My class eight social studies teacher, well I can talk of that now that I managed to do the 8-4-4 Kenyan system of education, anyway forget the education system for a moment, let us address the teacher. Well, he happened to have taught in the arid region of Kenya, Garissa, despite being a Nilote from the Western side of the country. Many of his stories during the brief breaks in between the lessons could entail his experiences and interactions with the people of Garissa.
After the short stories he could throw in the challenge he frequently did, “Now, I understand most of you pupils are from around this local area but I want to encourage you to strive to get to experience life beyond your local community, meet people who speak a different mother tongue than yours and even experience different climate and religion. This you will achieve by getting good grades that will result in you getting a chance to a good high school outside your area. “
Now, I don’t know what encouraged you to study and attain good marks other than the goal of attending your dream secondary school. You may have liked the particular school maybe because of the school diet, yes you read that right the diet, the school uniform, I particularly dreaded our primary uniform’s pleated skirts or even because of the school bus and infrastructure just to mention a few of the non-major issues. Now in my school and to be particular and precise my class, we wanted to tour the country. I must pat myself on the back because when the results came out and we were finally placed in our particular secondary school, I got to a school outside my locality. Yes, I did it. Maybe you will not get the reason for my thrill because I failed to mention earlier that my primary school was in Siaya County, and I’m now headed to Trans-nzoia county, Kiminini, is the particular place and your guess is as good as mine, no one in my family has ever travelled to this region. This is also a first for our family, wait it is a National School too… We will locate you Kiminini.
We are here in Kiminini, I’m being admitted as a form one and I need to go through my checklist first before we proceed. Good school, and just for the record, national school check, next its geographical position is outside my locality check, now the prevalent mother tongue here is Luhya though there is Kalenjin too, these two are the main ones though others are present check, check. Now I’m a little bit disappointed. Why are the students here still in pleated skirts? But at least the colour is beautiful sky blue, indeed, a drowning man will hold on to a straw. Well, I guess I can stomp down my disappointment. I’m admitted and my four-year journey begins, somewhere along the way all the school busses are painted yellow, well what can we say for those who greatly loved their school busses? I think one major theory that was there at my primary and high school levels of study other than attaining good grades that resulted in moving to the next level of education, the desire to move out of the locality was prevalent and just like the Holy Gospel my mathematics teacher too did not hesitate to preach on moving out of the locality.
After sitting my examinations and doing the mandatory, which is attaining a good grade I had the task of selecting the course I want to pursue. Now here is where our childhood dreams are put to test. How will I be a doctor and pursue it at my dream university course when my cluster points can only allow me to pursue law? Okay, those are questions that we will get responses to another day in a different story together. After a while I get an admission letter from the University of Nairobi, now if by now I have not yet earned student tourist in your dictionary then get me a better name on that because ain’t I outside my locality now? Now the excitement is on another level because in this institution I will meet human diversity at its peak on different levels be it religion, language, cultural practices, dress code and even human intellect. This too is growing on my level, forget the rumours that were there somewhere along the just completed four years of high school of university students being in uniforms. And I’m more than glad that there is no strict dress code here because could I have managed to be only in dressed only in dresses and skirts as per some of the universities state?
