We were having a chemistry lab session one afternoon in 2004 when I was in Form 3 at Starehe Boys' Centre. The teacher tutoring us was a gentle and soft-spoken lady called Mrs. Helen Ngigi. It must have been a hot afternoon because I unloosed my tie and unbuttoned the collar of my shirt. And when Mrs. Ngigi saw that I had unloosed my tie, she asked me to go and see Mr. Obudho, the then Starehe Boys' Form 3 senior master. She asked me to do so in a gentle way, so I didn't take her seriously.
At first, I chickened out by going out of the lab and then coming back without seeing Mr. Obudho. But Mrs. Ngigi followed up on the issue; she inquired whether I had seen Mr. Obudho. When I told her I hadn't, she again asked me to go and see him. This time, I went to Mr. Obudho's office which was just next to the lab. I knocked on his door and presented myself to him.
After I informed Mr. Obudho that I had been referred to him by Mrs. Ngigi for unloosing my tie during a lab session, he took down my name and a few other details, then told me to go back. I headed back to the lab unworried about what would happen to me, for I thought unloosing my tie during a lab session on a hot afternoon was a minor issue.
But alas! Come Thursday or Friday evening of that week, my name was on the school main noticeboard - I had been crucified for "working party"!
"Working party" was one of the most severe Starehe punishments during which culprits were forced to work shirtless for three hours on a Saturday afternoon. I don't think I deserved to do the punishment for just unloosing my tie during a lab session. There were minor punishments I could have been asked to do, such as doing twelve press-ups. My crucifixion for "working party" was a travesty of justice.
I am sure if I had the foresight to know that Mr. Obudho would crucify me for "working party", I would have pleaded with Mrs. Ngigi to pardon me for unloosing my tie in her class. And she would most likely have pardoned me given how gentle and soft-spoken she was.
Anyway, I didn't bother to appeal to school authorities against the punishment. And I doubt whether my appeal would have succeeded since the then deputy director in charge of teachers believed that the likes of Mr. Obudho were adults whose decisions were never to be questioned.
On the afternoon of the Saturday that followed, I availed myself for the "working party" punishment while carrying a bucket, a broom and a mopping rag as I had been instructed. But I made the mistake of turning up in a T-shirt because, as I have said, the punishment was done shirtless. When the captain in charge of the punishment that afternoon saw me wearing a T-shirt, he commanded me to remove it and immediately confiscated it.
After all "working party" culprits of that afternoon turned up, I was sent on my way to the labs on the other side of the school where I was to do my punishment. I felt embarrassed to be seen walking shirtless on my way to the other side of the school. It really was embarrassing.
As I headed towards the labs, I met Kenneth Karani - an old boy of Starehe who had left the school a few years before and who knew me very well. Karani was disgusted to see me do "working party". He spoke to me sternly and briefly, then walked away. How I wish he knew I had been punished unfairly!
During the "working party" punishment, I swept, scrubbed and mopped a whole lab alone for close to three hours. The prefect supervising me must have been a kind fellow as I can't remember incurring his disapproval over what I was doing. After I did the punishment to his satisfaction, he released me. Then I began another embarrassing journey back to the other side of the school. Remember, I was walking shirtless while carrying a bucket, a broom and a mopping rag - the equipment I had used to do the punishment.
Guess what! Just as I was about to cross to the other side of the school, I saw my father coming out of the gate of that side. He had come to visit me and my immediate elder Paddy who was also in Starehe at that time. Because I didn't want my father to see me shirtless, I avoided meeting him. He therefore left the school without having seen me that Saturday afternoon.
After dodging my father, I reached the other side of the school and rushed to my dormitory through a road that had few people since I was feeling ashamed to be seen shirtless. And when I entered the room where I was staying, I put down my punishment equipment and wore a shirt. Though I don't recall what I did next, I am sure I felt relieved that the whole ordeal was now over.
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An Unfair Punishment I Once Did
A True Story
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