Still Sings the Nightbird

The Sun of our Life

259 T The sun of our Life t was the third week in the last month of the school term. Staff were chatting in the morning over a cup of tea. Kabi was still on her way in. She was later driving to visit Amani at Shinda Boarding School after a few hours at her own school. The other teachers spoke about her. “Kabi seems to be very lively these days. The boys really enjoy her lessons,” said Cheps. The other teachers nodded in agreement. “She is so alive and energetic, even on Mondays,” said Mrs. Anyumba. “She is a different person since her Christmas holiday.” “Has she fallen in love?” wondered Miss Nanjala. “Well, it seems you do not know her. Don’t you remember that she is the only one who answered Moi when his vehicle stopped by our students who lined up the road for him? Have you forgotten how she surprised him with her ready and courageous answers when not one of us dared open our mouths? How she told him we were going to study and how she refused to take his money for fuel?” “I saw that man called Eitshoo panic! His assistant! But for Kabi it was as if nothing was going on.” Just then Kabi walked into the office greeting everyone cheerfully. “Hey, tell us how you are handling your class,” said Cheps. “They are so different and happy, all of them, both boys and girls!” “Not handling… they are my friends. I know my nickname! I hear them say it but know they must do such things. I am not a god before them… I remember my Mother in my class. She was Mother of all us.” “Oh, come on… not all of us could have our mothers teaching us!” “I know. We have exciting debates. I credit them when they see my mistakes. Really, the only magic is to know how they feel and to I 260 show that it matters. Nothing else. Maybe we should ask the students what they think!” “In my class girls just do not talk!” said Mrs. Anyumba. “I ask them if they cannot see I have a mouth, I am a woman and am talking!” “Mhhh, that sounds rather… like an insult, I think!” Said Nanjala “And the boys sleep!” Anyumba said “So you teach the walls?” asked Nanjala. “Mhhhh!” said Kabi, adding that boys took up challenging thoughts very keenly, and the girls were offering those all the time in her class. “Great!” added Nanjala. “But what makes them even come up to you with personal problems. I know some of us do too… but students?” “I guess they are just like all of us. Now come on, friends, don’t make me a god! I am glad we are women who can bring up so many boys and girls!” “Well, next term we start with a week of staff only sharing ideas!” said Cheps. “Yesss!” shouted Nanjala. Soon some of the teachers settled to work. Kabi silently read Dr King’s speech, I have a Dream, as she waited to teach her last class before leaving to visit Amani. She could hear Nanjala and her friends discussing taking up the challenge. They had to fit in standards of teaching that were improving fast. Indeed some of the teachers who never prepared their work and gossiped a lot held their cheeks between the palms of their hands. Kabi knew they were the same ones who usually complained of the boys only wanting to play and not to learn. It was end of term. Everyone felt tired. As usual exam fever rose everywhere. In good schools, the three months were like running many hundreds of meters only to finish with a sprint. Teachers worked intensely in marking exams for which students held study marathons. 261 Kabi was not as pleased with her students as other teachers seemed to imagine; she wanted them to excel. She was prudent enough not to discuss their weak points with everyone. She showed students how strong they were and how much stronger they could become. She fully believed that negative thought caused poor results. Relations between students and teachers were fragile and she did not want to make them more difficult than they already were. She was convinced that students were leaders. She often wondered if school systems should not have been changed completely so that students...