.

MOHANDAS (not verified)     Thu, 10/12/2023 @ 10:00pm

Wacheni Ujinga,

Kenyans in Diaspora are free to save their money for rainy days ahead. Nothing is for free these days and if someone gives you something from generosity then it should not be mistaken for an entitlment plus we cannot save everyone.

George (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 02:38am

In reply to by MOHANDAS (not verified)

Just ask this guy what he is doing to help those he left behind to come to Minnesota?? He could have spent the air ticket money feeding those he just left to come beg in America.

People in the diaspora are working two to three jobs to make the ends meet and this loner guy is telling us to keep supporting fools back home who have zero understanding of life beyond their nose? What kind of nonsense is this crap?

Willys (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 02:44am

What a weighty topic Machoka? Some of us have helped, helped until we are tired of helping! It is now your turn to do the rest Fred! Count me out! This man is living in the Utopia Country!

Jack (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 02:58am

Fred, tell Ruto and Riggy to plan wisely and use the collected taxes to uplift the “bottom ups” they promised to help. Ruto is wasting too much money flying all over the world just like you to take his wife shopping. It is about time that people in Kenya take some responsibility to change their own plight and destiny. Sending them free this and that will not do it! We send billions of dollars to Kenya but no one wants to be held accountable on how that money is spent. Fred, why don’t you go back to Kenya and teach every body how to manage the money we send to Kenya?? I do not get where you are coming from Machoka!

Solomon (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 03:12am

Obachi, have you ever thought of telling Kenyans to stop bearing kids like RATS? The mouths to be fed are increasing like corn and beans because everyone is busy screwing around without a clear plan on how to raise those kids. It is not the responsible of those abroad to be feeding Tom, Harry and Dick back home! No one wants to address the population explosion issues in kenya and how it affects the general standard of living. So let the sleeping dogs lie until they wake up to address and solve their own problems. It is very expensive every where in the world with inflation rising like hell across the divide. People need to start making wise choices and mange their affairs well.

Khaemba (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 03:30am

What is “success” Obachi?? I personally have started so many projects back home but they seem to end up collapsing because of corruption and theft. I am now left saying, “to hell with this shit”! Folks back home are very selfish and lacks vision for the future! Kwenda huko wewe!

Formerlyguest 2 (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 09:34am

Machoka, stop perpetuating a culture of beggars! Innovate , solve, find homegrown solutions etc. Saidia mimi culture is what ails Africa!

Sussy (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 01:47pm

In reply to by Formerlyguest 2 (not verified)

And I say AMEN to your thoughtful comment! A whole TV journalist coming to America to beg and to encourage others to be beggars by expecting free loaded cash from the diaspora! Tell this dude to get a JOB! Gimme a damn break!

Justin (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 04:37pm

In reply to by Formerlyguest 2 (not verified)

These old guys like Machoka got a lot of colonial mentality hangover left in them. He is just in the likes of Gachagua and them. They still believe that Kenya can not develop and advance without the white man gifting them with some colorful things and cheap money. Wazungu turned them into beggars of some sort of aimless loafers, and this is why you see the old man still beholden to the beggars attitudes. These kinds of self defeating attitudes got to change for Kenya to move on.

It will change nothing No matter how much money money is sent back to Kenya when that money will simply be misused and squandered away! Kenyans back home must learn the art of planning ahead and choosing between needs and wants! There is nothing free in America and so it should be like that in Kenya.

I have come to a point I have refused to buy anyone a cup of tea whenever I visit Kenya. Those folks will never volunteer to bail out anyone if you land into some financial burdens and issues here in America.

This man need to drop the pathetic attitude that those in the diaspora owes those at home anything. No one owes the other jack nothing Sir!

Amy (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 07:19pm

In reply to by Formerlyguest 2 (not verified)

He is a student of the “old school of thoughts” and he wants to keep it that way! It is quite hard to teach an old dog some new tricks. He wants to keep on getting some old bones from the hard working folks in the diaspora. Can I get an Amen?

maxiley (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 10:18pm

In reply to by Formerlyguest 2 (not verified)

Reminds me that Auma Obama complained about samething - telling Luos to stop this culture of a'gonya-gonya'Ithink gonya means help, assist,as well as beg.But I stand corrected.
Anyway what annoys me most is "saidia" from local'bourgeoisies'They tend to hoard their cash at your expense-explaining that the dollar stretches farther than the shilling...

