The first of June 2019 was a special day. My bestie Mwende Muna and I celebrated Madaraka Day by visiting Precious Blood, Riruta, 30 years after we left the school. What a ride down memory lane that was!
First, shout out to the alumni association led by my former roomie Salome Beacco for organising the function, a forum for the old girls to mentor our younger sisters.
Walking the halls and paths of the school we last set foot in three decades ago was surreal. We found ourselves asking the two students escorting us from the parking lot to the field questions like, “Is applying jam on biscuits still a punishable offence?” “Do students still wash plants as part of their duties?” The girls must have thought we were crazy.
But you had to be in PB in the 80s to appreciate where we were coming from. Some of the rules then were simply cuckoo, perhaps because at the time, the school was run by nuns headed by Sister Paula Wagner who passed on in 2014. Here’s a post I wrote about her at the time.
Mwende and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to tour the school before heading to the main hall to attend a mentoring session with the Form 4 class. Open Space where we held assemblies seemed much smaller than I remembered. We met Mr Kang’ethe, the physics teacher who doesn’t seem to have aged a day. They brought him out of retirement to resume teaching and he seems to be very popular with the girls going by the loud cheers that went up earlier that morning as the teachers introduced themselves to the alumni.
Afterwards, the alumni sang a chorus and were introduced by the year they left the school, starting with the most recent. Mwende and I felt pretty old representing the class of ‘89. I think there were only 3 or 4 older girls representing the class of ‘87 at the function. Loved the alumni turnout though. If we continue in that spirit, PB will certainly go places. And a lot of help is needed. That became clear during the event.
Due to the introduction of Free Primary Education, GoK has mandated 100% transition rate into secondary schools. PB now has 7 streams with 50 students in each class, which has made the classrooms really crowded. In our time, the school had 2 streams with around 40 students in each class.
We were disappointed with the untidy state of our old 4W classroom and the laundry area. In our days, one would never see rubbish strewn on the ground. The students kept the toilets clean and here again, we were disappointed to see that standards have slipped. And we weren’t the only ones. Caroline Mbindyo, one of the alumni, took the Form 4 class to task on this issue, telling the girls there was no excuse for having a dirty school. I totally agree.
The dorms were locked, as they usually were in our day, but a peek through the windows revealed tidy rooms and beds made with hospital corners. Clearly, that rule has been maintained. In our time, a prefect could pull you out of class for not making your bed properly if she did not find hospital corners. The dorms now have four extra bunk beds inside the rooms, to accommodate the increased numbers of students.
The library definitely needs work. Perhaps the alumni can take on that project to ensure PB has a well-stocked library. I would definitely love to be involved in that.
Beyond that however, the girls need a lot of hand holding to deal with the stresses that these kids are now facing. Going by the briefing Salome and her team gave us in the library after tea, these girls need a lot of help. Some come from broken homes. Others are so poor that the school seems like paradise, which they prefer to stay in even over the holidays.
There is of course pressure to do well and pass exams. These days the official wake-up time is 4.30am. Phew! I loved and still love my sleep. If I went back to high school today, I would always be battling prefects about this.
The girls had contributed questions and topics where they wanted advice from the alumni. I was shocked to discover marriage on that list. Seriously? I can’t believe that girls this young are thinking about getting married. Mwende however, set me straight, telling me kids are maturing at a very young age nowadays.
When I was in high school, I hadn’t even experienced my first kiss. We noticed boys of course and there was one in particular from Patch (Nairobi School) who used to conduct the band. Can’t remember his name but he was so cute and all the girls seemed to have a crush on him. The highlight of attending music festivals was seeing him in action. Few had the courage to talk to him and for those that did, it seemed like harmless flirtation (from my perspective anyway or maybe I was just a late bloomer). I still can’t get over the fact that the PB girls wanted advice on marriage of all things.
The alumni association urged us to continue walking with the girls. I agree. From what I saw, we old girls can make a real difference in that school. There is so much I wanted to tell the girls. That they should try and enjoy high school and be kind to each other. That as much as they think high school is stressful, the real world is way worse and that adulting is not a walk in the park.
That your grades do not define who you are. Out here, we have people who scored straight A’s who are now struggling financially and C students who run big companies employing their classmates who scored straight A’s. I wish they knew that your grade is merely a pit stop on a very long journey with many paths that one can take. Some of those paths lead nowhere. Others turn out to be very interesting detours where you will meet your future spouse, business partners or make lifelong friends.
Each path taken on its own means very little. You have to look at the whole picture from birth to death to measure the worth of a man or woman. Using a grade to define yourself or even a business failure or divorce to call someone (or yourself) a failure makes no sense. Naturally, many will not believe me. Would you have, if someone told you this in your teens or even early 20s. Oh my, this is beginning to sound like a letter to my 18-year-old self.
Anyway, as alumni, let’s do our part to help our old school whether it’s financially for those able to do so or by mentoring these girls. Let’s encourage them to shoot for the moon by all means (scoring an A is pretty nice), but falling short of that goal isn’t the end of the world.
The universe has lots of interesting spaces and I for one believe that if you search long enough and work hard enough, you will find your niche. That one spot where you can be the best at something and find meaning and joy in work.
And for those fortunate enough to find that sweet spot where what you’re good at and love to do is something the world is ready and willing to pay for, then money will rain down from heaven. For those who accomplish this, thank God every day.
When you get to the top, I hope you will be the person that stretches out a hand to help others climb and not the one who kicks away the ladder to prevent others from catching up to you. Be Blessed Always.
Ciru Waithaka (Class of ’89. 4W. Elgon House).
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