Why I quit Christianity-Former Machachari actor Ian Nene speaks

ELIZABETH NGIGI Lifestyle, Entertainment Journalist

28 July 2022

• Former Machachari actor Ian Nene said he resulted to using weed after his mum was diagnosed with Breast cancer

• Iab Nene spoke about being born and raised in a Christian family where spirituality and God was a must.

Former Machachari actor Ian Nene alias Almasi has talked about changing his religion after his mum told him she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Speaking in a YouTube interview with Shivani Pau, Nene spoke about being born and raised in a Christian family where spirituality and God were a must.

He said that although he was a bit inquisitive about religion at some point, some questions he would ask were not well tackled.

Almasi said that after he joined the university in the UK, a friend gave him a book he collected from a monk, and that changed his life. He talked about being a party person who used to even do weed at the UK.

"When I got to the university, I was wild and partying but still connecting a little bit with a dealer (Weed) friend and I was always smoking weed and having some deep conversation and stuff," he shared.

"Randomly, he brings me a book while we are just chilling and getting high. He told me he was a monk but I didn't understand, he told me if I read the book, I will get some realizations. He gave me the book and a bag of a guitar and I looked at the back of the bag of the guitar and I saw a picture of one of our founders, I didn't understand it then," the actor said.

Ian said that when he came back home, his mum sat him down and broke the news to him that she was sick.

He had organized a meet and greet event with fans but cancelled the plan after receiving sad news from his mum.

"My mum told me that the doctors said she had stage four breast cancer. I am a Mama's boy. My mum raised me single-handedly, my dad was never around my life.

Ian said he thought his mum would die and so he resorted to being a frequent weed smoker to keep him going after sinking into depression.

"I started getting higher even more, I asked God why He had allowed my mum to suffer, 'If you truly exist, why do you allow bad things to happen to good people. My mum here serves everyone and even people outside the community she helps so many people yet she is the one getting cancer,'" Ian said.

Ian added;

"I could not understand. I was scrolling on Facebook and I saw a picture of a lady who had some marks on her face and she looked Peaceful and her picture was posted by one of my old friends."

Almasi said he then went to a temple in Nairobi, where his deep questions about the universe were answered.

"I was invited to a temple and I started learning and they were answering all my questions deeply and scientifically and how God is maneuvering this world and a lot of technical questions," he said.

"I became a vegetarian immediately and when I went back to the UK, I met monks and they took me to a temple, where I spent most of the times, especially during holidays, and dedicated even more cohesive time to it after am done with school."