Muthoka Mutua

God's Call to His Service is Not a Straight Path

I am the first born of eight children, two boys and six girls. Life in a large family comes with great sacrifices especially when you are the firstborn. Dad working in the city while the rest of the family was living in the countryside in a subsistent peasantry life.

Mom and Grandmother never went to school. What I have and who I am today I owe to my Mom and my Grandmother. As far as I am concerned, they were the greatest educators, counselors, administrators, and philosophers that I have ever met although they did not know the A, B, C's and 1, 2, 3's.

Education in a newly independent Kenya was necessary and competition under the British system was challenging. Four years of primary education then the National Common Entrance Examination. Four years of intermediate education then the National Preliminary Examination. Four years of high school education then the national Ordinary Level Examination. Two years of higher education then the National Advanced Level Examination. Three years of university studies and then the National Matriculation Examinations. Such was the educational structure in Kenya and many students did not make it past fourth grade. Things have changed since then. It appears as though the quality of education nowadays is inversely proportional to the liberty given to students.

I went to a school that was two miles away from my home. Separation of church and state was not and is not an issue in present-day Kenya. Religious studies as well as regular educational curriculums are taught in public and private schools. School homework had to take its place among daily family work assignments that included fetching for firewood, getting water from the spring, looking after family livestock, weeding, and preparing the evening meals. Candle light and most times smoky firewood light was all there was for studying and doing homework. Help with schoolwork in a family where parents have no education was challenging.

Once I had to repeat a grade because my performance in one of the subjects was unsatisfactory for high school admission. I chose to go to a school that was some ten miles away from my home. My round trip was twenty miles daily, Monday to Friday for the whole year. Understanding the travel time, the reader can appreciate why the greatest marathon runners come from Kenya. I am none of those.

During these lengthy walks/jogs I had tremendous opportunity to meditate on God's love for humanity and me. Was I not one of the top students in my school and if so, why did God allow me to fail in this one subject? What was the lesson to be learned on these early morning walks to a school where I knew no one? Often time's solitude does get people focused. The loneliness that I experienced in that year was a primer to my adult life. The Bible tells us that Jesus often went to a lonely place to pray. What do you do when you get to a roadblock in your life?

Three times I was admitted to schools for which I had not applied. I had to learn how to trust and obey. God gave me the grades but He refused three times to give me the schools of my choice. After my primary school, I was admitted to a Mission High School some 45 miles away from my home. God has a sense of humor in dealing with some of our weaknesses. My qualifications were high enough to justify acceptance in some of the country's best High Schools where I had applied. None of this happened. Instead God allowed and led me to an academically unknown high school (there went my ego). To make the matter worse, I was accepted to this school as a Day student as opposed to a Boarding student. The difference between the two is that the day student has to pay extra money to be able to obtain boarding privileges otherwise the student must secure room and board outside the school campus. A boarding student has paid room and board.

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