JMAW - Of Fate and Other Issues : The Story of Osborne

This past week I have thought a lot about Bernard Otsieno - a primary school teacher at Mumias Central Primary School.   It so happens  Bernard was my mum's student 'n' years ago when she had moved to shaggs to create a place we could call home aka 'litaala'. Bernard's family is from Marachi (Busia County). His family bought land in Shibinga which was how he ended up as my mum's student.  

Fast forward...This lad has fee issues and moves from Bulimbo Primary to Mumias Central Primary at the beginning of class seven.  At Central, he hitches rides on trucks each day from Harambee Market where his mum & step dad live.  In his penultimate year he decides this is not sustainable as kids get to school early & leave late. The lad then decides to seek for an abode in the school dining hall - without permission. He cannot partake of the lunch & 4 O'clock tea served by the school because his mum has not paid for it...so scavenges from his mates.  In the evenings - after prep -  he knocks on teachers' doors asking for left over food then returns to sleep in the dining hall on a mattress he smuggled from home - without a blanket or bedsheet. (Mumias is not exactly the desert so he is against the elements). In the morning the lad is in class...determined to learn. 

One fateful day, the lad knocks on Mr Otsieno's door and asks the Mrs for some left over food. Mr & Mrs Otsieno  who have a kid in the same class as the lad discuss among themselves. They had heard that there was a 'poor' student living in the dining hall. (I am not sure whether the Otsienos are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Agnostics or Atheists -  'saved', practicing or lapsed.)  They get an epiphany and decide  this kid cannot go back to his diggz in the dining hall. Instead, they make space for him in their home where he has breakfast and dinner plus a bed & a study-mate. The  headteacher also decrees that henceforth the lad should have lunch & tea 'on the house' together with the other students without having to pay.   In the year the lad lives with the Otsienos, his mother visits thrice and his step father never comes to claim the lad. This does not concern the Otsienos much as the lad is polite, humble & works hard at school. They don't even bother to ask his clan which is a big thing in Mumias.

Early in the week, I am chatting with Robert  of Standard Media Group & he tells me about this  kid who scored 405 points at his KCPE. Unfortunately,  the kid doesn't fit my bill on the basis of gender & constituency.  I however ask Robert to send an SMS to 20042 to confirm which school the kid has been admitted to as I do some sleuthing through my friend Constance knowing full well my set requirements.  One thing leads to another and I learn that the lad's mother worked for my dad for 8 years in the 90's.  I ask my siblings if they remembered her.  Hillary, Pauline & Amunga remember her well enough, while Kenneth only vaguely.  Sa Elon doesn't recall as too much time has passed. Mum  agrees to meet the lad & his mum although she cautions that I have too much on my plate already...I call the Kid and I am impressed with his confidence and command of the Queen's tongue. He wants to be a Surgeon although I wish he had said a Public Financial Management Specialist. 

On Friday - as part of the vetting - my mum visits Mr Otsieno at Mumias Central. Mum is amused that Mr Otsieno keeps referring respectfully to her as "Mwalimu" - many years after her retirement. I guess teachers put the fear of God in students... a fear they never quite get over. She chats with another teacher at the school Ms Emily Osundwa -

my kinswoman - to corroborate the information.

Bingo! Thanks to Bernard  -  who believed in the lad and gave him a home when he needed one - this kid is my choice for 2016.   On Wednesday he joins other kids at my dad's alma mater. I am certain my dad would be happy. This one is for him....

JMAW - Lift Your Eyes To The Hills

One evening a gauntlet was thrown at my feet.  I understood that, as I had been challenged to a duel, I had no option but to arise.  A couple of days prior, I had been introduced to Ozzy who impressed me by his story of grit and determination.  A lad who understood that if you wanted something so badly, there was a chance that you would somehow get it. I planned meticulously and set the ball rolling for Ozzy to take up his place at Maseno School. His is a story of another day...a wonderful story of grace that surpasses all understanding.  Today - on a day of worship - I recount the story of Goddie. A story of God's faithfulness and abundance.

When Goddie's name came up, the last thing on our mind, was that a gauntlet would be thrown so dramatically at my feet. Over the next twelve hours, as folks slept,  I mused over the best course of action to take.   We - the vetting sub committee -  had been convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Goddie, whom we had never met, would take up his place at Alliance High School as a freshman within 48 hours, his economic circumstances notwithstanding.  The clock was ticking fast and we needed to assure the family that we would pick the bill. By a stroke of ill fortune, Goddie had missed out on scholarships applied for.  Meanwhile Goddie was assisting in plastering a neighbour's hut so that perchance he could raise some funds towards his own schooling.

