Street smart poet with a big heart

As you walk along Nairobi’s Aga Khan Walk in the evening, you find a  young man performing spoken word boldly to passers-by. Some linger for a while as they connect to the man’s words and thoughts. Sometimes, they leave gratuity for an impressive performance. 

“My son, Griffins Otieno Ndhine, wants any street child who sees him performing to realise their potential so that instead of mugging folks, they can sing, recite a poem, or dance to earn a living. He wants to clean the streets and the slums through art,” says his mother Lorine Omondi. 

After his secondary education at Rapogi High School, Migori in 2010, Lorine was not surprised when her son was called to pursue Bachelor of Education, Information Communications and Technology (ICT) and Mathematics at the University of Nairobi in 2013. She knew her son will make it in the big city having raised him and his three siblings in the small village of Awendo in Migori County. 

Early nurturing

She wasn’t even shocked when she heard that her son was doing poetry soon after joining the University of Nairobi, Kenya Science campus. During his secondary school days, her son used to perform at the National Music and Drama Festivals. She also performed with her son on different occasions and knew that this instilled discipline as well as the confidence he needed to be one of the best in the field. 

“I used to be a lead soloist for traditional dances and would sing for the late president Moi during different functions. With this confidence, I would assist my son to rehearse before performance.  I would also mark cultural days on my calender and ensured we attended the events,” recalls Lorine who now sings in church.

She shares how she has supported her son’s career in poetry. His first poem, Rule of Darkness was written in 2008. It was inspired by the 2007/08 post-election violence and calls for good leadership and accountability.

“I am proud of my son. My husband, though, was against his passion in poetry, but when Griffins brought home a gift from his outstanding performances, he began to support him. Griffin’s father is the reason why he is also passionate about Maths and computers,” she says. 

After joining university, having a lot of time in his hands after classes, Griffins looked for activities that would engage his mind. Poetry was the one thing that came to his mind. “In Nairobi, he met many poets. He also noted that poetry was well received in the city than in the village to a point people paid to attend poetry shows,” continues his mother. 

Through interaction with other poets, Griffins got to know of performance places in Nairobi such as Pawa254, Kenya National theatre and Nairobi Museum, Alliance Francaise and Safaricom Michael Joseph Centre. He got to perform in all these places whenever events were organised.

In 2013, Griffin began performing his spoken word in the streets of Nairobi in an event dubbed ‘Street Poetry’ every Sunday at Aga Khan Walk Park. Sam Kule, who does country music performed there too. 

“It was awesome from day one. People would rush to see who was speaking. On the streets, he has made connections and great friendships,” says his mother

However, despite the fact that people were hungry for poetry, dealing with the city askaris was challenging. But Griffins is glad that they now come to listen instead of haras them. 

“Sometimes he would perform and get home with nothing. Other times, they were chased by pubs and bar owners who didn’t like them performing outside their premises,” she shares.

In 2017, they were once attacked by a gang while performing on the streets. “They lost their instruments and phones,” she recounts. 

Surprisingly, Griffin and his friends were able to find the gang that stole their equipment and even made friends with the street boys. The good news is that he has managed to reform one and get him out of the streets. “He is now a celebrated poet known us MC Poyoyo. Let me just say today we are street smart and know how to survive here,” Griffins says. 

Performing too, was becoming a little expensive and too demanding. For a long time, Griffin’s mother recalls that he did free shows. However, the drive and passion were just too much. 

“Many times, Griffins and his friends would walk from Kenya Science to Kenya National theatre on Thursdays just to perform. At the theatre, they were given free lunch so they were never worried about lunch every Thursday,” she chuckles.  

Banana business

To boost himself financially, Griffins had side hustles such as selling bananas on Ngong Road and cooking and selling packed food in town. He also offered maths tuition. His mother is not surprised by his ventures since the 28-year-old has all his life been hustling to become financially independent. 

“He is known as Mwalimu in his home town because he has been offering mathematics tuition since he was in primary school. Parents loved him a lot for holding the hands of those who were less academically able. He would also sell old newspapers, which he collected from friends and would sell them at the fish market when he was just nine years old,” says his mother.

His passion in poetry got rewarded when he became the first featured poet at the Kenya National Theater Poetry After Lunch in 2016. At Pawa254, he got to perform at the Slam Africa for nine times before he was crowned the Slam Kings and Queens together with Maji Mazuri children from Mathare in 2016. In 2019, he was the Defending Leading Artist promoting YouTube Agenda, an award that was given by Oracom under My leader Kenya programme. In 2022, he received an award for being the most supportive artist at the Kenya Cultural centre.