For 6 months, 647 hours, I lived that name…” and it perhaps changed how my whole life works out or will ever work out.”
There are days I felt like quitting, and those days were many. Teaching was tough, the number of books waiting to be marked overwhelming and the whole routine annoying. There are days that the mornings got chilly and I snoozed my alarm 10 times and I got to school at 11 a.m.There are days, the sky always stood grey and ugly like the black mist.
There are days when I entered class 5 for Math and they knew there would be no greetings for teacher Susan and in unison, they would start reciting the multiplication tables from 1-12. After those days, the exams would come and my class would have a mean score of 28.37% because all we did for the month was sing tables. But I felt at peace, more than at peace that no student scored a 0.
There are days that Grace and I decided to be the dreams of those kids. Dreams they never dreamt. On those days, we wrote random emails to KWS asking for a free trip for the kids to Nairobi National Park, we wrote to KQ asking for a visit to the airport. On those days, we didn’t show up to school. We walked to Panari Hotel and asked for a one-day decent meal for those kids. Those days we emailed Sauti Sol and asked them to come to sing Soma Kijana for the kids. On those days, we prayed and build hope like a pack of cards. And not on any day did we ever give up.
Even though no reply came.
Then there came days I woke my mum up at 5 a.m for her to read out the kids scores as I entered them in my laptop to prepare the mark sheet. And those days she would sigh, maybe too many times, asking if I was sure I had converted the figures into a percentage.
*****
Yet there are days I felt alive. Life ran through my veins. On those days I would play with the kids all day. On those days I felt probably 10. At 10 years, nothing really worries you.No one has convinced you that you can’t sing or that your voice is adenoidal. So you sing your lungs out and you close your eyes to the flow of music which hardly makes sense. At 10, you dance like you have no bones. At 10, you play and know that dirt is good.
There are days when I read class 7 compositions and I’d be enamored by the growth in the simple sentence structures. That the sentences no longer read, “Teacher walk out of class sad” but “The teacher walked into the classroom looking blissful.” Those days were good days because I got an A from one of those kids.
Then there are days we stopped being klutzy. We no longer wore jeans and tights, not even on our free Saturdays. We were to be role models for these kids anywhere they found us. We bought food from the slums at lunchtime and we feasted well and I added weight, so all my pairs of jeans stopped fitting and I got used to my friends whining that I had skipped a stage in life.
On these days, we stopped listening to the sad slum stories and actually went for lunch at the kids’ homes. We spent all our evenings listening to problems, to rape cases, to family break up stories, to lost hopes and no futures. Those days we cried and got mad at life but on these same days, we went home happily broke after we bought all our classes candy and assured them there is hope. Those days Grace started a movement and we always went home playing games. Some were funny but most made us feel stupid. But feeling stupid was fun.
****
Yet in all these days there was something to hope for. There was always a deep longing to put a smile on a child’s face.
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Wow.
Is there a second part to this story. This is captivating.
Thank you Victor.Probably, the second part will come♡♥♡now that you’ve said it.
This is 2020 and I’m reading Susan’s pieces for the 20th time
I read them when I’m free always
I forever have fun ❤❤
You’re the best those kids could ever ask for. May our good God reward you.
I’m 6 years and I want to be like Teacher Susan when I grow up 😊
Juliette…it’s you again…Thank you so much for passing by and reading.
Thank you for your kind words too.
May God bless you.
Great work
Thank you for reading this.
Beautiful… The memories of that time will Certainly be a reminder that you are a blessing.
Amen.They really will be Tess.
Thanks for reading this.
Good work Susan…
It is indeed a blessing to put a smile on child’s face
Yes Shani.The feeling can’t just be put to the right words.Thank you for reading this.
Lost for words
My number one writer is at it again
And I know you will be back again and again with a bigger bang another inspiration a greater piece … May God bless this work 👌👌👌👌👍👍
Joy..my number one reader..asanti sana for reading this.
This post epitomizes the meaning of beauty in simplicity. Cannot not be loved.
Thanks dear.I really do appreciate.
It’s incredible to think that all these experiences were fit into a six month period. Paragragh 4 is a personal highlight.
It was a journey worth taking Jacob.
Well done Susan! Makes me feel very proud as your former teacher, you are a great limit breaker. May you continue excelling in all your endeavours and touching more people’s lives. God bless
Mrs.Watuha it is a pleasure having you to read this.I am humbled and grateful.Yes, you taught me to dream great dreams and to believe in others.Thank you for your kind words.God bless you too.
PS.
I miss all our CRE Lessons.
Susan!!!..This is amazing!!!!…You are the best!!!..Proud to have known you…you are an inspiration!!!..May God bless you abundantly!!!
Stacy , may God bless you abundanty too.Thank you for your sweet words.
I loved it….AAALLLLLLL of it😍😍😍😍😍
This is true art….am speechless
Thanks dear..God bless you.
Reblogged this on KenyaKaranja.wordpress.com.
Thanks.
This is an exceptional piece of writing. Keep it up!
Thank you Mutethia for reading this.I do appreciate
“I am nineteen years old and I want to be like teacher Susan”.
Susan, you’re incredibly selfless and you’re among the very few young women I look up to..well, inspite of you being younger than me
I must mention how enjoyable it’s reading your blog. I feel challenged, everytime I read your blog. From the impeccable grammar to the community service engagements, yours is a parade of remarkable achievements.
Noteworthy; Commas are overrated..please agree with me on that.
Hey Bravian…
Thank you for your kind words.
I really do appreciate and feel challenged to keep going on.
Yes..haha..on the commas..I agree.
If you were teaching the kids life, which you, unfortunately can’t, you’d have a lot more drama in this post. Biggup lady. This is some good thing that might need my criticism!
I expected to see sth like this.This is more of you Mike.Thanks for reading.I really do appreciate..Criticism allowed!
Sounds more like you should be reading something on https://sixcritics.com maybe? Criticism isn’t chilp play. 😹
I shall get down to that just now.