On the fateful day that his name was proposed by the vetting sub committee -  we learnt rather belatedly that - we - who had vetted & proposed him for consideration - needed to figure out how to raise the requisite funds that would assure his fees & the logistics around his school shopping.  I was reminded of a famous swahili proverb that "mbiu ya mgambo ikipiga kuna jambo".

I must digress and explain a little bit about Alliance High School. AHS (www.alliancehighschool.ac.ke) was established by the Alliance of Protestant Churches in 1926 for native Kenyan children. It was and still is a centre of excellence for some of the best minds that Kenya has ever produced serving both at home and abroad.  A stint at Alliance High School could only but change one's fortunes for the better for the networks the school provides are to die for. As an alumni of Alliance Girls High School, I never failed to marvel at the exploits of the lads across the ridge whose school motto was "Strong To Serve". They excelled in sports, music, drama, debating and all manner of curricular & Co curricular activities. We - the girls - could only envy them and mark our territory to ward off forays by girls from other national schools.  It was therefore anathema to us that Goddie would forfeit a place coveted by many, a place that he had strived so hard to get.

There were two options; that I would dip further in my savings as I had done for Ozzy & others before him OR that I would crowd fund on his behalf. The thought that we could abandon Goddie at his hour of greatest need never crossed our minds.   I thought deeply into the night on why the gauntlet had been thrown at our feet in so unceremonious a manner. At the opportune time, just when I needed an answer, I got an epiphany out of the blues  "Lift your eyes to the hills from where cometh your help".

I understood that the best response to the duel would be to crowd fund.  We were unfazed by the short notice for we were convinced that the promises of God are 'yeah & amen' and He adds no sorrow to them.  We prayed for a miracle of $1000 to cover Goddie's 2016 fee in full, shopping & transport from home to school. On the night of the Iowa Caucases, I wrote Goddie's story on my wall, inboxed different people of goodwill and waited.

Within exactly 24 hours,  the $1000 that we needed had been raised from an assortment of friends, family & vetting sub committee members. The excitement was palpable.  Folks, despite commitments of their own, stood up to be counted. The funds & pledges came in pounds, dollars, CFA & Kshs and in kind from across the globe...just to ensure that Goddie secured his place. We set the ball rolling for a volunteer to commence with his shopping as he had only another 24 hours to report to school.

In God's abundance, a further $500 was pledged - which if received - will be held in trust for 2017. When we were on the home stretch, we received a further $100 which - in appreciation - we tithed off to another lad for his obligatory school shopping.

Just when we were ready to pat our backs for a task well executed, we realized that we had two more hurdles to clear.  As if to test our faith, an uncle weighed in - at the last moment - on the demerits of sending Goddie of to a school in far off Kikuyu and suggested that he re-enrol in a school nearby.   Time was of the essense and this item had to be disposed off graciously for the sake of family unity.  The second hurdle arose from unlikely quarters  with the broader team members querring why we had separately raised funds for Goddie.   I understood that God is not one of confusion and so rallied the troupes I had so tenaciously worked with, without being distracted or missing a heart beat.   Volunteers assisted with different tasks which included cutting a Banker's cheque for AHS, assisting with the school shopping, donating personal effects, providing suggestions, filling in the school forms, preparing an accounting for all donations and accompanying the lad to school on the due date in style.  We understood that we were surrounded by a crowd of witnesses on every side and so we could not fail.

So it came to pass that exactly 48 hours from when we had lifted our eyes to the hills that Goddie started a new adventure among the class of 2016 as an Alliance High School alumni with a whole years' school fees paid, shopping done and a cash surplus of $160.   He met other students from Western Kenya who provided a supporting environment and helped him acclamatize in this new school.  Goddie had never been away from home and was now - for the first time - in a residential boys school where he could pursue his dreams without encumbrances. Every step of the way, doors were opened and networks created that we believe will come in handy in the next four years.

Like Martin Luther King, we have a dream that Goddie will look back to this period of his life and tell his own story in his own words...he will regale us about a school calling letter that had been but a mockery in disguise.  Goddie will perhaps wonder at an unfair system that fails its children and separates them on the basis of their parents' economic status...he will analyse the underlying reasons many bright but needy children miss out on much touted scholarships without a process of recourse. However - when all is said and done - we have a premonition that Goddie will thrive,  because some persons unknown to him offered him the Lifeline he so much needed.

Goddie's story will always serve to remind us of Lupita Nyong'o's famous comment as she received the much coveted Oscar that "No matter where one is from, one's dreams are valid".