On 6th Jan '23, her excellency Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, Second lady- Republic of Kenya, visited BAPS Swaminarayan Vidyamandir Randesan. Pastor Dorcas Wanjiku, who rose from being a house help to now being Kenya’s second lady. Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi is a vocal lady who is a mother, a pastor, and Kenya’s current second lady. She is the wife of Kenya’s deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua Her excellency Dr. Dorcus Rigathi was taken for the campus visit where she was shown the Interactive Classrooms, Atal Tinkering Lab, Hostel and was explained about various activities being carried out in school.
The most fascinating part of her visit was her interaction with our students. She was welcomed with Siddhant Gaan by the students. Her excellency, Dr. Dorcus Rigathi was felicitated by our campus director, Dr. Neeta Shah and our academic director, Dr. Mithun Khandwala. It was followed by the speech of our campus Assistant Director’s speech, Mr. Bharat Mavadia. He introduced the vision and mission of our school which was envisioned by Pramukh Swami Maharaj. He also mentioned that more than 700 girls in this school come from various backgrounds to get quality education here. He laid emphasis on the vision of Param Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who always aimed that a girl child must get the best of the education, must get best of the facilities, must get best of the residential facilities and a school that nourishes them, fulfil their skills and universal human values.
Following it, her excellency Dr. Dorcus Rigathi was invited to enlighten our students and inspire them to achieve the height that she has achieved. In her speech, she said she felt honoured and grateful to BAPS society for inviting her to India. She said, “When I look at you, I see the future of the world”. She started with her life journey.Her life history starts from very humble beginnings. She said that one of the greatest virtues a woman can have is worshipping a god who will help you to climb any heights. She said, “Coming from any background is not going to determine what you become”. She also said that her mother instilled in her the discipline that she has today. She raised her and pointed to the future, and despite coming from a very poor family where she did not have all the privileges. She understands what it means to not have enough food to eat, clothes to wear, but her mother put the family together.
She added "If you want to change and transform the world, you must become the agent of transformation and change. Bring up that bundle of joy, baby and show them how to love. Teach them to respect and honour women as well as their parents. And when that boy child grows up, they will be able to respect women. At the formation stage, mothers shape the child through the right teachings, and this is our purpose.”
The most inspiring part of her speech was when she told all the students not to deviate from the path that Pramukh Swami Maharaj gave us, work hard and give faith in yourself. Her speech was followed by some questions by the students. The questions were about what struggles she faced in her life, her experience at Pramukh Swami Nagar and what kept motivating her to continue. Her response majorly had one major thing in common and that was ‘FAITH IN GOD’. She also acknowledged Pramukh Swami Maharaj as a man with love for people who impacted people from every corner of the world.
Dr. Neeta Shah thanked her excellency Dr. Dorcus Rigathi, on behalf of the entire campus for coming over and inspiring our students. Her excellency Dr.Dorcas Rigathi’s story is an absolute example of a rise from grass to grace and it’s quite inspiring.