My name is Ella, I am a 9 year old homeschooler and a first-time author. All my life I’ve been surrounded by books, both my parents, Patrick and Muthoni Omukhango are publishers and we all work at a bookstore since 2009. At the time I began writing my book, my elder sister Abiah had written her book, Conceive Achieve for Teens and my mom also had already written several books including Back on My Feet and Too Busy for Worship. Now, my younger brother Ethan and I have also achieved the wonderful title of ‘Author’.
I love writing because I never know what my writing can accomplish or where my words can go, or who my voice can change. In 2020, I wrote and recorded a poem about inspiring kids – I called it, Let Them Wear Their Crowns. A lot of people loved the poem and It was played during the Buford Harvest in Atlanta, Georgia, where over 500 people watched online from all over the world. That day really really showed me the power of writing and the power words can have. Even as a child, writing can be your superpower, your way of changing your community or even the world. Below is the poem.
By God’s grace, and with lots of help and encouragement from my friends, and family, I’ve had the opportunity to share my voice and my talent with the world. Last year in November, another of my spoken word called Mama Africa was played during the ACABA Gala which had over 250 authors and readers. I was in attendance and I was proud to have participated. My maternal grandparents were also in attendance and they were very happy and that made me happy
I spend days and weeks practicing the spoken words and about five hours recording them as I have to do many takes. It can be tiresome but fulfilling, especially because I love working with my elder sister on the projects. She has done many voice-overs and audiobook reviews for CLC Kenya and is the voice behind ACABA’s Gala videos. We are putting together our content to start a YouTube channel as the three siblings and one other friend. We want to inspire the world with our writing and voiceovers. And I am happy that all the hard work in the past has paid off in a huge way. I have my first ever book.
When my mom first inspired the idea to write my very own book, I was excited. We got to stay up late, sometimes on school nights (which was very fun) working on the book. My mom and I read through the bible researching how God created time, and finding answers to questions, that we never even knew existed. For example, God made light on the first day, but the sun and moon were created on the fourth day, so was it dark until the sun came, or was there something else making light? It really felt like being a detective, and I learned so much about the bible. We wrote the book over a couple of months, and then we realized, WE WROTE TOO MUCH! Which was the opposite of what I thought was going to happen, so we decided to split it into six separate books and turned it into a series.
Now I am the author of 6 books instead of one!
My publisher is working on the illustrations of the other books so my series will be available by the end of the year. All the other work is completed. It was my first time working with the illustrators and I am happy with the final book and I hope God will use me to touch many lives for Him.
When I grow up I would want to be a traveling pastor/missionary preaching the Gospel. So I have an interest in languages and would love to learn many languages. I was clear about this when I was 6 years and was interviewed at Pearl Radio. This might change but for now, that’s what I think I want to do.
You can get my book at CLC Kenya and other bookshops
https://kenyaclc.org/shop/god-made-time-by-gabriella-omukhango/
What I am currently working on:
1. My school work
2. My business called Oracles on Paper (for scripting, spoken word and creative writing)
3. Playing with my brother
4. I am a volunteer missionary at CLC Kenya and my brother and I are helping start a new initiative for children called Mama Africa Book Box to get books every month for children all over Africa starting with Kenya and Uganda. I will share more details later.
I have my website page at
https://kenyaclc.org/gabriella-omukhango/
I have my YouTube section at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4xZPebzV8BEonPduBkqx7C14pSTUUFCX
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