Kenny (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 08:53am

In reply to by maxiley (not verified)

They got several house maids and other kind of farm helpers so they expect others to subsidize the cozy life they live in kenya while we’re working these hard 24/7 jobs! This kind of ‘help your lazy buddies at home’ has to be stopped for good. It really pains me to think this guy think we are stupid.

Mūndūmūgo (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 10:42pm

In reply to by maxiley (not verified)

Ndugu Maxiley inasmuch as waKenya nyumbani hate being told how to live their lives because they think we don't understand the problems they face in Kenya, I think we at least have a small understanding of what they face. They, on the other hand, seem to lack any understanding of our lives. While the $ is strong, they seem to forget we spend that money hapa hapa. I think back to when I moved to CO and initially rented before buying. I was in a 2 bedroom for a little over $2000. To someone in Kenya this may seem extravagant but it was the going rate for a a decent place(not luxury). The thing is, there are apartments in Nairobi going for KeS 150k-260k that find actual renters. Why couldn't this fellow ask for help from these renters since they clearly have the means. If you can afford that lifestyle in Kenya you have crossed from comfortable to damn rich. I'm also trying to figure out who to help - I grew up in Nairobi but have relatives strewn around central so do I help those communities or do I help those in my Nairobi community who live a better life than I do? Lastly will the asking ever stop once you start giving?

Kimondo (not verified)     Sun, 10/15/2023 @ 05:51pm

In reply to by Mūndūmūgo (not verified)

Thank you for the good monologue explaining every situation between the two worlds - Kenya and the Diaspora! Surely these folks do understand our predicament but they simply do not care! The only thing you have missed is that Fred Obachi, just like another dude called Shem Ochuando are the ones needing help to continue building on the luxury of Ksh 150,000 apartments, luxury houses, etc in the City in the Sun! They are in Minnesota now setting up the cash collection network by making the naive and the gullible Kenyans in the diaspora feel guilty of not showering them with the Benjamins! How come Fred did not say anything about helping Kenyans who are homeless here in America? Charity begins at home guys - we can’t be sending billions of shillings back home while some of us are living under the bridges and deep in the sewer tunnels! These folks (Fred and Co) use the extra load of cash to buy AirBnB rentals to lease to you when you visit Shags! @mundumugo, we get conned as we all watch and listen to poverty stricken tales of life back in the motherland! We get lectured by Fred and Co that we are all stingy, and have forgotten those who we left behind. I sure do agree with you that Fred should set a good example of helping first with his VoK retirement kitty. I have done many things (farming business - failed, pigs business failed, chicken business failed, opened Nduka and it failed) to generate income for those I left behind but nothing seems to flourish! I wanted to offer a fishing line so those folks could go fish for themselves! No one want to be accountable once they receive the money! I sent money for school fees ;mostly to the neighbors) but only a few kids have completed school. I could go berserk if I took the time to think about all these failures back home. But I have decided fed to soldier own and make something for myself! I am about to divorce every body (family, relatives, friends and neighbors) back home and start life all over!

Maxiley (not verified)     Mon, 10/16/2023 @ 03:06am

In reply to by Mūndūmūgo (not verified)

@Ndugu Mundumugo,partly some of diaspora bothers,and sisters are to blame.I Say this with the hope of rectifying the situation.They only highlight how much they make in shillings.
I am reminded on this forum of a kenyan lady who was sending gifts to her relatives in Kenya with price $$$$ tags still intact.I am sure partly this is intended to show how she cares about them ,to send such an expensive gift(in shillings).The un intended perception is ,there must be more where that came from.Please stop this nonsense of comparing the two economies.
Yes some Kenyans in diaspora have a tendency of ostentatiously
flash their money when visiting the homeland.To them,I say a little a humility goes along way to restore respect.Remember some in homeland would do as good or even better if they had the same opportunity to "escape code "254.So dont act like you are better than them.Its not a level playing field.

