God works in mysterious ways. His wonders to perform. I have never imagined myself outside teaching. Maybe because I know nothing else other than teaching. Maybe because I have nothing else to do other than taking care of the sons and daughters of Mwisho wa Lami men and women. Maybe because I have no money. Or maybe because, deep down, I had never seen anyone else fit to take over the reins of this school.
But God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.
From early May, I began hearing from teachers about a new investment opportunity, apparently designed with teachers in mind. At first, I dismissed it because I could not understand how it worked. You only needed Sh65,000 – or Sh129,000, depending on your relationship with TSC – to join a platform that would help you invest in stocks, crypto, stablecoins and other complicated financial terms.
And not in Kenya. In the US, the land of milk and honey, and, more importantly, the land of the dollar. I refused to join. Not because I did not want to become rich, but because I could not raise the initial Sh65,000. I also suspected it could be a pyramid scheme. But Kizito, a former colleague, was an early adopter. Being a successful farmer, Sh65,000 was not a big issue for him. He tried recruiting me several times.
I flatly refused. Until late June, when he came to see me. He was making money from it. He had bout two motorcycles from it. Was planning to buy a car.
“Dre, it will be very wrong for me to get rich while you remain behind,” he said. “What will I tell God if He asks me, ‘Why did you leave your friend Dre behind when you saw an opportunity to make money?’” That day, I decided to listen.
Kizito took me through the platform. He showed me how one enrolled, how one created an account and how the verification process worked. It was, I must admit, a very thorough process. They asked almost everything about someone. I was impressed.
“This cannot be a scam,” I told myself. “A scammer cannot go to those lengths.”
Kizito then showed me how one traded stocks, shares and cryptocurrencies. I had been reluctant to join because I did not have sufficient knowledge of these things, but it turned out to be easy, just a click of a button. If making money required only clicking a button, then even I could become a financial expert. He also showed me how to recruit others. I wondered why I needed to recruit anyone.
“You see, the more people you enrol, the more money passes around, and the more money you make,” he explained. “It is like a market. On a normal day, few people make money. But on market day, there are many sellers and many buyers. Everybody trades, everybody makes more money, and everybody gets what they need. We have to make every day on the platform a market day.” I was sold.
“If you are not ready, I can lend you some money to join. When you start earning, you will refund me,” said Kizito. I had already told him that I only had Sh25,000 and could not raise the difference.
“If you can make it Sh40,000, I will add you the difference. Your Sh65,000 will double within one month. You will give me back my Sh25,000 and remain with Sh100,000, which will double again in another few weeks,” Kizito said.
We struck a deal. I raised Sh40,000, Kizito sent me Sh25,000, and we opened an account.
The verification process was rigorous. They verified my identity, checked my ID and took my photograph. Eventually, my registration was activated. This was a genuine investment. I regretted why I had not joined earlier.
Kizito then shared with me how much he was making daily, simply by making two trades a day. He showed me how to withdraw money. He even withdrew some money. It was instant.
That was the final proof. If money could come out, then what did I fear? Every day, he called to remind me to trade. Every three days, we met to compare notes. However, my money was not growing as fast as his. I wondered why.
“You haven't recruited anyone,” he explained. “For the money to grow faster, you need to recruit others. Remember my market story? More traders, more buyers. That is how it works.”
I recruited Sela, Lena – her bad hair in tow – and Anita. It was not easy convincing them but somehow I did. I wasn’t so lucky with men. Saphire had no such money. Eric told me he did not believe in such things.
The day I recruited the three ladies, however, my money started growing exponentially. Within a few days, my money had doubled. I could now withdraw. But I did not want to withdraw. Why would I? Withdrawing would slow down the growth.
In mid-July, however, I withdrew Sh35,000. I repaid Kizito his Sh25,000 and used the remaining Sh10,000 to reward the body that was working hard to make me rich. I did not go to Hitler's. Neither did I go to Cosmos. I went to Kakamega Teacher's Tavern.
It took me only a few days to recover the Sh35,000 I had withdrawn.
“You would make even more money if you topped up and encouraged your community to recruit members,” Kizito told me. Seeing how quickly the money was growing, I put in I my entire July salary. I did the same in August. I took a Sacco loan of Sh175,000 and invested there. The results were instant. The money started growing at a rate of about Sh7,000 every day. Then Sela, Lena and Anita each recruited another person. I could see that in the system.
Without telling her, I opened an account for Fiolina. Soon, my account was growing by Sh15,000 every day. Fifteen thousand shillings. Every. Single. Day.
I withdrew another Sh20,000 just to test the system. It worked. I returned the money immediately. I needed all the money I had on the platform. I even withdrew money from some chamas and put it there. While these promised long-term gains, QVSE gave me daily gains . I even borrowed from Fuliza, Mshwari, Tala and Branch and others. The gains on QVSE were more than the interest these lenders charged. In August I withdrew and paid all of these, and borrowed again.
As you can imagine, all sophisticated investments suffer from competition, jealousy and bad people. Our platform was no exception. There were reports of cybersecurity attacks, ransomware and DDoS attacks. These are things I have learnt recently. Many companies suffer them, too.
“Also, some bad people joined,” Kizito explained. “QVSE had to act. Be patient as they act.”
They needed to separate genuine investors from jokers. That meant suspending withdrawals. In the meantime, genuine members needed to send $100 for verification.
“It will enable QVSE to separate genuine investors from jokers,” Kizito explained.
I had over Sh1.9 million on the platform. What was Sh13,000? I had withdrawn before. Kizito had withdrawn before. So had Lena and Sella. As other people were talking badly about the platform, Kizito and I, together with Sela and Lena, paid the $100. Anita refused. She will regret.
We have now been asked to wait for 33 days before we can access our money. And the money keeps growing daily.
I have already written my resignation letter. The moment the platform opens and I withdraw, I will hand it in. By then, the money will be close to Sh4.5million. In the meantime, I am busy at school, preparing Saphire to take over the reins when I retire.
It has been great being a teacher. But I have just one more month to go. I will work hard until the last day.
