Remembering

Rosemary Kinoti nee Ngige was no stranger to most of the Daystar fraternity. She was easy to ignore or underestimate but was one of the most tenacious women around. She joined Daystar in the early years, when it was still Daystar Communications, as an assistant to the then Executive Director and rose steadily through the ranks over the years to PR Manager and finally Corporate Affairs Manager.

She never lost her faith in God even when things got hard and nothing seemed to work. She worked long hours and pushed her teams to achieve great results. I remember many times as a student listening to her question our ideas and wondered if she was just being difficult only to realise later that she wanted us to know for sure what we were doing and why we were doing it. She opened many opportunities for us to learn and grow as well as helped many more get scholarships. If you thought you could get away with shoddy work and inefficiency around her you were barking up the wrong tree. You could never pull the wool over her eyes or play tricks and get away with it; yet she would stand firm and defend the things she believed in to the end.

The crowning lesson for many of her life is that God is the center of it all. Prayer was part of her life. There was always time to pray and focus on God then get up and do the work. This belief in God led her to pour of herself into the lives of everyone who worked with and for her and facilitate real industry experience and growth. Jesus at the center made all the difference in her life.

It is our hope that we take the lessons we have learnt from her and put them into practice:

• Focus on God as he is the centre of all you need
• Prayer is the guiding light in our relationship with God
• Work hard and be diligent doing everything to you very best…all or nothing
• Once you have grown help another person grow

Even as we are sad, we do not mourn like people who have no hope because we serve an eternal God who has simply called her ahead of us to our eternal home. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith.

Many of us have thoughts to share about here but we only capture a few:

My boss, my mentor, my friend. You were firm yet loving. We worked, we laughed, we prayed, we wept; a uniting factor; a builder of others. This is difficult news but you have fought a good fight, you have kept the faith, you have won the race. Now is kept for you a crown of glory because you were faithful. We soldier on.. Damaris Kimilu

Another life well lived, with an indelible mark in many people’s lives… Kamau Kanyi

Great and lovely lady; One of the architects of Daystar; Fierce protector of the institution’s vision; Gave me my first job and nurtured me through it. ‘Til we meet… Bob Marjawar

She gave us our first ‘real’ jobs!… Mugure Sauve

She paid our way through college! … Sara Kamau

This is really sad to hear I cannot believe that this has happened. Rosemary our mentor, like family and the only real Boss I ever had. A partner in prayers and our defender in the boardroom! … Elijah Kibutu

The first time I saw her she served us tea at her house withWilson Kiuna Konye and Rogers Wambua… Peris Kimarua

Oh God. She was our PR Manager them days @ Daystar. Beautiful woman inside & outside… Wanja Njuguna

RIP rosemary…you changed our lives through sharing ua knowledge… Georgina Ndawa

I remember her as the eldest unmarried lady at Daystar at the time & very young me was overjoyed when she was “rescued” from prolonged singlehood! … Audrey Nkirote

I believe she was single by choice… Wanja Njuguna…

We (Sing Africa) sang at her wedding… Jonathan Ameka Ndalo

I met her back in 2006 when on internship at Daystar University… Beaty Mukhongo

I served on daystar work study under her at Nairobi Campus. Very assertive lady, we always prayed over her illness… Douglas Katho

Rosemary was one of the first people I met at Daystar back in 1996 when she was the head of PR… Alan Cooke

I met her when I was a small girl and to me she was Auntie Rosemary. She was fiercely loyal but also honest and a straight shooter. When we started Sing Africa, she was one of the first people to support us and believe that we would do good and bring glory to God. As the years progressed I didn’t see her as often as I wanted but as often as I did she had a ready smile and lots of funny anecdotes to tell. Three weeks ago at a wedding she was so vibrant and I was struck by how beautiful she looked that day. Kyesubire