I Will Be the Future of the Kerio Valley

 

Remarks delivered to students at Queen of Peace Day Secondary School, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya

Friday 21 June 2019

Paul Kipchumba

The Chinese educator Confucius (551-479 BC) who introduced education to students from humble backgrounds the first time in China in his work The Analects (Book 2, Chapter 17) said that “to know that you know what you know, to know that you do not know what you do not know, that is true knowledge (知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也)”. This afternoon I am about to tell you what I know.

In October 2000 Hon. Neddy Jeruto Kiptoo who was a student at Kerio Valley Secondary School but now a member of the County Assembly of Elgeyo Marakwet mailed to me at St. Patrick’s High School-Iten a melody type examination wishes card on the occasion of my preparation for my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE) in November the same year. In June 2001 after high school I met with her. She confided in me that she had sacrificed her pocket money because she thought that I had broken a record by sitting through high school life without a girlfriend. And according to her that was all that mattered for me to pass my examinations then be admitted at the University of Nairobi.

However, I am most proud as one of the founder teachers of this great high school. In October 2004 I got an opportunity to teach Swahili and English at this school when it was still located at the Chesongoch Primary School workshop. I had come home because of university lecturers’ strike that paralyzed learning in the university. In the subsequent off session between January and April 2005 I came back to continue teaching.

I grew up in this region and I know virtually everywhere around this school. I used to look after livestock around here. My primary school (Chechan) is also a stone’s throw away. I was in primary (1989-1996) and high school (1997-2000) at the height of the violent cattle rustling activities of the 1990s. Despite that I passed all my examinations and was lucky to be admitted to the university.

This school was founded as a way of promoting peaceful coexistence between the warring Pokot and Marakwet communities in the Kerio Valley. I taught both Pokot and Marakwet students. And I hope the same spirit is still relived. I have equally relived it when in 2012 I founded a joint Pokot-Marakwet settlement at Chepchoren at the Kerio River. It is about 11 killometres from here, with its road branching off the main Kerio Valley Road about 3 kilometres from this school. I am certain that most of you know that. It was closed in 2016 when the recent violent cattle rustling activities recurred. Operations will resume once calm returns. This is my own story of growing up here in the Kerio Valley. In my case, cattle rustling nuisance became an opportunity and motivation for me to work harder in my studies.

Amid those challenges I devoted most of my time into study; I remember saying to a friend those days that if there will be ten great people on earth at the close of 2049 I shall be one of them; if there will be only one great person then that person shall be me. That level of self-belief is all that is required to pass your examinations, join the university and then conquer the world.

But mentorship plays a great role in the life and growth of every student. That is why I am here this afternoon. My great mentor was the late Amb. (Dr) B E Kipkorir. In May 2011 we visited this school on the occasion of promoting his two books The Marakwet of Kenya: A Preliminary Study (1973, Kenya Literature Bureau; 2008, East African Education Publishers, co-authored with F. Welbourn), and Descent from Cherang’any Hills: Memoirs of a Reluctant Academic (2009, Moran Publishers) which I assisted greatly in researching and publishing, and I have been acknowledged. Copies of the two books must be in your library. In his company I managed to read all what he had written in his lifetime and also a greater percentage of great books in his study in his office or at his home at Kipkundul (Kapcherop). One of his seminal works Kerio Valley Past, Present and Future (1983, Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi, co-edited with J. W. Ssenyonga and R. Soper) inspired me. Then I said to Kipkorir that “I would like to be the future of the Kerio Valley”.

He encouraged me.

When a friend asked me recently what did Kipkorir tell me, I replied her that he pleaded with me to remember to be the future of the Kerio Valley. Right now, I am growing older, though I plan to retire in 2049, 30 years later. I beseech you students to take the baton from me and be the future of the Kerio Valley. That is exactly what mentorship is all about - to build great students and great people out of you. Your mentors will be very happy about your accomplishments wherever they will be, even after death. Thus we need to take our mentors and mentorship seriously.

At St. Patrick’s High School-Iten in form three I was trailing my colleagues in math. One time I asked my teacher why other students performed better than I. He replied that because they did a lot of practice. Practice makes perfect. I picked a friend Edison Marindich as a study mate. We began revising math a lot more, spending an hour every day without fail. We utilized two revision books a Topmark series and a C. Muturi which we exhausted after one year of practice and honest self-marking. In the subsequent Iten Math Contest (very difficult math examinations), Edison was mentioned. His mother bought us a yellow alarm clock which helped us to manage time very well. In the end I scored an A in the KCSE math exam. (I changed my course at the university from science to arts because I love literature.) Therefore, I urge every student to devote more attention into study.

There is no genius student. The only genius student is the one who studies hard consistently and haves fun all the time without wasting their valuable time. Facility for study and avidity for reading are all that make the difference because they expand your mind tremendously to tackle complex questions by effective reasoning. But read good books that help you to pass your exams and to expand your mind. If you are in doubt about good books, consult your teachers every time. My reading enabled me in the third form to become the third best student in British Council Essay writing competition in 1999. Otherwise, there are no other brilliant high students in Kenya than the ones before me this afternoon.

I wish you all the best in your studies and examinations.

Thank you very much.