Et al

 

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When I joined campus I put on a kind of aloofness. It mostly acted as a shield to protect myself from drawing attention while I found my way in Juja. I had never been to that hot dusty place and the first thing it bombarded me with was the high male to female ratio. Eiihhh!! I had been told about the Juja boys thing but actually confirming it with my own eyes was something else. (I'll write about this another day..hehe)

I had in mind what I wanted my first semester to be like and being a Class Rep was not one of them. See, people have always looked at me and seen this totally responsible person. I mean it is not a bad thing really but I had had enough of handling people. So when this guy who got to be our class rep for 4 years took up that role, I was elated. I felt free.

This guy seemed to know what he wanted to get out of that course we took unlike myself who never really had an idea where the it would take me. That was the first vibe I got from him when I saw him. He looked too serious with his tinted specs and he almost always carried his heavy laptop in his black backpack. As much as he denied it and would still deny it, we knew he sometimes slept in some of those afternoon lectures thanks to his tinted spectacles.

Like most Class reps he was sometimes or most times annoying, irritating and honestly hard to deal with. I remember during that first year that guy ate our money. That time not everyone had smart phones. I don't remember who came up with the idea but we contributed money so that he could send us messages whenever classes bounced. Like the Kenyan he is, not everyone got texts. People got pissed and we just stopped giving him the 10 or 20 shillings for those messages.

Surely! Why is it that Class reps have the same reputation everywhere?? Shida yenu huwa nini haswa??? Mara it is not disclosing when those 7a.m classes or practicals have bounced yet people had woken up early. Or not saying when CATS have bounced. Or finishing assignments early then asking us to hand them in. Or not telling us we have been given assignments till he was done and over with them.

Eeihh...we were in a tag of of war with this guy for like three years. We were just mad and angry at him most times but we got used to it because nobody else would take that position. The only time he was in a particularly good mood was during class trips. I think he was mostly excited about those because he didn't have to deal with the stubborn people of our class. More so us girls because us girls didn't take shit.

Class rep antics aside he was a neat, focused and determined guy. He knew what he wanted and he went for it head on.  He is now making some major steps in the science world somewhere in Asia and I couldn't be more proud. I like seeing people I know win.

In this life, in our careers, in our journey to personal growth we need someone to look up to. Somebody to not necessarily give us direction but somebody we can look at and know we will get there. Him making these wins gives me hope. I am sure it gives that class of ours hope too. I pray he keeps making those strides. I pray he keeps winning!! 

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