I am sure you all know of Turufosa Sapeti Awinja. If you don’t know her, or have never heard of her, it is because I have never told you about her, for I didn’t know much about her until last week. Reverend Awinja, as she prefers to be called, is the Lay Leader of St. Monica’s ACK Mwisho wa Lami.
When she was appointed, I tried to engage her unsuccessfully. It is generally known that St Monica’s ACK is the official sponsor of our school and that the land on which Mwisho wa Lami Comprehensive School and Mwisho wa Lami Secondary School sit was donated by the church. That's what members of the ACK church, say.
But there are those with contrary opinions. Like Rasto, a member of the Salvation Army.
"The school sits on about seven acres while the ACK church sits on just more than half an acre. They have no space to even expand, how can they have been the ones who donated seven acres?” he wondered, dismissing the notion that the land was donated by the ACK Church. He claims the land was donated by the Salvation Army, even though the Salvation Army doesn’t have a presence in Mwisho wa Lami; its nearest church being in the next village.
But if you talk to the members of the Church of God, you will hear a different story. Alphayo, a staunch member, claims to have been around when the school was started.
"All these people claiming to know which church sponsors Mwisho wa Lami school were not here when the school began. They were in Nairobi, in the Industrial Area, while I was here. I carried the posts that built the first classroom,” he added. I asked him which church sponsored our schools.
"I don’t think any church can say they donated the land on which the school sits,” he told me.
"The land was donated by two men, my grandfather and his cousin. They were members of the Church of God. So, the land was donated by the Church of God.” I asked him how ACK came to be known as the sponsor.
"On the day it was started, we needed someone to pray, and it so happened that the ACK padre who hailed from this village was available to pray, and he became a regular at the school. Since then, ACK has claimed to be the sponsor.”
While a lot can be argued, what can’t be argued is that St. Monica’s ACK church is the nearest church to the schools, and it also hosts the ECD, from where students proceed to the primary school. It was actively involved in the school affairs until Maina was the HM, followed by Bensouda. The two are known for many things except for God.
It was Maina who started bringing in Apostle Elkana, the Spiritual Superintendent of The Holiest of All Ghosts Tabernacle Assembly. That was when the ACK church started demanding for more say in school matters. At the time, THOAG was just starting, and all Apostle Elkana wanted was a chance to get an audience to speak to. At the time, I understand he could not even get an audience.
Enter Reverend Awinja. It started with me getting missed calls.
"I am Reverend Awinja,” she said calmly when I called back. "I serve St. Monica’s ACK, and I would like to see you. I would like to pray with the Mwisho wa Lami Primary School community.”
I agreed to meet her. She arrived with two other people she introduced as deacons. They prayed for me, prayed for the school, the students, the teachers, and me specifically, asking God to guide me in making wise decisions for the school.
We then went into the meeting. She appreciated having been a little bit away as she said she had been fighting other things, and it was only now that she had time to focus on Mwisho wa Lami primary school. I corrected her that we were now Mwisho wa Lami Comprehensive School. She apologised for that.
"We have a great working relationship with the secondary school and wish to do the same with the primary school, sorry, comprehensive school.” From the discussions, they listed a few things they wanted. The first one was to have a seat on the Board of Management. The second was they wanted to assign a chaplain to the school, someone who would always pray with the school community and would offer guidance and counselling services.
They also wanted to consider ACK members when hiring teachers. Lastly, they wanted to sit on key decision-making committees in the school, particularly procurement committees.
"We also invite your school to use our church. We are ready to host you once a month for a service.” I saw nothing harmful in most of their requests and told them that I would consult my staffroom and BOM and see what could be done. I had been struggling to get quality people to serve on BOM, and from how Reverend Awinja talked, I thought she would be a quality addition to the board.
I discussed this in the staffroom to seek their views. Everyone spoke for their church. Mrs Akita, a staunch Anglican, welcomed the idea, saying she was happy to see us welcome the Anglican Church back. Saphire, whose family is Salvation Army although he never goes to any church, was for the Salvation Army, while Sella rooted for the Church of God, where she worships. Lena, her bad hair in tow, spoke for Apostle Elkana’s THOAG.
"So, you want to throw our mighty man of God Apostle Elkana given all he has done for us? He has always been with us, in good and bad times, hasn’t he?”
That evening, several people called me asking me to go slow in allowing the ACK church. They never had any good reasons. I received a call from an unknown number. It was Apostle Elkana.
"Two years ago, you rejected my prayers and brought some young pastor from that church. How did the school perform?” he asked.
"Now you want to replace me with ACK, yet everyone knows that THOAG is the sponsor of your school,” I told him that was not true, and added that we serve the same God and that prayers were prayers, regardless of who prays.
He told me not all prayers are the same.
"I asked Raila Odinga’s people to allow me to pray for him to get the AU president seat, but they refused and went to others. See what happened to him,” he said. “Kama angekubali mimi kumuombea, hangekuwa analilia kwa choo saa hii!” he said.
“Anyway, you can go ahead and try ACK, trust me you will be back to me in six months!” he said, then disconnected.
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