It is always the wish of any man to continue leveraging services at his station of work for as long as his age and health will allow.
However, in the contemporary society, it almost impossible to serve in one office, especially in public service without making enemies who will work tirelessly to see you kicked out.
It is also common for those whose serve for more than two decades in public offices to seek transfers, tender resignation, retire but in extreme cases, ‘haters’ crusade for their ouster for either founded or unfounded reasons.
Mandavia Damjibhai, a veteran businessman and philanthropist in Kisumu city has however managed to go against the grain and has exceptionally served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at Lions high school for at least 31 years now.
Since the establishment of the learning institution in 1981, Damjibhai took over as the BOG Chairperson and since then to date, the school has known no other person in that position apart from him.
This probably makes him the longest-serving BOG in all institutions in the country whose presence and service has since not been questioned by students, teachers and other stakeholders at the school.
The Scholar embarked on a fact-finding mission to unearth how the philanthropist has managed to continue occupying the position without a thought of resignation or even calls to push him out.
“It is always my joy to see people co-exist in peace and this is the message I emphasise to everyone I interact with. The little wealth God has given me, I use it for charity courses, especially in helping the less fortunate members of the community,” states the 86-years-old businessman.
According to Peninah Oketh, the Principal at the School, Damjibhai is an exceptional man who always responds whenever called upon by the School’s administration.
“He is a man of great wisdom. His love for the community is the throttle point which has since seen him remain to be the BOG boss to date,” states Okech.
It also came to the fore that Mandavia, who is also the Managing Director of Lake Printers and Stationers Limited, and other than being the BOG Chair at Lions, he holds other dozens of positions in different organizations.
He is a member of the BOG at Mama Ngina Children’s Home in Kisumu, the Secretary at the Hindu Council of Kenya-Kisumu Chapter, life Member of Kenya Red Cross, member of Lions Club and also a Life Member at the St. John’s Ambulance which are all charitable organizations.
He is also an education enthusiast who among other pioneers started Lions High School under the aegis of Lions Clubs of Kisumu Host.
His participation in charity services has seen him become very prominent to an extent that all street urchins at the Lakeside city know him as he is a father figure and provider to them.
During times of disasters in Kisumu, for instances the 2007 & 2017 post-election violence cycles, he was among those distributing relief food to families which were hardest hit.
“Through the Hindu Council of Kenya(HCK), a good number of Children homes in Kisumu receive contributions to help them care for the children. Mama Ngina, for instance, gets 2000 shillings daily from the HCK,” states the father of six.
Due to his charitable excursions, Damjibhai has scooped countless awards both locally and from the international scene. Among the top awards that he has received include; A 20 years distinguished service during the Nyayo era award given to him by Kenya’s founding President Jomo Kenyatta.
In 1994, retired president Daniel Arap Moi conferred on him a Head of State Commendation Award for his consistency in community service and mitigating the plight of the poor.
Lohana Mahajan (The Indian Community of East Africa) accorded him a gold medal for being an exemplary role model and a source of hope for the community.
“I was brought up in at a charitable facility in India where I also got my education till I completed High School. This is after I lost my parent care when I was four years. Were it not for the help I got from charitable people, then I don’t think I would ever get to where I am. I help other people as a way of giving thanks to those who helped me,” explains Mandavia.
Born on July 18, 1931, in a rural village in Porbandar-India, Mandavia also serves in the Rent Restriction Committee, Chamber of Commerce and Public Celebrations Committee.
Other organizations where he has also served include, Agriculture Society of Kenya (ASK) Kisumu Girls High School, Kisumu Boys, M.M Shah Primary School, Joyland School for the Crippled and Kisumu Day Secondary School.
It also emerges that he is also among the oldest inhabitants of Kisumu city intimating that he began living in the city in 1955.
“During this period, Kisumu had very limited road networks. Most roads were hardly tarmacked and many buildings were fashioned from wood and not concrete as it is today,” he states.
Important to note that the convenient mode of travel from Nairobi was via the railway and the road network was not as a good as it is at the moment.
He further states that apart from working trains, Kisumu was also connected to Uganda, Homabay and Tanzania by use of water steamers which were largely used as opposed to the present day.
After he moved from India, Mandavia says that he embarked on a job-seeking venture in Uganda (1950) where he was first employed as a laboratory assistant in a cement factory before he got another job opening at the Lugazi sugar factory.
He later moved to Kenya in 1955.
In Kisumu, he worked at Nyanza Bookshop, National Printing Press, Victoria Printers, Hamara timber yard and Nyanza Printing Limited before he invested in his printing press in 1990.
“I invested in my business using savings that I made while still employed. I still save to-date and this is a habit every young person must emulate if they want to achieve economic independence in their lives,” Damjibhai states.
Subsequently, he intimates that high discipline standards, timekeeping, honesty, hard work and commitment are the virtues that help him juggle the various jobs and positions he occupies.
“For you to be able to work with other people without locking horns, it is imperative for you to learn to listen to them, be prayerful in order to get insights on how to make rational decisions and be trustworthy so that people can vest their hopes and ambitions in you,” states the philanthropist.
He also underscores the need to avoid stress by abiding by the law a virtue which he states has given his health aa major boost as he does not worry about things like court cases and unsatisfied clients which may hit you back as stress/depression.