The short story…
I am a man terribly passionate about fatherhood and shares the lessons learnt along the journey and welcomes all fathers to join.
If you have time for the long version…
My name is Michael Oyugi, a passionate father and a practising Christian.
Grew up in a polygamous family, my father’s attention was rarely on us as children and we grew up looking out for one another, and our mums looking out for us.
Over the years, I grew bitter towards my dad for the things I thought I should have received from him but didn’t, and that led me to rebel against everything he stood for.
As I grew up, I made an inner vow not be ANYTHING like my father. That vow didn’t only lock my dad out from my life but locked me in and away from the wisdom that he could offer.
Bitterness towards my father grew with time and as I realized how different our lives would have been if our father had treated us, his children, with more attention, I was further solidified in my stance and I slowly started turning sour towards God too – I mean, would a good God allow innocent children to have such a parent?!
The planting of the seed…
In my late teens, I met people who had had worse fathers or family situations than I had and slowly started realising a trend that seemed to cut across all these families.
The fathers in these homes were either absent or not involved at all in the lives of their children and this ended up manifesting in different ways in the lives of these young people I was interacting with. I could also see those patterns in my own life.
Bitterness had become a part of my identity and I didn’t know who I was without it, I could not let go in spite of my belief in Jesus not supporting that way of living.
Through the help of my church leadership, I was able to let go of the bitterness; it was a long arduous journey but I was finally able to let it go, even though I am still in the process of unlearning some deep-seated default patterns and with God’s help, I will finally get past all that.
The ripening of the fruit…
My own life created a desire to study the effects of fatherlessness in the home and society at large. And the kind of data I came across was truly mind-numbing.
I wondered to myself how many children, who having grown up in such fatherless homes, had themselves become parents and didn’t have any clue of what it meant to be a father? or how many fatherless children are finding it difficult to break away from the defaults set in their lives due to the lack of a father or father figure in their lives?
A desire to help break that cycle was planted in me since then. To see fathers arise and raise their children in a way that future generations will be forever changed for the better.
That is how Awaken Dads was born.
With the goal of restoring fatherhood to its rightful place in the family and society.
So do you know a man who would benefit from this?
Share wide and let’s join hands and impact the next generation by being present, involved and, above all, God-led Dads!
Welcome to Awaken Dads!
DADS ROCK!