The bright immaculate rays of the elegant sun shot directly on to our house given the fact that it is situated on a flat ground adjacent to the sky close to the path of the.To the north of our home is simple hill along which I trudge every mornings and evenings to and from school.Amanang High School is situated a few kilometers just after the hill and by the time one finished climbing it all, sweat would be dripping all over the uniform as though you had intentionally moved under a torrential downpour.Those school days were interesting yet hideous. It was that time that I started confirming the meaning of statements made by Mr. Mutuku my primary teacher of English. During his lessons,he would never forget reminding us that the roots of education are bitter but the fruits would be sweet.
When I progress to senior four in that year, my father decided to put me in the bording section claiming he wanted me to perform well in my UNEB exams. Though I rejected the decision secretely in my heart,I had nothing to do since he was the determinant of my academic journey. I imagined how I was going to look like a prisoner at school,all the time morning and evening preps and confinement in a monotonous environment. I had never been in a bording section I started my academic journey. This meant that I was going to begin a completely strange new lifestyle. I had to hold my chins up and obeyed the orders of my father.
Amanang High School is the biggest in Western Kenya habouring students of inummerable categories from different places and different tribes from a far including Tanzania. This made the school the most populated in the region with an eruptive population of ten thousand students. The school is like a university of its own, having a big number if students and sufficient administration units. There is a gross number of dormitories assigned to different custodians to supervise. Mr. Mutoto,Nyadoi,Kamau,Ngina,Jaramogi among others.The most outstanding, serious and extremely strict was Karagani attached to Eastern Boys' Hostel one of the biggest ones in the whole school.
Upon being ushered into the hostel,I became a victim under his leadership. I was assigned to stay in the Eastern Boys'Hostel in room 26 baptized Nkrumah Hall.What a disgusting hall!?.After a few minutes on arrival at receptionist's desk,Mr. Karagani the custodian ordered me to go to room 26. Edwin Cherop my closet friend and confidant had for long wished that I joined him in hostel. Within the heat of the moment,he was just aloof waiting to help me carry luggage into the Hall. Shortly after clearing with registration,I embarked on carrying my luggage. So Edwin and I did carry my property and instantly went inside.
" You are welcome Chipukizi" said Edwin. I could see joy plastered all over his baby face probably because I had joined him. He smiled profusely and mopped the sweat had had started wetting his face due to the too much heat in Hall.
"Thank you Edu" I replied hushedly as though my mouth had no words to say. Still moving and panting like hungry dogs, Edwin expressed to me how happy he was to be with him in the same hotel. What a crowded room it was!?. On the opposite sides were trippled bed Decker's aligned in a paraded manner and student's safe boxes placed on the sides of the Deckers.A number of curtains had been put across so that one could not easily see the others' beds. A very narrow passage had been spared on both sides of the deckers only to allow some movement out and in. I saw students, both my classmates and strangers all over the room. Others were half naked,others reading and revising whereas the majority were blubbering like monkeys destroying a farmer's banana plantation. I could hear a lot of confused noises mounting up into a meaningless kind of music. The melodies that never invited my Joy.
When we finally reached where my friend Edwin slept,we packed my property and also laid the bed that had been given to me.It was the second bed in the middle and my friend slept above me. I then sat on my bed and shot my words through out the hostel. I was almost tempted to think that I was in a market. There were a lot of clothes hanging all over the deckers like as though vendors had displayed them for market.Below the deckers were sandles, Jerricans,buckets,shoes and basins scattered on the floor like sand at the sea shore.The Eastern Boys'Hostel looked like an academic market coupled with the insistent impalatable noises which worsened the whole situation.What a room,a room I had never encountered in my academic journey,room 26, Nkrumah Hall.That is a memory to reckon.
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© NABENDE EMMANUEL LEONARD CHIPUKIZI