When Ordinary People do

Extraordinary Things!

Inspiring Lessons From Kenya's

Best Flight Attendant.

David Kyalo Musyoka

Flight Purser Benson Wamwea on the public address system

Some people leave a positive mark wherever they go, carving their names on the hearts of others. Every once in a while, we bump into such people and the impressions they leave in us are long enduring. Benson Kabugi Wamwea is one such person. He is arguably Kenya's best flight attendant, at least going by customer feedback and media reports. His excellent customer service blended with a favorable disposition and irresistible

demeanor have endeared him to many a passenger who in turn flood social media with tweets, posts or articles lauding him. Renowned author and blogger Biko Zulu has, for instance, recognized him as the best in the game. News anchor Betty Kyalo has also attested to his excellent services. Below is some feedback I sampled from social media regarding this distinguished flight purser and Kenyan youth.

@EdwinSifuna: "The best flight attendant in Kenya. All passengers on @FlyJambojet 8655 from KSM clapped upon landing." @BettyOkari: "So true, Benson is great! He made us laugh the entire flight! Please give him a raise." @MukamiNdichu: "@FlyJambojet, You have a gem called Benson on your Nairobi Ukunda flight! He has a way of making us all feel so relaxed. Well done." @Cheryot81: "@FlyJambojet I agree. Benson does a superb job was on flight from Eldoret and each time I am impressed. Good job." @PerisKiriko: "@FlyJambojet kudos to Benson Wamwea who made flight JX8681 on 12th Dec - Malindi Nairobi very memorable. You deserve a standing ovation!" @WuodMwangi: "@FlyJambojet Benson Wamwea's PR is top notch. And the landing was classic. Glad I missed the earlier flight. Keep it up." @DPkalya: "Flight 8606 from Lamu - Malindi - Nairobi the flight purser was wonderful the first time I witnessed passengers clapping @FlyJambojet."

Jackson Biko: "On a recent flight from Malindi he was cheered wildly after his pre-flight announcements because he was funny and witty and he just didn’t read those announcements but owned them, he made them personal and fresh and interesting to listen to. …he kept saying all this funny stuff and everybody listened and chuckled and clapped and when he was done you felt like you didn’t want to leave the plane." Wandia: "Yap Benson Wamwea is really good! All flight attendants should borrow a leaf if not the whole tree :)" Benjaps: "Benson Wamwea is on point. He was in charge on this flight to Kisumu and as I walked past him I told him radio would be happy to have him." Wanjuhi: "Benson guy on Jambojet is something special I agree, it's like he is on a stage and is giving a performance." Annabelle: "Ah Benson Wamwea, I wouldn’t forget that name. Flew on his flight thrice to Diani and he was just like you described him. People you don’t forget when they make an impression."

I caught up with this great inspirational gentleman just to get a taste of his fantastic story and learn from his successes. Throughout our two-hour interview, his humility amazed me and I was able to pick a few inspiring lessons which I share in this profile. Benson attended Moi Forces Academy for his primary education where he received early instruction in literacy and numeracy. The LORD truly swings big doors on small hinges since Benson's childhood days near a military airbase would later play a pivotal role in shaping his aviation dream. Gazing at the planes hovering above the airbase as they dotted the azure blue skies, he would only dream of the day he too would be aboard one, enjoying magnificent views and refreshing sights from the Kenyan skies. It was during these formative years and salad days that Benson read Captain Peter Maranga's books, "A Little Boy's Dream" and "License to Fly", books that ignited the combustibles of his Pilot dream and fanned into flame the embers of his career in aviation. Benson later joined Moi Forces Academy for his secondary school education after which he proceeded to East African Safari Air Express and subsequently Jetlink Express as a flight attendant. He has ever since worked with a number of airlines

within East Africa and is currently a flight attendant with DAC Aviation, a company that has been outsourced by Kenya Airway's subsidiary Jambojet on a wet lease arrangement to ply some of its routes. Benson is a man of many hats, a true modern day renaissance man. This distinguished gentleman is not only a flight attendant and aviation enthusiast but also a motivational speaker, farm hand, poet, social entrepreneur and blogger. He is Vice President overseeing Public Relations at the Kwanza Kenya Toastmasters club in Nairobi where he has been honing his communication and leadership skills. Benson is a distinguished entrepreneur who has ventured into the construction industry and is the Managing Director of BlockWorld Limited, a company that provides low cost housing through the use of interlocking stabilized soil blocks. His company has been featured at the Homes Expo and Property Show and has also been profiled on websites and magazines, including 'Juhudi Online', a blog that celebrates great entrepreneurs. In addition, Benson is a legendary success in crop farming and livestock husbandry rearing chicken and growing vegetables in a small green house.

Benson is also heavily involved in mentoring fellow youth and is a Director and Trustee of the Pan African Leadership Foundation where they have been impacting students with leadership skills, values and ethics, as well as boost their esteem. The foundation sponsors students from needy backgrounds and they are the brains behind the Annual Leadership Camp for teenagers. They are the only African representatives to the Global Youth Leadership Summit in the United States where they also send delegates. Their efforts have not been in vain and have seen many of their empowered mentees excel in their studies, a good number obtaining straight As in their KCSE. Benson says he believes in the power of education to open doors and to give someone a fighting chance in life. He believes that transforming teenager's lives while they are still in their formative years is an impetus for change in society. His parents owned a school, "The Young Trees Academy" whose motto was, "Train a tree while it is still young" a dictum that remains forever etched in his heart and a guiding principle in his mentorship today. Benson is also a pilot trainee currently pulling himself up by his bootstraps into the cockpit. Greatly inspired by the famed Captain Peter Maranga of Kenya Airways, whose success story of overcoming great odds and difficulties to become a Pilot has been a central axis in his aviation dream, Benson hopes to overcome all financial obstacles and eventually gain his wings to fly. Below are some of the inspiring lessons on the ways of success from this distinguished flight attendant.