Muthiga (not verified)     Sun, 10/15/2023 @ 05:02pm

In reply to by maxiley (not verified)

Well said @maxiley; very well said indeed!! These num Nuts would care less if you get evicted for failing to gather enough cash to pay rent or not as long as you keep supplying them with free cash! Them folks back in Kenya would care less if you slept hungry with a rumbling empty stomach! One silly neighbor asked me to sell my vehicle and send him money because he wanted to travel to China to see the Great Wall of China. I tell you it will take an act of Congress to enlighten these folks back home. It just makes me terribly sick to hear a grown man begging like a little retard! You are Damned if you give someone, and you damned if you don’t!! One thing I know is I come first in every situation! The rest I consider them to be the wider crowd pool that caused Moses of the old to break the Ten Commandment (Kiriindi kia Mutha)!

Maxiley (not verified)     Mon, 10/16/2023 @ 03:40am

In reply to by Muthiga (not verified)

@ Muthiga,why cann't he befriend one of those countless chinese in kenya to sponsor him...I guess you are the low hanging fruit...Holidays are upon us.Send him a video,or a postcard of the great wall.Come to think of it do people still send postcards?

Nyaboke (not verified)     Fri, 10/13/2023 @ 02:13pm

Abacha - have you gotten a job to work 40 hours a week since you came to visit America?? Men older than you are working three of those jobs to survive in America. When you come here to give us lectures, please get yourself a job and fall in on a production line to understand what those in the diaspora go through! Can you work standing up for a straight 8 hour shift boxing shit? You are just a spoilt brat like those back in Kenya who expect Heavens from our bitter sweat!! And when they get the money, they just drop the trousers to moon us like monkeys and mishandle every penny we send to them! Like Mandona said, “papa don’t preach to us while you have not lived, worked and experienced the real life in America”! Those who sponsor you to come to give these petty talks should get you a bit exposed for you to understand things at a grand scale! Other than that I just tell you so long grandpa!

MjuaAji (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 03:39am

Machoka, in as much as I respect for being one of my entertainment master, please do not listen to the whining of one of the most (forgive me for creating know-know vocabularies) peculiar, thuggeries,greediest, crafty, conmiosis vertebriosis, "thieviogravist", synjathropers, and corrupt species unknown to Olduvai Gorge historians like the late Richard and Phillip Leakey. Kenyans in Kenya have an unquenchable thirst for money, and unending cravings for help. It is only Satan who can have the guts to even forgive then a shred of a sin. To help you can, and it is allowed. The problem is that even when you do so, they will still steal and exaggerate the price of materials, school fees, land or plots. Kenyans have surpassed Nigerians by far, when it come to all these vices. All Kenyans are thieves by birth and design. Event those in the diaspora steal something in their daily interaction with their jobs, stealing time by either asking their colleagues to clock in hours earlier, or clock out hours later long after they are gone. But the sweet thing about Kenyans especially in the US is that they well understand the consequences of doing it. They likewise understand the consequences of committing crimes here, and how their lives are impacted by a silly mistake. So Machoka, you are a rich man from Kitengela, start by helping those poor Abagusiis from your village at Nyaribari-Machache, Kitutu Chache, Bomachoge Borabu, Bomachoge Chache, Nyaribari-Masaba etc, and you will possibly comprehend why MjuAji has never in his Amerian sojourn, slept beyond 4hrs.

Jason (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 03:36pm

In reply to by MjuaAji (not verified)

@knowitall, wow you have truly lost me with all these stone age vocabularies. Did you know that the Queen of England died will all the vocabularies??? No more Queen’s English… All I can understand here is that Alduvai Gorge my Fren!!! . Did Fred take some of your hard earned dollars? I feel your pain!

Wesonga (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 04:05pm

MjuAji - it is kinda hard to explain to these wealthy black characters who come all the way from Kenya to America to lecture everyone except themselves that you bearly sleep “4hrs” on a good day as you endeavor to make the ends meet here in America. All you can do is ignore these illiterate elements who have no sympathy for you. I get to wonder why this old man has not helped those he assumes that the diasporas need to send money to?

Wesonga (not verified)     Sat, 10/14/2023 @ 04:08pm

BTW: this dude looks like he is a relative of the Nyachae’s! They got all the money and huge tracks of land that they can share with those impoverished folks in his backyard.

Kibe (not verified)     Sun, 10/15/2023 @ 02:03pm

Obachi is simPly saying he needs the diasporas to provide financial to him to continue living a highly expensive lifestyle back home n Kenya. He is now referring to himself as the poor guy living next door to a well financed diaspora family member who receives a few dollars here and there! Just give this guy a dollar to make him shut his mouth.

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