Samuel Mwawato, a garbage collector, worked in the United States (US) as a pilot for 15 years, before he came to Kenya with the hope of continuing with his career.
As fate would have it for the 55-year-old, that was not to be the case.
Mwawato, who lives in Mtwapa, worked at the Wilson airport in Nairobi as a cabin crew attendant for four years before he was laid off.
In 1990, he got a scholarship to study in the US under the East Coast Methodist Church where he flew various planes.
He mostly did recreational flying as he flew aviation students.
After staying in the US for 15 years, Mwawato decided to come back to Kenya.
Mwawato needed to convert his commercial license so that he could work in Kenya. For this to happen, he needed to fly ten hours during the day and night.
The cost amounted to Ksh 500,000 which he managed to pay after acquiring a loan.
However, things did not seem to work out for him as he only managed 10 hours of daytime flying.
He later left the job and went to work for a community-based organisation called Responsible Citizen Initiative where he works as a garbage collector until today.
Mwawato had married an American wife who got two children.
However, when he decided to come back to Kenya, she was left in America.
The former pilot has never communicated with his wife and two children who are now 26 and 24 years old ever since he returned.
He also married a Kenyan woman, who got him a son. However, when his financial status failed to change, she also decided to leave.
Speaking to KTN News, Mwawato stated that he was optimistic his life would change for the better soon.
