A man for all seasons

Steven Langa narrates how he transformed from a marked stupid child in class to the first black and youngest chief engineer at Hilton Hotels, writes Emmanuel Makeri

A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child and from his gesticulations, tenor and sitting posture to the pains and joys in his recount, Steven Langa has simplicity written allover him.
“I was born in 1954, in Tororo to Mr Lauben and Rev Canon Lucy Langa. My father was a prominent businessman and cotton farmer.

My mother was a housewife until she finished raising the 11 anf pursued a career in the church,” he speaks of his parents in a revered tone. “In my primary school, we didn’t have enough seats in class, so the clever ones used to seat on the few desks and the stupid ones would either stand or seat on the floor; I was among the stupid ones.”
“We didn’t learn English until P.6, so I envied the pupils in P.7 who spoke some. In P.5, my maths teacher, Mr Nadongha, told my mother, “Ono omwana alimu ekalaamu,” meaning that I had “brains”. That was the start of my transformation; my performance started improving gradually.”
For his secondary education, Langa joined King’s College Budo. In A’ level, he attended a Christian conference in Manjaasi High School and had his first spiritual encounter. From that moment on, his whole perception of life changed.

“When we got back to Budo, we caused a revival by sharing what we had learnt. The influence was so strong that it was even reported in the Uganda August newspaper.” Prominent personalities like Justice Julia Sebutinde and Hon. Gad Gasatura were some of the members of the revival then.

“When I got to Nairobi University to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering, I was disappointed with campus life. I expected to find intellectuals but instead I found drunkards. I made a commitment not to get a girlfriend until I had finished campus because I found it hard to mix studies with a relationship. As soon as I finished my last paper in 1977, I declared myself available to date. For the last month I was at campus, I began frequenting the girls’ halls, trying to socialise, but failed to find anyone who met my standards,” he said, smiling to himself.

When he left university, hell broke loose. In 1977, Amin’s brutality was at its peak so Langa couldn’t come back to Uganda. He stayed in Kenya and tried to look for a job but it was hard for a Ugandan to get one. For the first six months, he had to stay with friends. Some of his Kenyan friends were already driving, while he, with his Second Upper honours degree, couldn’t get a job.

“I did an interview at Kenya’s Ministry of Planning - they wanted young brilliant engineers to train in industrial engineering for two years overseas, so that they could return and develop a national plan. I emerged the best but I was a Ugandan. The officials requested me to change my nationality to Kenyan but my conscience wouldn’t let me, so I lost that golden opportunity. I tried to register as a refugee and go overseas but my application was rejected.”

At that point, Langa says he was close to a mental breakdown. He was so depressed, but while attending a church service; his pastor said that God at times uses hardships to mould our character. “That sermon uplifted me. I picked myself up and continued looking for a job. After three weeks, I settled for a job as a casual worker in a steel factory, earning KShs100 (UShs20,000) a month. I used to go to the control room and pretend to read the meters, yet I was crying to God.”

After three months, Langa got another job as a maintenance engineer in a textile factory. He was paid peanuts but chose to work hard and gain experience. After a while, he left and sat another interview at Hilton Hotel Nairobi, which landed him his best job then.

“Though they decided to put a Kenyan above me for political reasons, I did all the work. I didn’t mind about titles, so it was okay. Within no time, I rose in rank to assistant chief engineer. When the chief engineer was transferred, he recommended me. I had to go to Hilton New York for approval because they had never had a black chief engineer.”
At 29 years, that was a great achievement. After working there for three months, he got into private business. “I sold computers for sometime in Nairobi before moving back to Uganda and starting Yellow Pages in 1991 and Yellow Pages Courier in 1995. In 2001, I sold off my business interests and started Family Life Network, which is meant to restore family values and morals in society.”

“I met my wife, Beatrice at conference in 1974 and one thing led to another, until we eventually got married in 1984. We have been married for 26 years and been blessed with two children. Grace is married and Mark is finishing university. Our relationship is stronger than ever,” Langa said in conclusion.