1. Start where you are At some point in his career path, Benson desired to work with the world's biggest carriers, the likes of Emirates, but this did not quite see the light of dawn. Nevertheless, he did not wait to join this league of big carriers so as to start excelling rather he started right where GOD had placed him. During our conversation, he shared that he deliberately decided to be the best he could be as cabin crew even before the door to become a Pilot opens. In the Scriptures, we are admonished to be faithful with little so that The LORD may bless us with much. Benson well knows this and he has distinguished himself serving with a low cost and no-frills airline. He does not whine or feel as though he is working with a small airline nor does he consider his job serving as cabin crew any lesser than his Pilot dream. Rather, he has made a purposeful decision to excel wherever he is using whatever he has just like a candle that shines its brilliance in whatever small ways.

2. Excel where you are Benson believes that, "People should become so excellent at whatever they do, even the small things, that it is impossible for people to ignore them". He loathes mediocrity with a passion and his continued commitment towards excellence saw him rise to become a Chief Flight attendant usually referred to as a Flight Purser by the age of nineteen. His excellence has seen him handpicked and put on duty whenever remarkable high profile persons are aboard. He has managed to excel in a field otherwise considered a turf for ladies and every so often, there is an email written to HR about his excellent services with some passengers even recommending him for a pay hike. He has literally made passengers enjoy flying with a low cost no-frills budget carrier and always making them feel like Kings or Queens aboard a presidential jet. Some passengers even request to fly with him while booking flights. In a similar vein, he has also brought this spirit of excellence to his businesses and believes, "Let the fire in your belly burn so hot that everyone can see it in your eyes when you speak about your business." In the area of excellence, he quotes Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the Scriptures who were found to be ten times wiser in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them. He jokingly commented, "I am always asking myself whether my excellence in serving others has gotten to that threshold of being ten times better." This born again Christian believes that whatever he does should reach souls and touch lives and has discovered that ministration is not only from the pulpit but also through our vocations. As a result of his great dedication in serving customers excellently, some even end up asking him questions like "Are you a Christian?" or "What drives you?" 3. Develop a personal touch in customer focus Benson believes in developing the personal touch whenever he is serving customers. "Life is about relationships," he says. He therefore strives to maintain a favorable disposition and demeanor while serving customers and tries to remember as many names as possible, something he uses to his advantage while serving frills in flight. "I try as much to memorize people's names whenever I check their boarding passes and I prefer to address them by their names because I am not talking to a robot but a human being." He considers that people are a wellspring of knowledge and inspiration and does not take for granted his meeting different people every day. He in particular acknowledges having learnt a lot from the people he meets including growing lasting friendships, business networks and mentoring relationships.

Benson has also found the place of humor in customer service. He in particular remembers a delayed flight from Entebbe to Kigali where the passengers were so furious at the airline he was working with at the time. Using wit and humor, he tactfully soothed the angry passengers so that by the time they touched down it was all applause. One of the passengers aboard, an Editor with Rwanda's iconic customer focus magazine, "The Service Mag", was so impressed that they decided to profile him. "Humor is a perfect way of diffusing difficult situations," Benson says. One of the common customer focus maxims goes, "Customers may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel,” a rendition of Maya Angelou's similar quote. Benson’s customer service story is inspiring and reminiscent of the famous "Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar!" story told by Harvey MacKay about Wally the Cab Driver who made a choice to be the best he could to his customers. Wally's deliberate and excellent customer service differentiated him from the rest such that a ride in his car felt premier, much more like a presidential limo service or a flight aboard a distinguished airline. As the story goes, he had earlier on decided to shun mediocrity in his customer service, to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. It is not enough to just have the right products in business; having the right team serving the customers is imperative. Patricia Fripp said, "It is not your customer's job to remember you, it is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they do not have the chance to forget you." Robert Half also said, "When the customer comes first, the customer will last." Both quotes come alive in Benson’s service.

4. Embrace failure, learn from it and move on The last lesson is what I would call resilience or 'rising from the ashes'. Perhaps, more inspiring than his successes is Benson's resilience in the midst of challenges. His success story has at times been riddled with fears, doubts and failures. For instance, after founding and investing in his business BlockWorld Limited and not paying himself a salary for over a year, he received a loss report at some point in 2014. Something he terms as an epic failure of tragic proportions. He was so disheartened that he didn’t leave the house for over ten days, opting instead to stay indoors. His dream of becoming a Pilot has also encountered some financial turbulence considering the huge outlays involved. Benson has not allowed whatever challenges he has faced, whether in his business or career pursuits, to pull him down. He believes impossible is just a word! Truly, inspiration is not lacking in our modern day era. Much respect to this Achiever of our time! Kudos Ben! Keep up the great work and may our Good LORD continue opening big doors for you including the Pilot dream! Looking forward to flying with you someday!

David Kyalo Musyoka is a ‘Mkenya Daima’, and a Kenyan youth currently serving as Senior IT Auditor with Safaricom. He can be reached on kyalodavid@gmail.com