Tricky Third Form And What Happened in 1980

Third form was a very tricky year in those days. You suddenly found that you were no longer a rabble and with plenty of time in your hands that you never used to have and with no major national exam in the horizon. Little wonder that the third form dorm was the place with the loudest laughter in the house.  It was the form where previously ardent and regular CU (Christian Union) members abandoned the faith that kept them going through the rabble years in droves. It is the year when most people would lose it in many ways. Some took to serious drinking, others joined the herbalist society (bhang smokers).

Head of School in 1980 was Andy Mwenesi. One of the most powerful head boys in all my six years at Lenana as is evidenced by what I will say here later. Andy was a surprise choice given that even in those days he was an extremely popular guy who liked to have fun. I believe that this was the first year when the headmaster Ndau Kanyi had a very influential hand in deciding who the head boy would be having fully settled in with his first full year in 1979. Andy was a great rugby player but also knew how to carry authority and so brought much respect to the office of head boy. He opted not to have a head of house and so doubled up as both head of Mumia and head boy uynlike his immediate predecessor Mogere.

Andy wrote the words of the school anthem which was unveiled that year and used for many years after that (to date I believe).

Head of Kirk that year was Aliker considered a cool guy and an accomplished lady’s man. He was the kind of head of house you were proud to have.

I dived head-long into house activities and even made an effort to fill in where we were thin as a house. For instance cross country was an activity that most avoided and so our house cross country team was always made up of mostly first and second formers. I voluntarily joined the house cross country team and encouraged the juniors to push themselves and better our scores against other houses. We didn’t always do well but we kept the Kirk flag flying. It was therefore hardly a surprise when I earned my full Kirk house colours early that year.

But this was also the year when I made a grave error that I regretted for many years after that. One day during prep time we were given pieces of paper and told to list down the activities we participated in both at house and school level. I was bubbling with raw ambition and so after filling the paper with the many activities I was already involved in, I was inspired to add my future ambitions. I assumed that what we were filling out would be confidential and so I had nothing to worry about. I was wrong. Word got out about my many listed ambitions and suddenly I found myself with many enemies and I also became the subject of frequent jokes earning nick names like “head of school.” Still I at least learnt a valuable lesson; In a competitive situation nobody likes overly ambitious people.