Teenager wows TikTok with studio in mud-walled house

His voice roars in his improvised mud-wall media production room at his Mosora village home.

At only 17 years, Charles Onkoba Onkui, a Form Three student at Mosora SDA Mixed Secondary School in Nyamache sub-county, in Kisii County, owns his own television and radio studio.

His voice is distinct and keeps resounding in a listener’s mind.

It is just perfect for radio and television, and the teenager uses it to do what he does best - reaching out to his followers, viewers and fans on social media.

It is on TikTok where he has gained popularity. 

Onkoba, who goes by @charleskangwana on TikTok, joined the app two months ago and has 16,200 followers with over 133,000 likes for his videos.

To reach his followers, he goes live using his phone on TikTok and does his presentations like radio.

When starting his production, he connects his phone via Bluetooth to a woofer and uses its remote as a mixer to fade in and out his voice and music, which he plays from his playlist on TikTok.

An old cartoon cut in the form of a laptop is on his lap and symbolises the use of a laptop by a presenter while in the TV or radio studio.

He uses an old bulb to symbolise a microphone.

An old pink bedsheet serves as his background in the studio and old wires can be seen in the room, as if connecting to various ‘production items’.

He uses a small tin filled with water to support his phone when he goes live.

His studio wall is decorated with old newspapers, all products of Nation Media Group - Business Daily, Daily Nation, Taifa Leo and MwanaSpoti.

“I reach out to my audience when not in school, mostly in the evenings and weekends,” says Onkoba.

He interacts with his followers or viewers through chats. He also uses YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

“More than 5,000 people have subscribed to my YouTube channel. I have 3,000 followers on Facebook and 800 on Instagram,” he says.

At school, where he is a day scholar, his teachers say he is hardworking and disciplined and passionate about the media.

“Onkoba is in charge of the journalism and mass communication club. He knows his talent and uses it well. He is hardworking and disciplined and behaves like any other student when in school. The last exam we did, he scored a C+,” said Yanga Ochungo, the teacher in charge of talent growth at Mosora SDA Mixed Secondary School.

From his school, the Nation accompanied him to his home, about two kilometres away. He walks to and from school every day in his quest to get an education and become a professional journalist.

His parents were not at home when we visited. His mother Rebecca Kemunto does manual jobs, mostly farm-related, in their village.

His father Tom Onuso ferries cattle for sale to various markets within and outside Kisii County.

Onkoba, the last-born in a family of six, says his poor background inspires him to be hardworking and innovative.

“I do not want our family to remain poor. I strive to earn a living from my part-time work as a journalist so that I can raise school fees for my Form Four. I also want to join university and study journalism,” he says.

He informs us that a well-wisher bought him the phone he is using. He also raised his first-term and second-term fees for Form Three through social media.

“A well-wisher paid my first-term and second-term fees,” he says, adding that apart from uploading his videos on social media, he nurtures talents too for members of his journalism club back in school.

He says he developed interest in the media while in Standard Three, but went online last year.

He gets his inspiration from the “Churchill Show”, which airs on NTV.

He is also a follower of other renowned presenters in Kenya.

He follows keenly the happenings in the country and across the world.

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