THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF KENYAN BOXER OKAKA

Life has not been a bed of roses for Kenya’s top light-heavyweight boxer and twice bronze medalist in the AFBC Men’s and Women’s African Boxing Championships, Robert Okaka.

He faced numerous challenges and setbacks when he arrived in Nairobi in 2016 to stay with his elder brother, Horizon Watiti, at Dandora.

Like any other rural dweller, Okaka relocated to Nairobi nicknamed “shamba la mawe (A garden of stones) to improve his life through better education and eventually land a good job to become independent.

“I wanted to do any job available but my brother Horizon refused because I was still young and he enrolled me at Blessed Secondary School in Dandora form one,” recalls Okaka, the last born in a family of seven boys and two girls. Horizon is the fourth born and their second born Zadock was also living in Nairobi’s Maringo Estate.

As Okaka began to embrace Nairobi’s hectic lifestyle heading to form two, the cruel fist of death struck when he lost four family members in one month in 2017 in what will remain the most traumatic experiences in his life. First it was the daughter of his brother Zadock who passed on.

“I was so shocked and in a world of my own, asking myself why this has happened to our family. It was a very painful period in my life,” says Okaka who celebrates his 26th birthday on March 21st this year.

They say at times misfortunes come in doubles. As they were heading home to Kenya’s Western Region in Matungu Constituency, Kakamega County, to bury Zadock’s daughter, another tragedy hit them hard. His brother Horizon, another small daughter of his brother Zadock, and his aunt died in a grisly road accident in Naivasha.

Luckily enough, Zadock’s son survived after he was thrown out of the window in the private car they were travelling in.

After the burial of the four family members, Okaka returned to Nairobi and shifted to Maringo Estate to stay with his brother Zadock who got him a corrugated iron sheets shack. He also enrolled him in form two at Makongeni Secondary School. “I was the student’s president, I felt honoured with that post,” he beams.

Given that his elder brother Zadock had a family to feed and other bills to pay, he bought Okaka two plastic barrels as a starting point for a water selling business in Maringo Estate.

Okaka became a water vendor and this enabled him to make some money for his upkeep and food. “It was not an easy job. I had to hustle and go to school at the same time but I had no choice,” says the boxer.

After one year, he bought a handcart which came in handy. He used it to carry water from Shauri Moyo to Maringo Estate which is a distance of about 800 metres. Okaka eventually ventured into other jobs like selling scrap metals and carrying garbage to dumping sites with his handcart.

“I hustled until I reached form four, I was paying Kshs2,500 rent, and it was not easy to also cater to my other needs although my brother chipped in on the rent, it was difficult,” laments the boxer.

In 2020, there’s a month Okaka failed to pay rent on time, and when he returned home from school, his front door had been removed and his belongings  were scattered outside.

“I felt so annoyed and I wanted to go back to my rural home. I felt that if Nairobians were this inhuman why should I continue staying in the city,” says Okaka as he came to terms with the harsh life in Nairobi as a hustler.

He wondered why the landlord could not give him time to clear his rent instead of subjecting him to a humiliating and a heart-breaking experience, yet he was just a student without a steady income. Apart from what he made as water vendor, and a scrap metal dealer, he had also ventured into garbage collection but it still wasn’t enough to cater for his basic needs.

While his brother was supporting him, at times he couldn’t manage because he was overwhelmed by his own personal responsibilities.

At night, Okaka moved with his few belongings to a nearby makeshift vegetables market and decided to spend the night there. However, as the cold progressed, he began shivering as mosquitoes pounced on him. The boxer had enough and that’s when he decided to take a walk along Nile Road to Jogoo Road, and headed to the City Stadium.

That’s when he realised why Nairobi is nicknamed “shamba la mawe” (a garden of stones).

“As I walked alone at night, I pondered on my next move as I  tackled the thoughts of returning home to Matungu to stay with my mum, Agnetta Shimuli,” reminisces the boxer. His father Paul Watiti had passed on by that time.

As he walked along Jogoo Road he encountered Nairobi’s night thugs in the same direction he was heading to. The talented boxer quickly changed his direction and he crossed to the other side of the road which was lit. This turned out to be boon as lady luck smiled on him when he picked up a Ksh20 coin.

