MWALIMU JOSHUA

I am not very skilled in writing, but I take hold of a pen, rub it over a piece of paper in a systematic way as taught in nursery school some twenty one years ago. Pushed by the urge in my heart to share this message in its simplicity. A walk like no other. A walk to remember, others would put it that way. There was excitement and ecstasy all over. Yells of joy and jubilation filled the cold Njoro air. From a far, you could easily know that there was something unusual happening. Some neighbours and passersby could not withstand the chants and screams from the boys ( Men – as they called themselves ). Many stood agape, watching the happenings as they unfolded. You would think it was the famous wilder beast migration in Mara and Serengeti. It was like another season of prison break. Free at last. You could read that from the voices and looks on the students’ faces. Dust filled the air from the thunderous, enormous stamping of feet by the students on their way out. The su...

Rhetorical questions still lingered in my mind. What was the meaning of all this? I mean, why did it have to happen so? And, why me? Why? On a chilly cold morning, I woke up just as usual to go and learn a new thing. I take a shower and hurriedly rush to class. Mhh, those who know the boarding school issues, waking up at 5.00 am to go for preps as we called them. Funny to mention that in my school it was not compulsory. I guess it’s because there was a drawing on a wall on your way to the administration block that had pictures and was written “The choice is yours”. And guess what, you won’t expect it to be compulsory in the “School of Men” as we called it, especially for the form fours (Sheng’ -Bom – nei). It was on the high-rise of student’s rights and freedom awareness campaigns. Alas! On reaching class, I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw. My locker was badly dismantled with the top thrown away. At first, I even didn’t see the top anywhere. I became very confused and dum...

It reaches a point in life when circumstances push you to the walls with nowhere to run to. These pressing moments may even persist for a long period of time but what determines whether you will conquer or not is the way you handle the situation. Many people tend to give up long before they even tried. Let me give my own example. When I was in high school, I literally formed an opinion in my mind that I cannot pass in Mathematics and sure enough my performance in the subject proved the same. I even came to a point of identifying Mathematics as "My weakness". I would hear People talk about maths and felt so bad. What discouraged me most was seeing some of my friends doing very well and enjoying it. My self esteem went totally down and thought of myself as being very powerless and helpless. I was at the verge of quitting since I saw that time was not on my side and knew that no miracle would happen. It also happened that when the teacher came to class for Maths lessons I s...

It was about 4.30 am when I woke up as usual. The previous day was a very hectic one so  slept soundly. I went to the bathroom and took a cold shower.  After taking a shower, I took a few of my books and placed them on top of my box. At first, I was hesitant to leave the dormitory. But was aroused by some movements outside the dormitory.  I remained  still and waited to see who it was. I knew it was still very early and wondered who these people could be. The footsteps grew louder and louder. I would feel like the people were like stamping their feet on the ground. I started trembling slowly by slowly and eventually I was trembling vigorously. At that moment my thought flew back in time when we used to have massive and destructive students strikes. It was indeed very horrible. Such stamping of feet was common followed by smashing of window panes and latter the blasts of teargas by the police. Within my mind, I was now expecting the common helter skelter mov...

"Joshua, Joshua, the deputy wants to see you after break." A fellow student told me. "What is it? Has he known?" I asked him. " I don't know" he replied. I wondered who could have told him. Little did I know what awaited me. I was very anxious and nervous too. Not knowing what would happen next. My heart beat unceremoniously. Everyone coming near me would clearly see that I was uncomfortable. Very restless, I wished no one would talk to me so that it remains my secret. I was just seated on the pews in the school hall, right at the back left corner. Fellow form one students came past me and saluted me but I made sure I didn't answer back by word but just waved and nodded. For about thirty minutes, I stayed in the very same place. Fear gripped my heart and now circulated up to the nerves. Tears lingered in my eyes as the clock ticked. Finally, the bell rang. That was one thing I thought would not happen. I wish God held the time so that it c...

No one ever thought it would end this way. It indeed was not predicted or even foreseen. Everybody stood in amazement with their mouths open seeing Mlachake, a poor young man holding his very beautiful fiancee. It seemed like a dream or video and drama as some would put it. Mlachake hailed from a very poor family. His parents were as poor as church mice. Everybody avoided them on grounds that they will borrow them food. They were so desperate that they lived in old deserted shanties in Maendeleo village. Children in their neighbourhood were taken to school to get education while Mlachake remained at home to help with house chores. Mlachake really sympathized with himself because of what he was going through. Every evening he would sit outside the gate of the only school in the village and desperately watched other children come out of school. What made him even more sad is that the children were speaking in a language he didn't understand. One day the children requested him to...

At times we reach to some point in life where we feel so discouraged and down. This is mainly brought about by very high expectations, and the human urge to be at the top always. Discouragement later yields to depression and lack of self esteem. Dicouragements are common in any society, family or any social groupings. In as long as there exists two or more people in a given geographical are, conflicts are bound to arise due to the struggle for the limited resources thus leading to competition which is the biggest cause of depression. Many people would like to see themselves at the top and at times after struggling for sometime in vain, they opt to give up. Giving up is not and will never be a solution in any interaction whatsoever. It requires one a little more patience and determimation. At times you may not be winning in a game not because you don't know the game, but because you don't follow the rules of the game. Other competitiors will at all cost try to scare yo...