Amid the chaos of Mombasa’s Likoni ferry crossing, few would imagine that one of the faces once lost in the crowd would someday stand behind a pulpit inspiring hundreds. Alex Njogu Mathangani’s life is a moving story of resilience, redemption, and faith — from sleeping on cold pavements to leading souls to hope. His journey reminds us that no background is too broken for grace to rebuild.
Rush, brush, crash, noise, congestion, and confusion — that’s the daily rhythm of the Likoni ferry crossing, the gateway that links Mombasa Island to the mainland south. Here, young and old brush shoulders without regard for age or class. Swahili exclamations fill the air — sometimes as greetings, sometimes as curses.
While most people hurry to cross the channel, one man stands still — content and reflective. For Reverend Alex Njogu Mathangani, the Likoni ferry is more than a crossing. It is where his journey to redemption began.
“The ferry means everything to me,” he says softly. “I started my life here, and I found my purpose here. It’s sweet to me because it reminds me of where I came from — and where God has brought me.”
Alex has seen the worst and the best of life at the Likoni crossing. In his dark days, he slept under baobab trees along Mama Ngina Drive, his only shelter against rain and wind. He stole to survive and drowned his pain in drugs and alcohol. “I can’t count the number of people I robbed or how much I smoked,” he admits. “But I can count the people who helped me turn my life around.”
His story begins 47 years ago in Nyeri County. “The first time I realised I was different was when someone called me Somali,” he recalls. “I had never seen my mother. I thought the children I was growing up with were my brothers and sisters.”
He met his mother for the first time when he was eight. She was of Somali origin and had endured her own suffering — from abuse, abandonment, and life on the streets. After leaving Isiolo, she wandered between homes and towns, eventually landing in Mombasa, where Alex was born.
She later took him to a foster family in Nyeri, only to abandon him again. When she returned with a stepfather a year later, their reunion was brief. “After she left again, I was placed under a cruel stepmother,” Alex recalls. “Life became unbearable. I dropped out of school in Standard Six and went to the streets.”
He found his way to Mombasa, surviving on casual jobs at the ferry — washing dishes, cleaning, and later working as a tout. “I hated it,” he says. “Older boys bullied us, and I started smoking bhang and drinking to cope. By day I was a tout; by night I was a thug.”
But even in brokenness, grace found him. His first turning point came when a woman at the ferry offered him a job selling her goods. While others refused, Alex agreed. Within two hours, he had made KSh1,500. “She was shocked that I didn’t steal from her,” he laughs. “That day I bought my first mattress and slept under my baobab tree like a king.”
The second turning point came in 2013. As he smoked bhang with a friend near the ferry, he spotted a woman he intended to rob. “Before I could move, I fell asleep,” he says. “When I woke up, the same woman was preaching right there. I was dazed, but when she made the altar call, something pushed me forward. When she prayed, the urge for alcohol and cigarettes disappeared instantly. It was like a heavy load lifted off me.”
That moment changed everything. He joined Deliverance Church Makupa (now DCI Mombasa City), grew in faith, and began a new life. But his journey wasn’t easy. “When I wanted to marry, no one in church wanted a man who sold sweets,” he says with a smile. “I was heartbroken and went back to Nyeri.”
In Karatina, he met Jane Wangui, a pastor from a well-off family who saw beyond his past. They married despite his humble means. “On the day of paying dowry, I didn’t have enough,” he laughs. “But somehow, I paid more than expected. God provided.”
The couple later settled in Mtwapa, where Alex juggled small businesses — some failed, some thrived. His breakthrough came in 2019 when several ventures flourished, earning him his first million. Today, he’s a priest, entrepreneur, and father of one, helping others rise from the same darkness he once knew.
His most joyous moment came when he reunited with his mother and led her to salvation. “Seeing my mother — a Somali woman, an alcoholic — come to Christ was my greatest blessing,” he says, his eyes glistening.
Looking back, he is filled with gratitude. “I was a complete wreck,” he says quietly. “Sleeping under that baobab tree was undignified. I had no father, no family, no name. But God found me. I was feared, cursed, and rejected, yet He accepted me, washed me, and made me new.”
From a street boy to the pulpit — Alex’s story is a testimony that no past is too dark for God’s light to shine through.
By Ayub Mwangi
