The late Catherine Kasavuli wanted her only child Martin to follow in her footsteps and pursue a career in media and journalism but he defied her.
Martin, while eulogizing his late mother during a requiem mass at Friends’ International Centre on Ngong Road, Nairobi on January 12, 2023, revealed why he chose a different career path from his mother’s.
Martin while eulogizing his mother told the mourners that they enjoyed cordial relationship and that he grew up knowing that he was the official bodyguard of her mother.
“You knew her as Catherine, I knew her as mom, for 40 something years. My job was to be mom’s bodyguard when I had grown older. My mom and I formed a special bond from the day I was born and we were always laughing at each other,” he said.
Martin added that he refused his mother’s persistent push for him to be a journalist like her and instead opted to pursue a career in law.
“Even when she was struggling to educate me, we always had laughter at home and at school whenever she visited me. She wanted me to be on TV but I refused and did law but somehow, she took me into radio advertising at Radio Africa,” Martin said.
Martin said his late mother Kasavuli wanted him to be a TV journalist but he turned down the offer which angered her. He explained that he didn’t want to be in the limelight.
“The reason I didn’t want to be on TV was that I was not ready to be on the limelight as filling her shoe was going to be a daunting task to me,” Martin said.
Martin said that at the time the news came out that his mother had cervical cancer, they kept it as a top secret to her until they were sure she was ready to receive the bad news.
“I want to encourage men out there to please take an active role in the women in your life as far as cancer screening is concerned. Help them go for screening and if its detected early, it can be treated, taking early steps is crucial in cancer care and treatment,” said Martin.
