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Businessman Opens Up About His Childhood and Relationship with His Father

Businessman Kennedy Rapudo has for the first time opened up about his difficult early life and the emotional struggles he faced before becoming an online sensation, thanks to his wife Amber Ray. In a deeply personal conversation on the Lessons @30 podcast with Dr. Ofweneke, Rapudo shared intimate details of his childhood, which were marked by trauma, abandonment, and a complicated relationship with his father.

Growing up in Migori County, Rapudo experienced the pain of his parents’ separation at just six years old. While his mother and father went their separate ways, Rapudo was left to be raised by his grandmother. His father’s departure left a long-lasting emotional void, and Rapudo would later reveal that he carried deep resentment toward his father for much of his childhood and early adult years.

“My childhood was difficult,” Rapudo shared. “I was raised by my grandmother after my parents separated. My father walked out of my life, and I didn’t see him again until I was in high school. That was the start of a lot of resentment toward him.” His mother, Rapudo explained, was also trying to navigate life as a single parent, and although he understood her struggles, it didn’t make up for the absence of his father.

Kennedy Rapudo Opens Up on Childhood Struggles and Fatherhood Lessons

The lack of a father figure in his life left Rapudo feeling emotionally abandoned. “As a young boy, you always look up to your father. You see your friends’ fathers showing up to school events, picking them up, and spending time with them, and here I was, without that,” he reflected. “It affected me mentally and emotionally. You don’t realize it at the time, but as you grow older, you realize how much that absence weighs on you.”

Rapudo’s frustration and confusion only grew over the years. As he entered grades 6 and 7, he became desperate to find his father, so he turned to his mother for answers. “I reached a point where I had to ask my mother to show me where my father was. I had never seen him since I was a little kid, and I didn’t understand why he wasn’t there,” he recalled. “My mother went to Mombasa to search for him, but when she came back and told me she hadn’t found him, that was the moment I accepted that my father wasn’t going to be in my life.”

That acceptance, however, didn’t bring peace. Instead, it deepened his feelings of abandonment. “I was left with a lot of questions,” Rapudo admitted. “Why didn’t he try to reach out to me? Why wasn’t he there? I couldn’t understand how a father could be absent from his child’s life, knowing that the child was there.”

The most painful part of Rapudo’s story came years later, when, after his mother’s death, he reconnected with his father. “It wasn’t until high school that I finally met him again. But honestly, meeting him only made me more upset. I felt betrayed. This man was alive all those years, and he never once tried to find me. When I finally met him, my mother had already passed away, and meeting him didn’t change anything for me,” he said. “It was too late. The damage was already done, and all I could feel was bitterness.”

The emotional scars from that relationship stayed with Rapudo well into adulthood. “Even when he passed away, I didn’t get the opportunity to mourn him properly,” he shared. “I was in school when I found out he had passed, and there were no phones back then to inform me right away. I didn’t attend his funeral. Later, I went to visit his grave, but by that time, everything had already been said and done.”

In a surprising twist, Rapudo shared that before his father’s death, the man had tried to apologize for his absence. “Before he died, he reached out and told me that he felt he had wronged me,” Rapudo said. “He tried to apologize, but by then, I couldn’t bring myself to forgive him. It was just too late for me. The time for healing and reconciliation had passed, and we never got to make peace.”

Despite the bitterness that had accumulated over the years, Rapudo said that the cold relationship with his father taught him an important lesson about fatherhood. “As painful as it was, this experience showed me the importance of being present for my own children,” he said. “No matter what, I make sure to be there for them. I want to be a better father, to break that cycle of absenteeism that I experienced.”

He acknowledged that while his father’s absence shaped much of his life, it also gave him the strength and determination to be an active, engaged father in the lives of his own children. “Having children with different mothers doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to be there for them. I want to be the father that I never had,” Rapudo said with conviction.

Rapudo’s story is a poignant reminder of the lasting impact that parental relationships, or the lack thereof, can have on a child’s emotional development. His journey is also one of growth, as he strives to do better for the next generation. Despite his struggles, Rapudo’s willingness to open up about his past shows that he is not only committed to changing his own life but also breaking the cycle of absenteeism and neglect for his children. His openness and vulnerability in sharing his story are a testament to his growth as both a man and a father, making his message one of hope and resilience for others who have faced similar challenges.

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