Remembering a Math Teacher

I remember Mr. Obudho as a dutiful teacher who loved his job and held students to high standards of discipline and performance. At one time in 2004 when I was in Form 3, he fixed me for a severe punishment for unloosing my tie during an afternoon chemistry lab session. How humiliating it was to do the punishment!
Not only was Mr. Obudho tough on Form 3 students but also on teachers. There was a time he heard that Mr. Joseph Kasili, a humorous and easy-going math teacher, was not tutoring us well when we were in Form 3. He came to our class one morning to inquire something about Mr. Kasili's teaching methods, after which he must have reproached him. I sympathized with Mr. Kasili to see him being treated like a primary school pupil.
When Mr. Obudho came to our class to inquire about Mr. Kasili, I voiced a complaint about our literature teacher, an attractive lady named Miss Gathige. And guess what! A day or two later, Miss Gathige informed us that Mr. Obudho had questioned her. After she inquired who had reported her to the Form 3 senior master, some of my classmates started shouting my name. Feeling embarrassed, I repeatedly denied reporting her to Mr. Obudho.
Because of his duties as the head of mathematics department and the Form 3 senior master, Mr. Obudho taught only one class in Starehe: a Form 4 class. In 2005 when I got into fourth form, it was our class that he taught, replacing Mr. Joseph Kasili, that humorous and easy-going teacher I have told you about.
Shortly after he became our math teacher in 2005, Mr. Obudho got to know me by name. And I must have been an excellent student of his given the way he had a high opinion of me. He once asked me to go to the blackboard and solve a math problem that was troubling my classmates.
Sure, I was an excellent student of Mr. Obudho. I will never forget the time Mr. Obudho came to our class and handed some of us the results of a math paper we had sat for in a major exam. When he called out my name, handed me my results and I found out I had scored over 80% in the paper, I became so ecstatic that I went dancing around the class.
As my high school years were coming to an end in November 2005, Mr. Obudho aspired to succeed Mr. Yusuf King'ala as the principal of Starehe following the death of Mr. King'ala. Unfortunately for Mr. Obudho, some senior members of the school administration opposed him.
Early in March 2006 when I was in the institute division of Starehe Boys' Centre, I chanced to meet Mr. Obudho on a highway in the school. After I greeted him, he inquired how I had fared in his subject in KCSE exams. He was pleased with me when I apprised him that I had scored an 'A' in math.
That evening turned out to be the last time I recall seeing Mr. Obudho in Starehe, for he left the school shortly afterwards, ostensibly because he couldn't put up with the school administrators who had opposed his ambition to be the principal of Starehe.
A couple of years after I completed my education at Starehe, I spotted someone like Mr. Obudho striding on a peopled street in Nairobi. I would have loved to greet him but since I wasn't in high spirits, I didn't summon the courage to approach him and introduce myself to him. Failing to greet people I know when I meet them on the streets has been one of my weaknesses whenever I am in low spirits.
Over the years, I became curious to know what became of Mr. Obudho and how he fared with life after he left Starehe. I also wondered how he reacted to news of Starehe's declining performance in KCSE exams in the last one decade. Part of my curiosity was quenched mid last year after I learnt from Facebook friends that Mr. Obudho had passed on after a long illness.
Learning of Mr. Obudho's demise has made me appreciate the gift of life and of good health that I am now blessed with. It has also infused me with gratitude for the life of my father who is an age-mate of Mr. Obudho. My father also wears glasses just like Mr. Obudho used to do. Till we meet again, rest in peace my beloved math teacher - Mr. Samuel Obudho!
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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on a math teacher I remember, you might also enjoy another one on "Remembering My Teachers" which I wrote in 2018. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
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