My name is Alexiah Mami Mdindi (Mrs. Ngeti) . I was born in 1972 and raised in a small village known as Kighala in Taita-Taveta county, Kenya. I am the 2nd born in a family of 7, six boys and I the only girl. I schooled at Werugha Primary School {formerly Malela) then proceeded to Canon Kituri Secondary school at Taita. I hold a Diploma in Public Relations and customer Care after joining several institutions like Rifkins Business College, Geothe Institute both at Mombasa and Regional Centre for Tourism and Foreign languages at Nairobi. I am married and blessed with 3 children.
My writing journey has not been easy. I carried the vision from 2014, when ideas started flowing and I had no control over it, it was my season. I started writing them at the back page of my diary until the day I got a computer and decided to write or record them. The more they flowed the more content I added. Things took a turn in 2015 where I underwent a near death experience, Chapter 14 of my book, A journey to behold expounds more about my journey. I was scheduled for a 4th major operation in my belly, I battled ovarian cysts which saw me go for operations but this particular one was so worrying. My stomach protruded like I was 7 month pregnant, had no
sleeping position and was bleeding heavily, It was a tough season for my family because that very week, my dad was operated on, with complications, my aunt, my late mother’s young sister was also operated on due to a stomach ailment, my cousins husband was also operated from different stomach ailment and here I was, doctors report indicating that my operation was an emergency , the scan showed I had a bulky uterus, twice the normal size, cysts and tumors.
I requested the Doctor to reschedule my appointment to the following week, and walked myself for admission. This was so because I didn’t want to worry my father who was recovering. After I was told that I would be operated, certain fear engulfed me. A voice, very audible and precise kept telling me that ‘You will die, You will not make it this time’ and so I was filled with fear and tension. It was the enemy’s voice. I shared with my cousin who is a Pastor, who prayed and encouraged me. I shared with my Dad too who rebuked the spirit and prayed for me, before
I left for hospital, I neatly arranged my closet, instructed my house girl that in case I don’t return home, which clothes were to be kept for my then 8 year old daughter, and which ones were to be distributed to my relatives in case I died. She too rebuked that spirit. At my place of work, I bid my colleagues bye, in case I didn’t make it, whoever was to replace me, that they work in harmony, they too rebuked that spirit. Prayers kept me alive. I thank God that there comes a time, one cannot pray for themselves. As I lay in theatre, my mind was reeling’ I might not make it out alive but God was with me.
The procedure was successful and I regained conscious very fast, My Doctor told me it was successful but delicate, I realized I had some growth outside my intestines. I stayed in hospital for 3 days and afterwards, I developed complications which almost took away my life, That’s when my faith was bought to test, It started as pain, stitches in my ribs and breastline, it got more intense. I groaned in pain, I signaled a lady who was cleaning the windows at the ward to call for me the doctors, Suddenly a number of doctors surrounded my bed as I struggled to explain my predicament. A nurse rushed to their office, came back and gave me an injection. They then all left the room, a private wing, I was alone. Within a blink of an eye, I felt my breath obstructed, sweating, I felt so weird, I smelt death, I battled to remain alive. I felt a certain force lift me up in the air and I was facing downwards where I saw myself in a coffin, which was placed at my doorstep in my house in the Village, people wailing and crying for me. It happened within a blink of an eye after the injection, I prayed and cursed the spirit of death in Jesus name. I rebuked the spirit of death and shouted,’ I refuse to die, I choose to live in Jesus name.
The doctors heard me shout and came back scampering and they told me it was the reaction of the medication. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, it rescued me from the jaws of death. {Romans 10;13} those who call upon the name of the lord shall be saved, I realized more than often we are surrounded by the shadow of death but it is God who protects us psalm 23. After a few days, I felt better and was discharged though the pain kept recurring for 3years, the Lord healed me, From that experience, a near death experience, I told God to help me do what my heart always desired to do, to write a book and to record my Gospel songs, Every song I did was inspired by my own life
experience, There is one song I wrote while in hospital bed, Heal the land ,and onother after I lost
loved ones in a span of 8 days and the latest songs. I didn’t know that it would inspire me during
my lowest moment in my life, I lost my biological mother years back, my father remarried and my
step mother passed away again this year, 4th July 2021 after a short illness.
One of the songs is Msaada wangu’my help , Kwadima,’ you are able and Chawucha bwana’ thank you lord for you are my shield, my savior, protector , my hiding place, Sema Nami, basically calling on God to speak to me, my situation, my debts, barrenness, joblessness, my family, rejection, depression , my marriage and my sickness, This is to encourage us that through God , we are more than conqurers. What inspired me most was the Television broadcast by Pastor Joel Osteen, inspirational messages, motivation and scriptures. This gave me a new lease of life and trusting God one day my desire to meet him shall come to pass. After a month sick off I returned to work. And I was serious about writing a book. I shared with family and friends about my vision some encouraged me to do it and
some felt it was a crazy idea. I wondered who would buy, read my book? and piracy issues. We knew that Books were written by great schoolers, well educated and here i was, just a village girl. The passion to write kept consuming me. I stammered like Moses, but God assured me, it shall come to pass.
I never gave up despite challenges here and there, finances and delays, procrastination and health issues which hindered my progress. So one time I googled, ‘how to write a book’ and I got many options. One from South Africa, I submitted my manuscript, they called me and by then I had only 20 pages. They encouraged me to add more content, photos until i had a book. 178 pages. I journeyed with them until at some point we cancelled the contract for reasons beyond my control. I now had to look for my former Bishop’s wife who had done a book and she helped me with my publishers contacts. So I begun afresh again, the Editor sieved the book and we removed the irrelevant content up until we finalized with the Designer.
Some of the challenges I faced are whenever I wanted to release my book , something came up. I planned to release it in 2020. My contract had ended with this 2nd publisher and this now forced me to start the process again afresh, to pay the designers afresh. This was a big challenge, time and finances. After we finished, I again thought of doing a launch, Corona came 2020 and it beat us really hard as a family, my parents had a private school which was adversely affected because the school needed funds to run it and loans needed to be serviced which now affected all of us. I couldn’t launch yet we needed money to assist my parents run the School. Just when I thought I had a breakthrough, my mother’s condition kept deteriorating. The day we were to go visit her and pray together as a family, was the very day we were burying her, This was so heartbreaking, discouraging and painful a process,
One time, I remember how discouraged I was, I woke up at 3am at night, ideas flooding ,my mind, I typed 5 pages until almost dawn, the following day trying to check my previous content to add to the one I had, I realized, I had not saved the work, i lost it all.
I carried this vision for five years and God has brought it to completion. It was not an easy journey. When we fall, we get up, dust off and move forward. Never give up on your dream, The baby was conceived and delivered safely. A journey to behold is a book about sweet old memories of how a generation grew up in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s the fun, the joy, the fears, the uncertainties we had as children compared to the (Dot Com generation} which is full of explosion in technology. It brings fond memories like the rains, childhood games, birth, naming, schooling, weddings, sickness and death and how we overcame. It will definitely brighten your day.
