My life as an artist was not planned but rather born out of necessity. Four months before I signed up to the Safari Park Hotel as a dancer, I had been fired from my first job as an electrician at Simmers restaurant in downtown Nairobi. Two weeks towards the end of the 4 months, I was served with an eviction notice to vacate my single room in Umoja Estate in Eastland. Eastland, widely known as Eastlando in slung, is home to a mix of lower-middle-class and lower-class citizens. The lower middle class is mostly made up of civil servants and over time is conquered by the lower class mix and crooks. I've had arrears for the last two months. I had survived by avoiding my landlord, simply dodging and staying out until midnight before coming home. There was an audition going on and I asked if I could try my luck too. So when they gave me the chance to try it, I gave it my all. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay You see, I was so excited, I needed this job. Anything that can put food on my table. I was tired of begging from friends and relatives. Literally the day before the audition, the dinner I ate was from the gate of a wedding. In Kenya this is an invitation to everyone. If you've ever done yours in Kenya, just know that you've invited everyone unless you have security guarding the gates and pushing away those who weren't invited. At the audition the supervisor is tired of seeing the same thing from everyone and now asks me to do something different like a somersault or something.” Just so you know, the last time I felt something like this was a long time ago, when I was about 10 or so. But see here, I had nothing to lose, man. I had no meals to go back to and was facing eviction within two weeks. I'll be damned if I miss this opportunity. I had hit rock bottom, so to speak, I was desperate enough to do anything to make money. Yes, I was scared to death, but that's not what I said. I told him I could do it. I mentally charged myself and told people to get out of the way and I succeeded. Well, I turned around in the air, only my head was a few inches off the ground. I barely landed on my feet because part of my butt was connected to the floor. Everyone gasped, shocked that I dared to pull such a stunt without any skill. The supervisor asked me if I was okay. You would think he would have mercy and not ask me to repeat. This is exactly what he asked me to do. He asked me if I could do it again; a little hesitantly I said I could. Moving backwards to create even more space, he looked at me and I think he got scared. He asked me to stop for a second. “Are you sure you can do this?” what I heard was: go home if you can't do it. I shouted: yes, yes, I can. With all the courage and audacity I could summon, I tried again. I ran and jumped in the air and did somersaults and there I was standing. Everyone stood up clapping and cheering, some yelling out loud, “yes.” I was there, I couldn't move, it was like I was glued to the floor. I heard the voice above the applause say, “Well, young man, you just proved how much you want this job. You have your chance for now. You have two weeks to recover. If you don't, unfortunately, even with your diabolical determination, then I won't be able to hold you." And he left the room. I tried to wipe away my tears to hide my emotions, but everyone seemed to know exactly what was happening. This is how I started my lifeartistic. After six months I was training in acrobatics with some of my friends and in the next six months we completely switched from dance to acrobatic training. This is when life got interesting. The three of us had just quit our jobs to train as acrobats and it's not like we were going to college or an acrobatics school, we were here training on our own and following and borrowing heavily from other acrobatics groups we knew around us. We entered heavily and without holding back. We trained like there was no tomorrow, twice a day and for long hours. This went on for 6 months without stopping. This process has prepared us quite a bit for the time to come. In the first 6 months we received a boost from a benefactor of Ksh 30,000, the equivalent of USD 300. After 6 months we ran out of money and now had to work to get money for food, housing and everything else. As we progressed in our practice, things started to get really difficult for us. It was then that we realized how art and in particular how acrobats were perceived in the city. We barely made any money despite our offers to audition or perform for free in the first show. In some places and cases, we had to settle for a plate of rice and water and called it a day. I mean, it was better than nothing in my opinion. We fought hard and never gave up, always reminding ourselves that one day it will be payday, especially when it was the hardest. The days went by and went by, on some days I remember I only had 20 shillings in my pocket as we walked home from Dandora, one of our training centres. I was so hungry and tired that I wanted to spend it on buying a donut on the side of the road. My friend reminded me that it was the only money we had and that it was best to save it for super later that evening. The two of us only needed 10 shillings to buy the boiled “Mandondo” beans which we would then eat with ugali and the remaining ten for a joint with which to bury our problems. The morning will resolve itself and life will move on. The hard work paid off. And within a year we rose to prominence as emerging artists and surely our payday has arrived. We got our first contract out of the country after 2 years and four months of sweat and tears. It was hard work and we were so happy to see that heaven had finally accepted our offer of nothing but prayers and sweat and gave us this chance to venture out and earn a significant amount of money from our career. My life as an artist was born out of necessity. I just needed a job or something to earn money to buy mostly food and then housing. Four months would seem like years where you have nothing to do to get money for even basic needs. When you have been in a position like that in life, mentorship becomes very important. Most people who have made it in life have done so with the help of others who have experienced the same or a very similar situation. We had none of this and we went from one hole to another or from the frying pan to the fire as some would say, both different in their perspectives but essentially the same in their approach. In our next phase as artists, we made good money. The model we operated from as people totally dictated our approach here. As people who were trying and struggling to make a living in the previous phase, how do you think we fared? You see, when it came to money, most of us were still operating under the same model we were taught or.