Amani Maranga was forced to relocate to Ukunda village a broke man after being kicked out of posh Kilimani apartment due to rent arrears.
Maranga worked as a TV presenter at Arena 254 and was also a leading PR expert and corporate MC.
He was living life in the fast lane in Nairobi until 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic hit hard causing economic meltdown.
“You see, I make money when people gather, and COVID-19 made sure people don’t gather, so for most of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 I wasn’t really earning,” Amani told Tuko.
The former TV presenter lived off his savings from 2020 but soon he depleted his reserves and his landlord got impatient with him.
“In fact, I had moved houses once during COVID-19 because my landlord couldn’t extend the moratorium on rent,” said Amani Maranga.
At the end of March 2021, Maranga only had enough money to pay for a month’s rent in Kilimani as he had a contract that only gave him about 50% of his monthly living budget.
Weighing his options, Maranga decided to leave Nairobi and settled in a secluded village in Ukunda, Kwale county.
“It took me four days to finally feel settled and that I was now living in the coast. That this was my life now. It would take me a few more months for it to all sink in, but it did and now I love every bit of it,” said the former TV presenter.
He added that;
“It’s affordable, the rent I pay is about a third of what I paid in Nairobi for even better value.”
Maranga revealed that he is now living under austerity in Ukundu, he says life there is a bit cheaper than Nairobi.
“Still on affordability, I buy fish for about Ksh200 bob from fishermen and fresh vegetables are in plenty, plus coconuts etc. I cook everything with coconuts nowadays, even electricity and medicine are cheaper here,” he said.
The communication expert noted that he walks a lot in the beach to relax his mind.
“It’s good for my mental health… I realized a few days in that I had anxiety lifted. Anxiety I didn’t even know I had; It’s like in Nairobi there’s some anxiety that we carry around as part of the living experience… here I was feeling guilty for not feeling anxious,’ be mused.”
Amani Maranga revealed that he is not originally from Ukunda, he disclosed that he was surprised to find ‘like-minded’ people settled at the coastal town.
“I had my two people here but I needed more and soon enough though I met people who had also relocated here or were thinking about it and now we have a lovely small community of like-minded people,” he said.
The former TV presenter is now making a bit of money because most Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and people are gathering again.
“Guys think Kanairo is the only place you can get work, or make money…and in some instances this may be true.. however devolution has created lots of opportunities and if you’re from Kanairo it would be so easy to spot some of them,” he said .
