Rose Wangui: My wish was to become a nun, but I’m now happy working as a journalist

NTV's awarding-winning journalist Rose Wangui is arguably the best features reporter in the country. A 2019 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award winner, Wangui has for the past 13 years covered tough or taboo subjects that few other journalists dare to touch.

“I was born and bred in Eastleigh. Mimi ni dame wa mtaa. I went to St Teresa Primary School and later proceeded to St Teresa Girls Secondary School,” she said.

These schools and her staunch Catholic background would later on in life influence Wangui's career in a big way.

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Wangui says she had the best childhood with no social media, internet, and mobile phones.

“During my time, you would just wake up have breakfast, go out to play with other children and go home in the evening, unlike nowadays where children spend hours on the phone and internet, staying indoors all day,“ added Wangui.

Apart from playing, Wangui was also praying a lot and at the age of nine, she already knew she wanted to be a Catholic nun. She was greatly inspired by how missionaries were helping needy people in the community.

“The reason they really inspired me is they did charity work and they taught us about giving back to the society, helping the poor, visiting the sick. I also got inspired by the way the Catholic nuns dressed; the way they conducted themselves. I used to think they were the most holy people and I wanted to be like them,“ Wangui added.

Little did she know becoming a nun was a long process that took almost nine years.

Charity work

“After high school, I was introduced to the convent, where the nuns lived. I was taken through some sort of orientation on how to become a Catholic nun and I was told it would take me like nine years to be a nun. I was given time to go think about it,“ she said.

In her mind, she had thought of immediately becoming a nun and starting the outreach.

“I wanted to hit the ground running with charity work. I just wanted to do what the Catholic nuns used to do in our community, but I found out it was a process. I thought about it, I consulted with God for like a month, and I decided to do something else,“ Wangui added.

With her dreams of becoming a nun shattered, Wangui thought of other options and she was torn between becoming a kindergarten teacher and a journalist.

She would later end up at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) after she talked to her childhood friend who was studying there.

In 2000, she joined NTV as an intern in the technical department.

While there, she quickly noticed something was amiss. The stories being covered were all the same — politics, breaking news, the courts — there were no human interest stories. 

People's voices, especially those from outside the city, were completely absent.

“I felt we were not doing stories of people, stories about health, environment, education. We concentrated so much on Nairobi and its environs, and we forgot we have other districts. We would only get stories of other districts if it was accidents. We never did stories of women, children and I was intrigued by northern Kenya,“ she added.

Back then, there was no budget for such stories. However, this and her lack of reporting skills did not deter her from venturing into the north in search of human interest stories.

“In the beginning, I had to use my own money to chase the stories. I would pay for transport, camera and accommodation for the cameraman and myself,“ she said.

The stories, however, caught the attention of her then editors, and in 2007 after eight years, she was employed as a features reporter.

Over the years, she has done amazing and life-changing stories, but the one that stands out for her is “Beads of Bondage” , which won her an international award.

Her in-depth reporting and comprehensive interviews have sparked national debate and inspired change in the country.

With an international award in her name, Wangui feels she is better telling the Kenyan story with a Kenyan media house than going international.

“I also don't know if the stories I do will generate the debate and the impact if I use international media. Stories I do have a Kenyan perspective,” said Wangui.

Apart from telling their story, she helps where she can.

Role models

“Having shared the stories of women and children, I get people reaching out to me for help. I started paying school fees for children I met in my line of duty, I started with one, two and I found myself with almost 20 kids. It is crazy, but you have to commit yourself. But when I look back, I am proud of what I have done, especially when I see some of these kids have cleared high school and some of them are working,“ Wangui said.

Journalists Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour have been her inspiration in the media industry.

“I look up to Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. Cooper because we sort of went through the same challenges in life. I read his book and I was really inspired by what he went through before he became an established journalist. Amanpour, I like her guts, her courage, she is a fearless woman,” she added.

Wangui describes herself as an introvert and a shy girl who does not have a crush.

Being an introvert also means she gets to spend time alone watching movies as she is not dating at the moment.

However, if she is not working, she is mentoring girls from the slums around the country.

“I talk to girls; right now, they are facing a lot of problems, they are exposed to a lot of things, teenage pregnancy, engaging in early sex, so they need people to talk to them,“ Wangui says.

To the young girls who look up to her, “Don't join journalism because you want to be famous and make money, that won't work for you. Passion is very key.“

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