As part of my healing process, I saw many doctors, some fake and others genuine. In fact, not all of them were doctors, but they were all keen to make some money from me.
One of the doctors I saw called himself a counseling psychiatrist. He spent a long time with me, trying to understand my life, particularly the things I like or hate. We really focused on the school, what my job entails, and my relationship with teachers, students, and workers, my performance, what I like, and what I hate.
“For you to heal faster, stop thinking about the school,” was the advice he gave.
He said that I was too obsessed with what was happening at school, and that it was now slowing down my healing.
“Shule sio ya baba yako ama mama yako,” he said as he explained. “There are so many other people thinking about the school. Do not make it your job.”
I had just, a week earlier, learnt that Kuya had received a letter from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) appointing him the Acting Head of Institution in my absence. At the same time, Nzomo, of all people, had been appointed the acting Deputy Head, with a letter to boot!
Clearly, the appointing authority had not done any background checks or due diligence. Had they done so, they would have learnt that the two have a baby together. But that was not the real problem; the problem was that Kuya’s incompetence had no cure.
So the school preoccupied my mind. I sat for long hours thinking about what would go wrong, how all the systems I had put in place would be spoilt.
“Just forget that the school exists, and think about other things; your wife, children, your siblings, and your father. Think about Mombasa and the US and how you would enjoy when you visit. Focus on your healing, let Migambo handle education matters,” he concluded.
Two weeks later, after talking to me, he noted some improvement and gave me a two-month sick leave ending in mid-September. He wanted me to stay away from school for long so that I could stop being preoccupied with it. This changed with time, and unless a teacher from the school visited me, usually Mrs Atika and Lena with her bad hair in tow, I did not think about school.
Students playing in school uniforms
With schools opening last week, I was worried about all the things around that; the Junior Secondary School (JSS) challenges and teachers’ strikes, among others. The counsellor called to tell me to think about…
“Then why are you worried when it is their matter to be worried about?” he asked. “Do you have money to pay JSS teachers? Do you have money to increase teachers’ salaries?”
I did so and focused on my affairs, but it has not been easy for the last one week.
Starting last weekend, following the altercation I had with Fiolina, I started walking around the home, then the village to start stabilising my body. Many people were happy to see me and would greet me and find out how I was doing.
I did not know what he meant until the school opened. As I took my walk every day at 10am and 4pm, I met students on the road, some walking, others playing in full school uniforms.
“We know you are sick but we need you back at school. Those teachers who were asked to run the school have no idea what they are doing,” another parent told me.
On Monday, when they saw me, they would run away, but come Wednesday, they did not care; they even greeted me. That Wednesday, I got some visitors at home. It was Rasto, Alphayo, Hitler, and Nyayo. The way they arrived, they seemed to have something special to discuss.
“When will you go back to school, Dre?” asked Alphayo, clearly their spokesperson.
“Mid-September, why are you asking?” I inquired.
“No, we cannot wait until then; the school will have collapsed by then. We need you back at school soon, even tomorrow,” said Hitler. I asked them why.
Bringing order to the school
“The school is broken, students arrive when they want and leave whenever they want, teachers are absent and do not even go to class, the HM has not been seen since Monday, and the deputy is still in Ukambani. We cannot go on like this.”
“I hear you. I have also been meeting the students daily, so I am concerned.”
“Good, so you will go to school from tomorrow?” asked Alphayo.
“I officially return to school on Monday, September 18th, and I will keep that date,” I said. “My doctors have been clear that I need to rest fully. Remember, I just started walking properly this week; I need some two to three weeks to be back to my normal self."
“By then, this school will no longer be in existence,” said Alphayo. “You have no idea how bad this school was last term. Do you know how many girls are now pregnant?” he asked me.
“I hear you, and I am concerned about the school, but who knows, when I resume, I may be transferred to another school, as enemies of development have been telling the TSC that I have overstayed in this school and need to move. I don’t want to start something then come September 18th, I am sent to another school.”
“If they transfer you to another school, I want to tell you we will not allow someone else to land here,” said Nyayo.
“We are sorry, and we now know how good you are,” said Nyayo.
To dismiss them, I told them that I would think about the idea. That evening, I thought about going to school the next day and bringing order.
But I realised that doing so, I would not give a chance to Kuya and Nzomo time to mess up the school properly so that when I came back, the difference would be clear.
So the parents, students, and the community of Mwisho wa Lami Primary School wait for me on September 18th when I come to rescue the school!