“God was with me because what I did was very risky, as I headed towards the City Stadium I came across a man selling coffee and maandazi (buns) and I used the Kshs20. I told him that’s all I had and I was very hungry. As morning approached, I traced my way back to Maringo where I had kept my belongings. Although I was sleepy and tired, I put on my uniform and went to school,” says the boxer.

In the evening, Okaka was eager to return home so that he could locate a new house. Luckily a good Samaritan accepted to accommodate him. “I remember the woman was called Wateve, I told her what I was going through, she sympathised with me and allowed me to move in without the initial cash. The rent was Kshs3,500 and my brother Zadock later helped me to pay. I stayed there for four months,” he says.

After that Okaka moved to another house which was still in Maringo Estate in a place called Bling City. Here he was paying Kshs4000 rent.

Come 2021, Okaka started learning boxing at Jericho Club while he was still a form three student at Makongeni Secondary School. He was welcomed by coaches Nixon Bisto and Elijah Mringie.

“Bisto and Mringie taught me how to throw a jab, one-two punches and everything a beginner needed to learn. I enjoyed the way they handled me, the way I was improving encouraged me. Inside my mind I wanted to use boxing to change my life,” he says smiling.

“I loved the training method and techniques Bisto and Mringie taught me, they didn’t rush me. These coaches were patient and they made sure I had mastered all the beginner steps,” continues the boxer.

Okaka moved briefly to Prisons Boxing Club. “That’s where I entered the novices and won the national title. I thought I would be employed at there but nothing happened. I then returned to Jericho Boxing Club. By then I had completed form four,” reveals the determined man.

Okaka’s potential caught the attention of national coach Musa Benjamin who capped him in 2023.

“I was very happy to be in the national team, when I started training at Mathare Depot I used to train on an empty stomach, I survived on roast maize and tea, I was walking from Jericho to Mathare Depot. Whatever little money I got from my side hustles I saved for rent and bought sugar so that after training I warm my tea using the stove I had in the one-room iron sheet house I was staying. I used to take tea and I would cut the roasted maize into two, for lunch and supper.”

Training on an empty stomach was now getting the better of Okaka. One day he decided to share his problem with the coaches Musa Benjamin, David Munuhe and John Waweru.

“I said enough was enough, instead of endangering my life sparring with nothing in my stomach I told my coaches the financial difficulties I was going through, they all agreed to support me. That’s how I found out that our national team coaches have golden hearts,” reveals Okaka.

“They even supported me with money to buy cement to repair some parts of my house that were leaking whenever it rained, I can’t forget the humility of our coaches I thank them so much for supporting me,” he says.

Okaka made his international debut in the 2023 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, losing his first fight to Hungary’s Pal Kovacs.

“He won round one and I won the second one and then took the third one but I was not disappointed, instead my performance encouraged me,” says the talented boxer.

Inspired by his impressive debut, Okaka worked harder, going an extra mile during the training sessions ahead of the 2023 AFBC African Boxing Championships in Yaounde.

Okaka caused an upset in Yaounde outpointing Cameroon’s highly regarded 2022 Africa Championships and African Games bronze medallist Junior Fotouo Totap to punch his way to the semi-finals. Inexperience was his undoing against Congo Brazzaville’s Anauel Ngamissengue, losing 4-0 on points.

“I felt good winning my first medal, it motivated me so much, I knew I can do even better I thank God for that,” said Okaka, adding: “My first medal made me go back to the gym and work harder aiming higher and hoping for the best.”

Okaka added his second bronze medal in the 2024 Africa Championships in Kinshasa where he lost on points in the semi-finals to Namibia’s Gebhard Ipinge. He should have won this fight convincingly if he had used his reach effectively to box his opponent from a distance but he chose to fight the Namibian using unnecessary force in his offensive.

Boxing has indeed changed Okaka’s life as he reflects on his past difficulties and challenges. Through this combat sport, Okaka landed a job at KDF towards the end of 2023.

“Now I’m living well since I got a job as a soldier with KDF,” says Okaka.

“I pay my rent every month, I can eat and drink whatever I want and support my mum at home and siblings. Unlike before when I survived on roast maize and I got chased out of my house for failing to pay rent. I can say that I am happy”

Okaka’s advice to upcoming boxers is to keep on working hard, persevere and be resilient to achieve their goals.