Image: Instagram
Bien-Aimè Alusa has had the best and the worst growing up.
There is little to nothing known about his personal life as he likes to keep it that way but during an Engage Talk he opened up on a lot.
The Sauti Sol brothers were all featured on that stage and they shed so much light on their past life before all the fame and money.Bien has a lesson for y'all, delayed gratification.
Image: Instagram
One thing he made clear is that he does not like githeri(beans and maize) and it is because he has had too much of it growing up. Here is his story.
"I hate githeri!
I grew up in the lash area of Kilimani and my dad was the aura of an alpha male both in his masculinity and financially. Together with his friends, they had a lot of parties. He used to put himself last by giving handouts from school fees to rent etc. And it always came with words of advice.
I remember my mum's beautiful dresses and how gorgeous she looked in them. I remember our beautiful home, the smell of pancakes and sausages in the morning and cartoons. Basically my childhood is a life many would consider of privilege.
My sister and I went to a very competitive boarding school both in price. A school where were programmed to pass exams."
Image: Instagram
Then things took a drastic turn for Bien and the family.
"In 2000, things changed. My father lost his job and my mother was retrenched during the famous Y2K retrenchment era.
My mum came to pick my sister and I up from school in a cab which was awkward because she always came with my dad or a driver. Things didn’t seem right so I inquired. She let us know that they are both lost their jobs and she said that the family had to make a few changes which were a smaller house, less than a half of where we used to live and no school. They couldn't afford it.
Things started going south. My dad sold his car and we ate githeri every so often. Then we couldn’t afford the rent to this new and small house and I knew things were getting tough. My dad was building a house with his little savings and we were forced to move there in as much as it was completely unfinished. No ceiling, walls were not painted, floors were not done and the basic plumbing was not done. It was traumatizing. Things were thick. The house had no electricity so we sold our electronics and use kerosene lamps to see our way around the house."
Image: Instagram
Adding that,
"My sister and I were out of school for a year and during that time, people wanted to come visit us so bad but I was embarrassed by this new low.
My parents were trying to get us out of it by looking for jobs but all they got were a lot of rejections and regrets. This crushed them and it got to a point they stopped trying. It was like the end for me seeing my parents give up."
Things were getting worse and worse. In the midst of all that, they lost both his mother's parents and he started to question God
"In 2000 within a span of six months, my mum lost her parents and we questioned where God was. I watched my dad give up, talking to himself wallowing in depression.
Where were the guys my dad used to support and have fun with him? We had debt all over we couldn’t borrow anymore, we hit rock bottom." Bien opened up.
Image: Instagram
He went on to give a brief of how he landed in Upper Hill and met his other family, his Sauti Sol brothers
"We were enrolled in a local school to do the national exam and I was called to Upper Hill Boys and I met my Sauto Sol brothers, Chimano and Savara. We started singing when we were 15. Singing took me into a pace where I was good at what I was doing and forgot what I did not have.
To date the bond I have with these brothers is unbreakable, they continue to take me back to the redemption music gave me.
Sauti Sol and music is my escape.
All this has molded me to be the man I am today."
