The first time Haron Nyambati picked up the camera, it felt a little awkward. “It is talking to yourself,” he said. “That’s the awkward thing about it.”
The 37-year-old Kenyan native moved to America four years ago, right before the pandemic. He is now taking a camera with him as he explores his new home of Faribault, and he’s sharing videos of his experiences on YouTube.
He hopes will allow people to learn about places they’ve never been without leaving their living room.
Nyambati was born in Nyamira County, Kenya. He grew up in the ‘90s and became a teacher.
He estimates, in American dollars, he made about $40 a month. It covered his rent and other living essentials, but not much else.
He taught Swahili and coached soccer after school. Traveling from competition to competition, he caught the attention teachers and managers of other schools.
“My kids used to shine,” he said.
One day Nyambati got a call from the manager of KBA Academy, which he described as a “top-notch” school that was “the talk of the town” in Nairobi. They had noticed his soccer students and Swahili students were performing well, so they offered him a job with five times the pay.
“They say like, ‘We want to hire you. How much do you want?’” Nyambati recalled.
During the next two years, Nyambati began participating in poetry competitions with his students. He would write the poems and the students would recite and choreograph them.
“We won 16 trophies for the national competitions for poetry,” he said. “We were the best. … Our team was taken to Statehouse — sort of like the White House — to perform to the president and his people. So, we were really honored to do that.”
He said that his name was “known” around the city after that. Shortly after, he got another phone call, this time from St. Scholastica Catholic School. He wasn’t Catholic, but he couldn’t turn down an even better salary and he spent a few years there.
Then, in 2019, he won the lottery. The visa lottery that is.
Greener pastures
Winning a visa to come to the United States is a “call for celebration,” Nyambati said.
“Like, heavens open for you,” he said. “So, it’s a big excitement. … You’re calling friends, like, ‘Hey guys. I’m blessed.’”
He didn’t think twice about it. Without winning the visa lottery, it can take about a decade for citizenship to be granted.
“You’re looking for a better life, greener pastures,” he said. “And because of the job opportunities and the value of the money and all that.”
His brother-in-law has a friend in Montgomery, Minnesota named Godfried Severio who had won the lottery some years prior. Severio supported Nyambati for some time and provided a place to stay until he got on his feet.
“(Winter) was crazy,” he said. “I was like ‘You mean I’m going to stay in the house for this long?’ … Back home, there was nothing like snow. I could see snow from a distance that is on top of a mountain, the highest mountain we have there. But it is never, never ever snow down here.”
He’d learned English throughout his schooling in Kenya, a remnant of its time as a British colony, he said.
Even with the support and knowing the language, he said it was a challenging transition.
“Starting in America is not easy,” he said. “You have to get some resources. For you to be able now to start living by yourself is not that easy, like people may think.”
His first job was at an Indian restaurant in Northfield called Chapati, which has since closed. After about six months, he got his own apartment with some help from Severio.
The biggest difference he’s picked up on is that America is less relaxed.
“Back in Africa, we can have like, Monday to Friday, (to) work,” he said. “Then the whole weekend, you can have it having fun with friends, moving places, social gatherings, very many of them. Like, here, if you do that, you’re going to be like ‘Am I going to get my bills settled?’ … You’re, like, on your toes all the time.”
Spirit of adventure
Then the restaurant closed and Nyambati had a lot of time to sit at home, as did we all in 2020. He was watching YouTube a lot, especially videos about mansions that were abandoned by celebrities.
It was also around this time that he moved to Faribault.
“I looked at the cities around and then I was like, ‘Faribault is a quiet city that doesn’t have a lot of commotion,’” he said. “It’s really tranquil here (compared to) when you move closer to the cities.”
As the lockdowns began to wind down, he picked up his cellphone and started filming. He figured he has “the spirit of adventure,” it couldn’t be that hard to make videos people would want to watch on YouTube. But it was more challenging than he expected.
“You don’t get it right away because nobody knows you,” he said. “You can post and then … after even maybe an hour, you go check and you see that nobody has even seen this. So, I’m like ‘Am I going to stop doing this thing or what?’”
He didn’t stop. In fact, he’s been consistently filming and posting videos for over a year now.
He started doing interviews with business owners in November, which are some of his favorite videos.
“I walk in and then I introduce myself,” he said. “And then I say ‘This is what I do and I would like to do this with you. Are you okay? Are you comfortable?’ Most people say ‘no.’”
But then, the owner of Noor, the clothing shop in downtown Faribault, said “yes.” Since then, he’s done one-on-one videos with businesses and organizations including Furball Farm Pet Sanctuary and Madina Cuisine and Market.
Spirit of adventure
Then the restaurant closed and Nyambati had a lot of time to sit at home, as did we all in 2020. He was watching YouTube a lot, especially videos about mansions that were abandoned by celebrities.
It was also around this time that he moved to Faribault.
“I looked at the cities around and then I was like, ‘Faribault is a quiet city that doesn’t have a lot of commotion,’” he said. “It’s really tranquil here (compared to) when you move closer to the cities.”
As the lockdowns began to wind down, he picked up his cellphone and started filming. He figured he has “the spirit of adventure,” it couldn’t be that hard to make videos people would want to watch on YouTube. But it was more challenging than he expected.
“You don’t get it right away because nobody knows you,” he said. “You can post and then … after even maybe an hour, you go check and you see that nobody has even seen this. So, I’m like ‘Am I going to stop doing this thing or what?’”
He didn’t stop. In fact, he’s been consistently filming and posting videos for over a year now.
He started doing interviews with business owners in November, which are some of his favorite videos.
“I walk in and then I introduce myself,” he said. “And then I say ‘This is what I do and I would like to do this with you. Are you okay? Are you comfortable?’ Most people say ‘no.’”
But then, the owner of Noor, the clothing shop in downtown Faribault, said “yes.” Since then, he’s done one-on-one videos with businesses and organizations including Furball Farm Pet Sanctuary and Madina Cuisine and Market.
At one point he filmed a video called “How The Elderly Are Taken Care Of,” which highlighted the work staff do at Faribault Senior Living. He said it got over 100 views within an hour, which was inspiration for him to keep going. It now has almost 2,000 views.
One of his favorite videos was at Rescue 55021, due to the hospitality of Executive Director Theresa Vold. He also was blown away by Furball Farm, because he’s “seen one or two cats walking around, but (Furball Farm) has, like, hundreds of cats.”
Ultimately he wants to be a traveling video blogger who moves from city to city every month. His “ultimate video” would be in the rainforests of Central America.
“I also want people to actually learn about areas that they have never been to,” he said. “… You don’t have to travel very long distance, because I can bring it to your living room.”
Source-https://www.southernminn.com/
Winning US Visa Opened Doors for YouTuber Haron Nyambati
