Remembering Dr. Griffin

That evening of January 17th 2002 as I sat in the assembly hall of Starehe Boys' Centre, I was impressed to hear Dr. Griffin address us. He spoke with such intensity and confidence that I wished several weeks later that he would live to see me complete my studies in the school.

I joined Starehe at a time when Dr. Griffin had advanced in years. Not surprisingly, he never got to know my name even though I stood out by giving speeches as well as accompanying hymns on the piano during evening assemblies. But I at least found him encouraging and understanding in the few instances I caught his attention.

On one assembly in 2002 for instance, he gently requested Miss Church - a talented young lady from England who was volunteering as a music teacher in the school - to help me out on the piano after I became horribly nervous while accompanying a hymn. I was in Form 1 that year.

About two years later when I developed the chutzpah to play the piano in front of the whole school, Dr. Griffin congratulated me on one or two occasions on his way out of the assembly hall. I am not sure if he recalled how nervous I had been two years earlier when I was in Form 1 but it must have been heartening for me to hear his "well done" compliment.

And when it came to giving speeches of which I sometimes volunteered during my years in the school, Dr. Griffin was accepting of me even when I didn't do it that excellently. One speech I gave in 2003 comes to mind.

While delivering that speech, the students I was addressing started clapping their hands in a manner that suggested I wind up whatever I was saying. But Dr. Griffin came to my rescue by silencing the catcall with this command to the students: "Let him finish!" He must have understood it was proper for a boy to hone his public speaking skills while still in school.

There was one special assembly we had in 2002 when I was in Form 1 that I beg to mention here, for I did speak during it. The assembly was special in that it was held in the morning after Dr. Griffin interrupted all lessons to address the rising cases of theft in the school. It must have perturbed him that the school he had diligently established was turning into a den of thieves.

When Dr. Griffin asked us to offer suggestions on how we could curb the increasing cases of theft, I went to the podium and boldly suggested that visitors be barred from going beyond the school canteen area. Dr. Griffin listened to my suggestion but for reasons best known to him, it was never implemented.

For those who knew Starehe as a centre of excellence during the Griffin era, don't be surprised to hear from me that the school had cases of theft because, as the Englishmen say, there is always a rotten apple in a basket of good ones. Even among the famous twelve apostles of Christ, there was Judas Iscariot who accepted a bribe for betraying Jesus.

Like I have pointed out, I wished in my first weeks at Starehe in 2002 that Dr. Griffin would live to see me complete my studies in the school. It was a wish that didn't come true, for God called him home in my final year in high school in 2005. And his last words to me were "good luck in your exams" when we met on a highway in Starehe as I carried my desk to the assembly hall in readiness for a major exam, a few months before he passed on.

I was fortunate to play the piano during his funeral service that was graced by such distinguished dignitaries as Mwai Kibaki, the widely respected third president of our country Kenya. And I had the honour of playing on an electric organ the melodious theme of Mozart's "Sonata in A" as Dr. Griffin's casket was being lowered in his grave inside the school chapel.

All told, Dr. Griffin was an eloquent and dutiful leader of Starehe. I feel privileged to have interacted with him. As he now reposes in heaven with Moses, David and other heroes of faith, I will strive to make him proud of me by excelling in my blogging career. So help me God.