My Naru-Moru Days

As I was taking a walk on our compound today afternoon, I couldn't help thinking back to my days at Naru-Moru Primary School where I began my formal education in 1993 and stayed till I was in Standard Seven in the year 2000.

In my time, Naru-Moru had no electricity or piped water. Neither did it have a fence, making it easy for latecomers to enter the school from any side so as to dodge teachers on duty.

Some Naru-Moru teachers, I must tell you, were ruthless when it came to disciplining pupils. One of them was Miss Kaloki, if I remember her name well.

Young and light-skinned, Miss Kaloki would storm into our class when I was in Standard Four in 1997. Reason? Because of the noise she heard us making. She would then command us, "Toeni hizo magunia! (Remove those sacks!)"

By commanding us to remove our sacks, she meant our sweaters. She would then go round the classroom caning us on the back, one by one.

Then there was Mr. Wanjohi, a tough, no-nonsense teacher who taught math and science. His stern demeanour made some pupils tremble like weeds on a windy day when he entered a classroom.

Mr. Wanjohi was one of my teachers when I was in Standard Seven. During one lesson, he taught us English in Kikuyu, a local language, by telling us that if we wanted to remember how the word "tongue" is spelt, we should pronounce it as "to ngu e". In Kikuyu, "to ngu e" means "I can die!"

My brother Paddy, who now has a medical degree and an MBA, was Mr. Wanjohi's pet. Some other teachers also respected Paddy due to his brilliance. One female teacher, for instance, once beat the hell out of me while asking, "Why aren't you like [Paddy]?" I can't remember what wrong I did that made her cane me. All I recall was her instructing me to lie flat on a bench before she repeatedly hit my buttocks as if they were a set of drums.

Another ruthless teacher was Mrs. Waguchu. But I can't remember her caning me. What I remember most about her was a positive comment she uttered about me during one lesson we had in the mid '90s.

Mrs. Waguchu and another teacher called Mr. Sakuda were checking our schoolwork during that lesson. When it was my turn, Mrs. Waguchu told Mr. Sakuda that I would grow up to be a great man some day. Now that I am a grown-up, I am trying to live up to her expectations.

I still meet Mrs. Waguchu every now and then during my walks in my hometown of Kiserian. She has long since retired from teaching. A couple of years ago when her son was seriously ill, she asked me for the phone number of Paddy who, as I have said, has a medical degree. That a Naru-Moru pupil could make it to medical school shows it wasn't such a bad school after all.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on my Naru-Moru days, you might also enjoy another one on "Remembering My Teachers" which I wrote some time back. Just click that link in blue to dive straight into the story.