{"id":10670,"date":"2025-08-26T14:39:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T14:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/involvement.co.ke\/?p=10670"},"modified":"2025-08-26T14:39:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T14:39:02","slug":"from-darkness-to-destiny-how-john-meleji-turned-tragedy-into-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/from-darkness-to-destiny-how-john-meleji-turned-tragedy-into-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"From Darkness to Destiny: How John Meleji Turned Tragedy into Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Frida Mwalagho<\/strong>,<\/div>\n
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John Meleji is whip smart, charismatic and very determined. He is a story to many and an\u00a0example to the youths. The rapper to be speaks on being an influencer. Juggling rapping, disc\u00a0jockeying and his studies and receiving support from his parents.<\/div>\n
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It was best of times, it was the worst of\u00a0times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the\u00a0age of foolishness it was the period of\u00a0disbelief, it was the season of light, and it\u00a0was the season of darkness. More so, it was a\u00a0spring of hope and a winter of despair.
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John Meleji is an influencer in every sense of\u00a0the word. Many youths, parents, guardians\u00a0and teachers use him as an example to those\u00a0who are not ready to listen. Others follow him for inspiration or simply admire his skills with\u00a0him being completely blind.<\/div>\n
Not many people are ready and willing to talk about the flaws that they have in their lives, for the sake of not being judged by people or being the black sheep in the room. But as per John\u2019s<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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story it has been a stepping stone to many and more so a lesson he can never forget. Does he\u00a0regret anything? Does he hate himself? Would you still be strong if you were in his shoes?<\/div>\n
In the year 2016 month of September date 27, john Meleji with his friends took ethanol from the\u00a0laboratory after a chemistry practical during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education\u00a0(K.C.S.E), this is because it was his 18th birthday and his friends wanted to have some fun and\u00a0relieve the examination pressure. Was it peer pressure? Honestly, most of us would do same\u00a0thing so as to create great memories.<\/div>\n
The ethanol reacted after three days whereby, they were all rushed to hospital as they were six of\u00a0them. Fortunately, or unfortunately, his friends were discharged from hospital for their issue was\u00a0quite minor. As for John Meleji, his was a different case, he lost his eye sight completely, and the\u00a0doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital gave him beer which was to neutralize the reaction of\u00a0ethanol in his system. However, the ethanol reaction reacted on him majorly since he was having\u00a0an unhealthy diet in school. This affected his liver and his nerves got burnt as per the doctor at\u00a0the hospital.<\/div>\n
Due to the complications, he missed his physics and biology paper, but that did not stop him\u00a0from getting his grades that would help him go to the university and pursue his dreams of being a\u00a0rapper.<\/div>\n
INVISIBLE WOUNDS<\/div>\n
During that period, he felt so much pain and anguish, that he did not know what would happen afterwards. John was still leaving in denial and could not stand the thought that he was blind and never to recover. Being in the hospital for six months, bed ridden was one of the major challenges he faced and the thought of taking medication and going through injections.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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John Meleji was completely paralyzed and after being discharged it was a relief that he could\u00a0still hang out with his friends which led him to start using drugs so as to run away from\u00a0depression. This went on to the extent that he did not want to be associated with anyone, and\u00a0would not even want to be in a relationship. \u2018Being in a relationship is hectic, it needs\u00a0commitments and women are just a lot work.\u2019 John explains while laughing.<\/div>\n
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The fact that he did not have any kind of eye problem ever\u00a0since he was young, would at times make him feel sad and\u00a0lonely. After being discharged from the hospital he was\u00a0prescribed medication that made him recover a bit of his\u00a0eyesight but when they went to enquire with the doctor he\u00a0was given more medication that later damaged his eyesight\u00a0completely rather it reversed his eyesight, he had to stop\u00a0using those medications and was told that his nerves might\u00a0grow back and that the chances of him gaining his eyesight\u00a0are minimal but that should not stop him from trying.<\/div>\n
This depressed him even more, and he indulged in more drugs. He was later taken to a\u00a0rehabilitation center in Nairobi West by the name Kenya Society for the Blind (K.S.B), whereby\u00a0they talked to him and trained him to do things normally so as not to feel out of place. He is able\u00a0to cook, clean and also to do things for himself without anyone\u2019s assistance.<\/div>\n
Well, anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything all at once, one needs to\u00a0always breathe and give himself a motivation that he is strong and hew got this while taking it\u00a0day by day.<\/div>\n
A VICTOR<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Meleji narrates to us that he is no longer a victim but a victor through the things that he has gone\u00a0through. He thanks his beloved mother for standing by him and God for giving him the strength\u00a0for it only God that can turn a mess into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph,\u00a0a victim into a victory.<\/div>\n
Despite all the things he has gone through John enjoys hanging out with friends, socializing and\u00a0creating great memories.<\/div>\n
He encourages us by saying that everything happens for a reason, and he did not go through all\u00a0that for nothing, it is a lesson and an eye opener to many especially the youth.<\/div>\n
Conclusion<\/div>\n
Through Doctor Steve Maraboli\u2019s saying, \u201cYou are not a victim. No matter what you have been\u00a0through, you are still here. You may have been challenged, hurt, betrayed, beaten and\u00a0discouraged, but nothing has defeated you. You are still here! You are not a victim, you are a\u00a0victor. You are a history of victory.\u201d<\/div>\n
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By Frida Mwalagho, John Meleji is whip smart, charismatic and very determined. He is a story to many and an\u00a0example to the youths. The rapper to be speaks on being an influencer. Juggling rapping, disc\u00a0jockeying and his studies and receiving support from his parents. <img “=”” id=”pi1_0″ width=”188.53974121996302″ src=”blob:https:\/\/euc-word-view.officeapps.live.com\/24ac1708-6b6a-4891-870e-f70987273faa”> It was best of times, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invo.nyarango.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}