Cross-dresser Kelvin Mwangi, known to many as Shaniqwa, is grateful for comedian Jalango who paid his rent arrears of nine months
Speaking to radio host Jeff Kuria, the father of one said that when the TV show folded at the height of the COVID-19 period, everything he had built came tumbling down.
According to him, the loss of employment couldn’t have come at a worse time as he had just gotten a child with his wife Naomi Jemutai.
“I had used up all my savings on my new family and stayed a year without an income,” he said.
A friend offered to host his family in Nairobi so that he could join his wife in looking for a job to help them get back on track.
It was, however, an exercise in futility as nothing was forthcoming for both of them given that companies were downsizing rather than hiring.
The multi-talented comedian who rose to fame as a cross-dresser added that things became so bad that agents began to auction his household items.
“Agents auctioned my stuff, fridge, blender, and TV, so I took my family back to the village,” added Shaniqwa.
As if things were not bad enough for him, his wife and mother of their child started cheating on him with another man.
He was made aware of the affair through friends who would send him pictures of her kissing the man.
“My wife would leave me and go out with another man. We had no money for food but I found she had KSh 8,000 in her M-Pesa,” he said.
After the tumultuous period, Naomi finally walked out of the relationship and started living with her new lover.
Shaniqwa was forced to start living alone, a period within which he was stressed and lost weight, plunging him into a state of depression that he tried to suppress by drinking.
Even at the lowest point, the comedian says that friends remained an integral part of him as they held his hand.
“One day I fainted in the house as I had not eaten for three days. I decided to open up and texted Jalas (Jalango). I asked him to call me after his show,” noted Shaniqwa.
It was a leap of faith that changed everything as the entertainer reached out and inquired what was going on, to which he admitted that he was in rent arrears of seven months.
Jalang’o asked for his landlord’s number after which he cleared the rent and paid two extra months.
“I started looking for Desagu and shooting with him. I started feeling the love from my fans. I started putting content on YouTube,” he added.
As things started looking up, Naomi reached out and requested to be allowed back into his life, but she would walk out again after just two days.
Shaniqwa has been rebuilding his life again a day at a time while raising his son alone.
