The Apostolic Lawyer In Britain: Victor Karaba Muriithi
By Cate Mimi
Victor was fast asleep after a satisfying day. He was a part-time teacher, preacher, full-time husband, and father of one. He had enjoyed a lovely dinner that Emma, his wife of many years, had prepared. The couple had invited a distant relative over for dinner and a sleepover. Rozina, a friend from church, and her son were also visiting.
Emma was the perfect host. Her cooking reminded Victor of his mother's food in Kenya. He could afford a good night sleep because his best friend and the love of his life lay next to him. Life was good. The dreams were peaceful until quarter to three when Emma's voice rent the night air like a freshly sharpened knife.
"Fire! Fire!" she called twice. "Babe! The house is on fire!" she screamed while shaking his shoulders. He thought it was a dream. He woke up confused. My son! He thought to himself as Emma screamed her best to alert the neighbors and perhaps get the fire brigade to their three-bedroomed terraced house in one of London's suburbs.
Victor has trained many companies in the United Kingdom about fire safety and never contemplated dealing with a fire in his house. He instructed Emma to get their son, head for the door, and drive away. This was a fight he was going to wage alone. After all, a man is supposed to protect his family. He saw the curtains razing down and thought he could yank them and throw them down the French windows to eliminate the fire's source.
Before Victor could shout "fire!", the man bit off his left ear and spat the pinna on the polished sandalwood floor. He had almost reached the roasting curtains when a man twice his size leaped onto his back and strangled him. He had no time to react. "Nobody leaves!" shouted the attacker who had started the fire. "We all die together!" he declared.
Beyond the pain, beyond the blood splattering on the floor and somehow coating the walls, Victor thought about his child and wife. Had they left? He was answered when he saw Rozina coming from the other room, holding her son and Victor's son in her lean arms. Rozina was coming down the stairs heading for the door past the flaming sofa. Her mission was as clear as the determined lines on her brow: Save the kids. It did not matter the subzero winter night outside. She just needed to get the children to safety. And fast.
The assailant had broken glasses and now held a shard of glass ready to strike Rozina. Rozina shielded herself; unfortunately, the shard cut Victor's son. Almost instantaneously, Emma yanked the flaming curtains, but sadly, a chunk of the burning curtain rained on her leg like a fireball of vengeance and bad attitude. Victor needed to do something besides freezing in horror. He grabbed the assailant by his shirt and told everyone to run as he dealt with the man. This was a fight for survival.
The only violence Victor had known was binding and casting out demons. The only war he was familiar with was fighting on his knees against spiritual realms and principalities until that day. He beat the man so badly that the cops and firefighters had to lift him off the poor guy. He now understood why Jesus took a whip and physically thrashed some fellows in the Bible.
This was an unfortunate attack. Unfortunately, the assailant was not only a relative but had a mental health crisis at the time of the attack. same time. Victor decided he needed to be a lawyer to cater for mentally handicapped people that commit crimes. He felt that the case could have been tried better had it been litigated by a black criminal barrister. Months after the unfortunate incident Victor enrolled himself for a law degree at a prestigious university in Central London.
He considers himself a middle-aged man yet he is no stranger to being a student. He left Kenya almost two decades ago to study Master's degree in Theology at a London based college. This was after successfully completing a bachelors in commerce undergraduate degree at Kenyatta University in Kenya. He also had a satisfying job as a banker in a prestigious bank. The money was comfortable but his heart was not. He knew God had called Him to be a minister of the gospel like his own dad.
His dream to study in the UK was born eons ago at Njiiris boys where he is a proud alumnus. He would later study his first Certified Public Accountant (CPA)package at a little known and now forgotten Freuki college in Kiharu, Murang'a county. The local college was owned by the former member of parliament of Kiharu, Ngenye Kariuki. Victor is petrified to see that I do not know Ngenye Kariuki. He tried to jog my memory by telling me that Honorable Ngenye mentored the current Kiharu Member of parliament Ndindi Nyoro. I have no idea what he means.
He let out an exasperated sigh. His daughter sat quietly beside him on the lime-colored sofas at Holiday Inn, Sutton, South London. She was doodling something on a piece of paper. She was born after the fire incident. Some streaks of the midday sun sneak through the window and lands on her doodle. She smiles. A disarming shy smile. I hear Lewis Capaldi's 'Forget Me' play softly in the background of some hidden speakers. Victor offers a cup of hot chocolate to his daughter who is not interested. I do not want to discuss Kiharu's members of parliament past and present. I want to know about his law practice as a pastor.
"So do you ever tell your clients that you will pray for them?" I ask. He roared into an infectious laugh. His daughter looks up and this time she chuckles. She adores her father. It is written all over her little flawless face. She looks everything like her mother Emma. Infinite beauty.
Once the laughter dies off, Victor tells me he knows all there is to know about the code of ethics, what is legally wrong but morally correct. He offers to define his role. He is an ordained and licensed minister of the Gospel in London as well as a legal executive in a London-based firm. He is a part time lecturer at East Surrey College, London South bank university and an examiner for a Master's of Law (LLM) degree at the University of Sunderland.
What he failed to say is that he is also an accomplished and published author of books like Audacious Living: Taking God at His Word and Mind Your Inheritance. Both books are available on Amazon. He is passionate about preaching Jesus at the marketplace. He also is keenly interested in immigration law, safeguarding laws and mental health laws. He is a teacher in health and social care.
In Kenya, he collaborates with local churches in his hometown to empower them in evangelization. He also helps take a few children to school from disadvantaged families. This journey has not been a straight line, he narrates. Nevertheless, having an indefatigable spirit, commitment, vision and purpose have kept him going and thrusted him to admirable heights as a Kenyan in the United Kingdom. He worries not for what he has done for himself but for Christ. Any given day is a chance for him to preach Jesus' principles not only through word of mouth but his lifestyle too. As long as God approves it, Victor Karaba muriithi will do it.
As the British sun morphed into sulky clouds threatening to pour anytime soon, he had a few words to say about his marriage. "I partly came to the United Kingdom to follow her. She has always been the love of my life and my best friend. I could not stay in Kenya without her much longer. She is responsible for everything I have achieved and more. Please do not write that Cate!" he begs. Victor would like to be remembered as a man that preached Jesus Christ and used the legal system to leave society a little better than he found it. The end.