I met a childhood friend when I toured Luanda sometime back. This guy was my maternal grandma’s neighbour, we used to play as kids whenever I visited the place and I knew the whole family but it had been long coz I don’t frequent that place.
Today, he was hawking bananas to make a living. I drew him aside to catch up coz I hadn’t gone there again since the demise of my grandma, almost a decade had gone by.
He told me his parents died when he was in class seven, prompting him to drop out of school and look after his siblings. Nobody was willing to help the orphaned children so he had to step up and be counted, however young he was. Sad!
Already, he was married with kids but no job plus his youngest brother was in class eight, hoping to join form one thereafter and he had to pay for him no matter what.
I knew the young boy he was talking about, I last saw him when he was barely two years old. He said the boy was very bright and he was sure he could make it to a national school.
We exchanged contacts and I tipped him kidogo and went my way.
When the results came out, the boy topped their region and was called to a very big school in Central, am not going to name it. The requirements were so overwhelming owing to the fact that the family was very poor.
We had to do something.
All the politicians with their empty promises had disappeared leaving the family to sort themselves out.
Personally, I couldn’t manage to pay for this dude but I had to look for a way to help, hata kama ni quarter ya fee or the school necessities, shopping or pocket money.
It happened that during that time, my Bae was in Europe in a work study program. In one of our random conversations, I narrated to her the plight of that boy and she was sooo touched by that story. Its very unusual for a total stranger to help you especially in this country where we have all sorts of crooks. To my surprise, she offered to help!
So we bought everything, took him to school and paid his fee, courtesy of my Bae, thanks a bunch for your clean heart.
After enrolment, we talked to the principal so that money would be wired to him directly instead of bothering the poor fellow in the village or me coz I was planning to relocate from Nairobi too. So he would send the fee structure plus the school reports through mails and he would get the fee for the boy without a fuss, money for his shopping and something small for the pocket. The boy was very good in class and very disciplined.
We never went for visiting or parents day, at least his brother was supposed to do that but he never did, he couldn’t afford the transport to and fro furthermore the school was somewhere past Thika so he had to connect from Nairobi. This was quite hectic as he wasn’t familiar with such places.
So one day, Bae sent the fee to him plus bus fare to go and visit his brother in school, at least. The dude was already in form three by then and doing quite well.
He booked an overnight ride to Nairobi, asked for the route to Thika and got there by 9.
He went to the school gate, explained himself since this was his first time and was shown straight to the bursar coz he had some fee to clear.
So he inquired about his brother and he was told the boy was sponsored by Barclaycard and it had been so since he joined that school. What??!! According to the bursar’s records, the boy was sponsored and he wasn’t aware if there was somebody else sending money through the principal as fee. He was equally shocked! The dude being naive and somehow ignorant, rang me right there to break the news.
I called the principal immediately.
When I asked about that sponsorship issue, he denied it straight. I told him there was somebody at the bursar’s office who wanted to clear the fee but was told otherwise. Instead he was furious as to why we decided to send somebody instead of sending the money to him as was the norm. An argument ensued after which he hung up on me.
Next phone call I got was that, the guy was roughly shoved out of the school compound and told never to set foot in that institution again. He didn’t even see his brother.
So with all our effort and compassion, the stupid principal had been pocketing the money for three straight years.
What’s wrong with our Kenyan brothers?? How do you steal from an orphan?? Why should someone sacrifice her comfort to educate a needy child and you have the guts to derail the efforts??
We were mad at this revelation and thought of suing the principal.
We decided that we let it go, as long as the boy was in school and his fee sorted by Barclaycard.