Six years of primary studies at Kimu primary school had been a tough time for Mawia. She wanted a transfer that would see her landing at any private boarding school. She wanted to be feared, admired and respected in the village like the other children who had transferred to the boarding schools. Teachers who taught at Kimu primary school had already taken their children to the boarding schools. Mawia despised the fact that the teachers would perceive the system of education at the public schools to be unreliable, yet they were the ones who were propagating it. She kept pushing her parents for a transfer until one evening, when her father promised to take her to St. Francis Katse if she improved her performance in the end term examination.

Mawia jumped up in jubilation, knowing that she would make everyone at school on the next day realise that she would be going to a boarding school very soon. She would be admired by her classmates and everyone else within Kimu primary school. Teachers would encourage her to go and shine there, her parents would be proud to have their daughter studying at a private boarding school. Mawia performed very well with great improvement in the end term examination, and her father started doing the necessary preparations for her to go and start studying at St. Francis Academy, Katse.

So many ideas and stories about boarding schools had been filled in Mawia's head to the extent of making her believe that she was going to land in a totally different academic arena. However, the rumours were always being spread by people who had never gone there. They would say that the text books being used by pupils in the boarding schools were different from the ones used at the public schools, and that was what made the boarding schools to always perform very well in the national examination. There were also rumours about the severe corporal punishment for the pupils studying in the boarding schools. People would say that the teachers there used tough and rough belts to whip the pupils when they found them trolling on the wrong side of the school routine or when they failed in any examination. The same people also claimed that the diet provided in the boarding schools was always balanced, consisting of well cooked foods and omega three pills that foresaw the great performance of pupils by boosting the...