Phillip Kamau is a Kenyan man living in Karratha, Western Australia.
While reflecting on his journey to the top, he mentioned that he grew up in a polygamous family, and had 28 brothers and 15 sisters.
Although he would attend school barefooted, Kamau was a bright student and even topped the Kenya Certificate of Primary School Education (KCPE) when the 8-4-4 system was introduced in Kenya.
In school, he also showed leadership qualities, a testament that was shared by his teachers and school mates.
After sitting for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), Kamau performed well and secured a slot at the University of Nairobi (UoN).
He pursued a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, making him the first person in his family to earn a degree following his graduation in 1997.
Following his graduation, Kamau spent three years looking for a job in Nairobi but opportunities in his field of specialization were few.
By this time, he already had a passport and planned to move to the United States but the American Embassy had stopped issuing visas after the 1998 bombing.
Kamau’s backup plan was to leave for Botswana where a family member lived.
With the help of his uncle and mother, he managed to raise over Ksh 50,000 which he used to buy tickets and fund his stay in Botswana.
“Life in Botswana was hard, we had Kenyans who were being recruited by the Botswana government to go and work there. They were called expatriates. If you went on your own they called you Vasco Da Gama’s. They hated us,” he recalled.
During his stay, Kamau noticed that many Kenyans were going to the US and the United Kingdom as getting visas was easy from there.
However, when he visited the US embassy for a visa interview hoping for a positive income, Kamau was denied the visa.
“More than 30 Kenyans went and got visas. I went to the American embassy and they asked me whether I had been to Europe… Denied. I was the first Kenyan to be denied a visa,” he shared.
Despite the setbacks, Kamau later landed a job and got a place to live in, and he even got a chance to work in New Zealand through an agency he worked for.
He later made his way to Australia, and despite facing some challenges, he was resilient and managed to secure a permanent residency in the country.
