The question for every man is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; its what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stone of a solid and honorable success. Meet famed gospel artist Ringtone. He first hit the gospel scene with Maisha and lately has collabo'd with Silk on Nimebadilika (watch video) Yet his feud with another gospel artist a few years back, widely reported in the media, seemed to overshadow his steep ascent in music. His life cannot just be described as a scene from a movie. It is a movie. Read our one on one interview.

Ringtone

What is your real name?
My official names are Alex Apoko.

We heard that you had some misunderstanding / fallout with Rufftone that was well highlighted in the local media. What happened?
The media just blew things out of proportion. I had been living in Rufftone's house for a long time (many years) after which we had some minor disagreement. We burried the hatchet and have been very good friends since. We even went on national TV (NTV) on Arthur K's The Stomp and had an interview together and clarified everything.

And how did you meet Rufftone and end up staying with him?
We met in Mombasa when he and other artists who included Chosen, SITA and DJ Kev among others went to perform a show. From there, he agreed to allow me to to stay at his place in Nairobi during the school holidays.

Tell us about your childhood
When I was very young my mom and my dad separated, immediately my mom gave birth to me. Because she was very mad and wanted to be 'a girl again' so that she could get married again, she literary threw me away in a trash bin on the street. Some people then found me and took me to my father. Unfortunately he was a drunkard and couldn't support me and took me to stay with my grandmother who lived in the western town of Eldoret (about 300 kilometres from Nairobi). I never had a chance to breastfeed and that made me to suffer from kwashiorkor for lack of nutritional foods. Even in that case the hand of God was on me and His eyes were on me and never let me down. My dad died when I was five years old. My life took a different turn and worsened when my grandmother died when I was seven years old. My uncles refused to stay with me saying that they could not afford to take care of me. I was left alone in my grand mother's house until the landlord told me to leave because he had rented the house. I went to different houses begging for help but I never got any. The Bible says He is the Father of the fatherless and indeed I live to testify that. I finally went to the streets and joined other thousands of young people who were in the same situation like mine. For the many years we were on the streets we kept moving from one place to another and from one town to another. We waited for people to have mercy on us and give us a coin or we ate from trash bins. Other times we had to steal so that we do not die of hunger. We slept on the streets, inside old abandoned cars or in old abandoned houses. Even at this point there was some special comfort in me. I knew something was going to happen.

Ringtone performs in Christ Harvesters Church in Atlanta

Tell us what happened next and how did you get off the streets?
One day somebody told me that there are women tourists from Europe at the Kenyan coast who are looking for young boys to marry. I was tired of the suffering and the struggles I went through every day. So I made a decision to go to the Kenyan coast to get married to a tourist who I believed would make me successful. I didn’t have any money for transportation so I went to the train station. got onto one of the Coast-bound trains, hid under one of the seats and got to Mombasa. I went straight to the beach and sat there the whole day until late in the evening and still never got married. Since I did not see any hope of getting a tourist I decided to talk to a guy who was selling wares at the beach and told him why I needed badly to be married by a tourist. This brother looked at me and asked why a small boy like me who was supposed to be in school could decide to get married. So I decided to share with him my life story. Instead of this guy hooking me up with a tourist lady he hooked me up with JESUS. I had lived the whole of my life with bitterness because of my mom but I cried that evening to God and invited Him into my life that evening and He has changed my life ever since. This guy took me to stay with him and I started going to church and one family in church took me to stay with them and later took me to school. Both the family and church made sure I went to school and I finished.

That is quite an amazing story. Please continue and also tell us how you got yourself into gospel music
In 2004 I was working for I guy who used to sell pirated movies. I worked for him for three months and he shot a video for me and that song went straight to the charts in Kenya. My life changed instantly as I got invitations to go minister in different places. God started using me for His glory as I went to different places to testify of His mighty works. As my music grew bigger many many young people started to ask me to help them record their songs. Others wanted me to pay their school fees, others told me of how there parents were poor and they could not afford two meals a day. All this kids were thinking I had money because they heard my music. I got a passion burn inside of me to go out and tell them my story. Many of them cry when they hear where I have to come from. Indeed Jesus is the only One who can change somebody the way He changed me. Indeed what God can do no man can do. AMEN.

What else are you involved with besides music?
I grew up without a father, mother, brother or sister and what I missed was love. I have made a choice to be a father to the kids who are homeless. Now I have six kids I have taken off the street who live with me. My vision is to be a brother who will help and show love to the kids on the streets.I trust God to connect me with other people who have a desire to put a smile on the kids' faces. I also work with different orphanages in different towns in the country. From the sales of every CD of my music I help support these homes. We do cleanup program in Kibera slums and also conduct a feeding programme.

I also head a ministry that reaches out to the Kenyan youth in schools, slums and in different community levels. We organise crusades in different areas in the country where we work with local churches to win the young and old for Christ. In life, it's not how much you make for yourself but how much you are willing to give to others. My vision is to see many orphans come out of the streets and get a place they can call home and get education. I am now working with the UNDP in Kenya to eradicate poverty by 2015. I am their ambassador for the street. I am also shooting my documentary about my life and what I'm doing and intend to do. My foundation Love The Children International will be helping the street kids by building schools and homes for the homeless. I will launch my foundation in November 2008. I also plan to go to film festivals with my documentary and churches around the world to let them know what we are doing and how they can help. I have done a movie about my life story called Big Dreams and we are in the process of writting a book by the same title. A music studio through the support of my partiners is also in the works to help talented young people in Kenya record music for free.

Ringtone performs in Christ Harvesters Church in Atlanta

Thank you for your story. Any last words and how may we contact you?
It does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop. All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. 'If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.'
 

Contact:
PO Box 10559-00400,
Tel: +254 734 895 622/+254 726 205 898,
NAIROBI,KENYA
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.myspace.com/ringtonekenya
www.youtube.com/gospelkenya2008

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