Margaret Ogola

Life and work

Margaret Atieno Ogola (12 June 1958 – 21 September 2011) was a Kenyan Catholic novelist who wrote The River and the Source and its sequel, I Swear by Apollo.

The River and the Source follows four generations of Kenyan women in a rapidly changing country and society. The book has been on the KCSE syllabus for many years, and it won the 1995 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region. Ogola completed her final novel, Mandate of the People, shortly before her death. It was published posthumously in 2012. She was also the recipient of the Familias Award for Humanitarian Service of the World Congress of Families.

In addition to her writing career, Ogola served as a paediatrician and the medical director of Cottolengo Hospice, a hospice for HIV and AIDS orphans.

She studied at Thompson's Falls High School and was best student overall in school. She also studied at Alliance Girls High School. At the University of Nairobi she earned her first degree, Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery, in 1984.

After graduation, she worked as a medical officer at Kenyatta National Hospital. In 1990, she earned her Master of Medicine in Paediatrics at the University of Nairobi. She also took a Post Graduate Diploma on Planning & Management of Development Projects at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in 2004. She was an advisor to the Kenyan Catholic bishops on issues of family and health, and a member of Opus Dei.

She received chemotherapy for cancer. Margaret Ogola was married to Dr. George Ogola, with whom she had six children: four biological and two adopted, including Paulette Ogola, Vivian Ogola, and David Ogola, a musician popularly known as "David Major" who appeared on Tusker Project Fame.

Ogola was a paediatrician based in Nairobi and the medical director of Cottolengo Hospice, a hospice for HIV and AIDS orphans. She was also vice-president of Family Life Counselling (Kenya) and interested in women's empowerment.

From 2002 to 2004, she was the Country Coordinator of the "Hope for African Children Initiative", a partnership of several international NGOs that included Plan, CARE, Save the Children, Society for Women and AIDS, World Conference For Religion and Peace and World Vision. The Initiative's main goal is to strengthen the capacity of African communities, to advocate, care for and support children impacted by HIV/AIDS & prevent further spread of HIV.

She also helped found and manage the SOS HIV/AIDS Clinic (April 2004–April 2005), which is a clinic for PLWAs. The clinic offers VCT, baseline investigations including CD4s, treatment of OI, provision of ART and nutritional support to 1000 persons from the surrounding slums: women, men and children.

Also she was the National Executive Secretary: KEC-CS: Commission for Health & Family Life. She is once again Head the Commission of the Catholic Secretariat. The commission is charged with Coordination of 500 Catholic Health Units & Community Outreaches all over Kenya providing services to over 5 million cases annually.

Ogola was appointed a member of the National Council for Children Services. In 1999, she also was the recipient of the Familias Award for Humanitarian Service of the World Congress of Families in Geneva, Switzerland.

The River and the Source, a novel which is a set book used in Kenya schools and has won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1995 and the 1995 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in Africa. It has been translated into Italian, Lithuanian and Spanish. The book describes the changing lives of 4 generations of Kenyan women.

A Biography: A Gift of Grace, examines the life of the first Catholic bishop, archbishop and cardinal in Kenya, Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga (1923–2003).

This section adapts selected passages from Margaret Ogola by Wikipedia contributors. It is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected passages; pronunciation guides, lists and reference markers omitted; punctuation and paragraph breaks adjusted. Photographs have separate licences.