Education is Lifelong, Lessons Abound

As Mark Twain pointed out, "Schooling should not interfere with Education." Did he make sense? Let us see. 

The squad pictured below was known as Wazito crew. These were my varsity friends. Wazito was a colloquial word for heavyweight despite the fact that all its members were lightweight, back then. Far from the calmness depicted in the enclosed photo, the group was boisterous if not rowdy which made comrades campaigning for various leadership positions in the Students Organization of Maseno University (SOMU) seek its highly sought-after services to ramp up support for their candidatures. Those services came at a hefty fee. Note, hefty here is relative. Lesson 1 – turn your negatives (if any) to positives.

The group’s aggressive campaigning strategies and candidates' success rates were at an all-time high. For fear of repercussions,  no opposing side would dare pull down any banner linked to Wazito let alone the easily accessible posters on various locations within Maseno’s Siriba and College campuses. Candidates considered the group’s involvement in their plans a big plus. Some humorously referred to the group as Team Sinister. Lesson 2 – is this how organized gangs come up?  

If the University's Senate had given Sam Sam Karagita (pictured on the far left) a clean bill of health to vie for SOMU's Chairmanship, I bet, the group would have campaigned in his favor day-in day-out, probably free of charge - but its greatest wish did not see the light of day! Lesson 3 - sometimes we don't get what we want. 

I was particularly talented at making handwritten campaign banners. As the group negotiated its campaigning fees, candidates would always be reminded that a ‘banner person’ was intact. At one point, Rita Nemayian Oyier met us for a consultative meeting on her SOMU's Organising Secretary (OGS) bid. In the same season, it was not easy  to choose between  Anthony Kibagendi Anthony Kibagendi  and #MbuguaMbugua in their quest for SOMU's Secretary General position. I still have Rowan Alusiola's banner in the village. Rowan was another top aspirant for OGS if not the coveted Treasury. I'll confirm from the banner soon. Back then, computer graphic design was still at its infancy and local painters, like me, would have a field day during campaigns. Now, tables have turned and computer graphic designers have taken over most design jobs making many painters adapt to change. Lesson 4 - change with time. 

A set of unwritten rules governed the group's day-to-day operations. Any member who breached them would be referred to as Mwepesi or Simple One - the modern day Simp. Name-calling would go on for days on end until the member learnt to toe the line. Note, I do not recommend name-calling as a method of behavior modification.  Lesson 5 - Discipline is key. 

In the group, I would see all that Dr Kawaka had taught on Group Dynamics in her Psychology classes. This group became my first school of character development and the lessons that I learnt are extremely useful to this day. One particular character developer (not pictured) was nicknamed Pilipili, the Swahili word for (red) pepper. He was a notorious conman who would swindle comrades out of their Higher Education loans. After borrowing, say, Kshs 200, he would often convince his victims that Easy Coach (a popular bus along Nairobi-Busia route) would deliver his money later that day and he would repay at 3 pm on the dot! Yes, on the dot! He would even ask some victims to accompany him to Easy Coach's station only to disappear into thin air. I was Pilipili's victim once and the said 3 pm has not ticked on his clock, many years later. That experience developed my sixth sense. Lesson 6 - Life is full of Pilipilis, be careful!

Why Easy Coach? In that era, we had no mobile money transfer technology. Money would be sent in physical currency via Easy Coach and other couriers. Couriers such as Securicor (present day G4S) charged an arm and a leg to transport money. The other alternative was Posta/Post Bank but the process of withdrawing money from that bank was fraught with challenges and unnecessary delays. I remember comrades filling in a small book and queuing for hours waiting for a few hundred shillings to survive on. It is for those reasons that many students preferred Easy Coach's money transfer services. Lesson 7 - Grab opportunities the way M-PESA did. 

Today, members of the group have lived to be Wazito, this time, physically. Gyms and bicycles have replaced excessive watching of soccer and rugby matches. Water has become a beverage, of choice. For some, cross country running is now a part and parcel of their day-to-day lives. Middle age is sneaking in, grey hair, joints, weight, balding, name them! Perhaps, it’s about time to look for the much-talked-about multivitamin. At this juncture, staying calm is more important than anything else. To a majority of members, family life and fatherhood is the name of the game. I have asked some if they are currently campaigning for any aspirant or themselves during this electioneering period (in Kenya), and your guess is as good as mine. In fact, only one Kiriungi Kimotho is directly involved in active politics. Maybe, someday, political passion will return. Lesson 8 - slowing down is okay but keep walking!

Back to the point. School is not school without learning vital life lessons, learning to keep an ear to the ground, survival tactics and everything else that is not written in books. I learnt some, I am still learning, and as Prof. Okello would always say, 'Education is Lifelong.’ Folks, keep learning! Lesson 9 - Let nothing interfere with Education.