This is where Mr. Jared Omondi Otieno, a native of Ugunja ekes his living as an artist specialist in fine arts; Drawing of people, animals aided by their portraits, graphic design that entails sign writing, wall branding and plain painting based on painting of buildings otherwise referred to as commercial painting.

Why the name Afro Arts? ‘The name afro comes from the word African. I am an African artist dealing with African arts’, Jared answers. Like other professionals, Jared's is a talent identified at a tender age and it has been cultivated to take him this far. He says that he took after his late grandpa who was a talented and respected artist during his heydays.

Jared sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in 1998 and never made it to Secondary school due to lack of school fees. He has memory of an instance back in 1995 that proved his artistic talent.

‘Back in 1995’,he starts, ‘while a standard five pupil at Ugunja primary school, there was this Divisional drawing competition that actively introduced me into the world of drawing. I took a portrait of the then and current Member of Parliament for Ugenya Constituency Hon. James Aggrey Orengo and drew his Image. When the results came out, I was position two in the whole Division. The top pupil, from Sikalame primary school drew a nice modern building. His drawing was so nice that I had to concede the defeat’, he narrates.

After plans of secondary school education failed, Jared joined the Waithaka Technical Training Centre in Nairobi from January 1999 to December 2000 for a course that turned him into a professional artist. Fresh from training, his job instinct started in Nairobi before moving to set shop, in Ugunja in 2006.

In order to come up with satisfying artistic works for his clients, he uses crown and Sadolin paints, artistic brushes and dustless chalks among other artist related equipment. The married man and a father of one admits that his job pays.

From it, he has been able to build a permanent house for his family. Besides, it lays food on the table for the family. Paints are known to be health hazards to people who regularly use them. For health purposes, Jared drinks milk to stay safe. ‘I take 500ml of milk on daily basis to counter the effect of paint’, he says.

He says that a major challenge that weighs him down is the fact that most people do not value artists and their works. This and the luck of ready markets for his products plus delayed payments from customers combine to complicate his daily work. But he quickly adds, ‘Almost 60% of my customers provide a good working environment’.

He advises youths to use their God given talents for self employment. ‘Despite combining talents with hard work, youths should shun drugs for economic empowerment’, he adds.