(Today is World peace Day! So sad that the West Gate mall was attacked today. May the
souls of those who passed on rest in peace and quick recovery to those who have
been hurt)
Back to my story...... Goodbye Lower primary, welcome upper
primary. This was one of the most awaited moment as it marked a ‘promotion’ to
a new whole world in school life. At least i was not a Kid any more... i thought! The most memorable moment in class four was
during the exams as ‘those who used to perform not so well in exams’ had to
secure all means to up their game and I had to assist a lovely friend by the
name Peter who could not even write his name! This dude never went past class eight as his
efforts during the exams were not very fruitful but thanks God the dude is
doing so well in business and happily married now!
The year ended so fast and soon, I joined class five white.
Learning was amazing but one day, mum decided that it was time to say goodbye
to life in a public school and welcome life in a private school hence enrolling
me at St John progressive Academy locally known as ‘Kwa Ngure’ named after Mr John Ngure who was an education
officer in our district then. Joining this mixed day and boarding school marked
a turning point in my life where I learned of the best and worst lessons in my early life.
One of them was that I was supposed to do as the Romans did
in Rome incase I landed there but I learned it the wrong way. On the second
day, I decided to go to school shoe less as in my former public school, wearing
shoes in a normal school day was optional. Come parade time, reality struck and
I realized that I was the odd one out. Luckily, this was not an ‘inspection day’
hence I managed to get to class un noticed by the teachers. To avoid a lot of
drama, I never left the class to the loo, for break and even lunch and had to
wait after all students had left the school compound after four in the evening
so as to comfortably sneak the shoe less me out of the school compound. A
culture shock that was!
The worst lesson that i learned here was that it was
possible to disagree and even fight teachers as was the case of a friend by the
name Dan who was a boarder. If one tried this in a public school, this would
have literally called for a death sentence. I became big headed to a point of being sent
away and was driven home by the Manager Mr Ngure after misbehaving and imitating
him in front of the class.
Mum was not at home so we met Grandma by the name Anjerina where the manager told her that I should
never get back to that school now that I had the guts to mimic him and make
jokes out of any speech that he gave us and on his lovely mathematics strong
point by the acronym BODMAS! My Loving and ever blazing mum took the matter
under control and the following day, I was re admitted back to school. I would
later mis behave on several instances to a point of earning my self a constant and permanent place in
the black book. Despite all, The Manager never gave up on me till I did class
eight. Thanks Mr Ngure for that!
Lessons from Dan continued and I would later hear him talk
of 'soap jelly' which was hidden meaning of masturbation. This was what boarders
used to do using soap a thing that would come to terrorize me later in my life.
Most of the boys’ talk when Dan was around was all about sex and so sad that at
this age, he would explain us on sexual fantasies that he shared with Carol,
his girl friend of that time where he was backed by another day scholar by the name
Steve sharing similar experiences. This I can say was the foundation of my irresponsible sexual behavior at
a very tender age and something I would struggle with in my later years in
adult hood.
The positive side of this was that In St John progressive Academy, there
was serious competition and learning was taking place. Anne, Robinson, Terresia,
Joseph, Felix and others gave me a run for my time in school and I can say that
they were worthy Comrades. The other was that Mr Ngure and Mrs Rosemary Githanda
took the Catholic Doctrine so seriously that my Christianity got a strong
foundation here. Big up Mrs Rosemary for a job well done and also for being my
CRE teacher all trough till I sat for my class eight exams.
Summarizing my life in St John, I can say that I got a very
strong foundation of what I am today here both positive and negative. Year 1999 came, KCPE Exams too and the
results were not bad as I scored 497/700 to secure admission at Kerugoya Boys
High school a well known provincial
school by then........More Drama followed here!
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