STARTING AGAIN

STARTING AGAIN Life in Ambira was kind of slow at first. The boys seemed shaggy and carefree. This was kind of a society in which students would move to the opposite direction whenever the bell went.

But like I mentioned before teachers were patiently leading the boys within the recovery path. A few incidences of mischief would be tolerated by everyone only to avoid causing unnecessary tension between teachers and students. I remember an occurence that made me to regret my decision to join this school...there had been a little misunderstanding between Ramos and Sadat...Ramos was the boarding captain by then while Sadat was a form three student who never allowed anyone to step on his toes. A fight had ensued between the two that evening and everything came to a standstill. Ramos shocked everyone when he ran in to his room; a nice cubicle made specifically for men of title like him; came out with a sword and frantically charged towards Sadat. Sadat would have died that evening were it not for his ability to break the sword in to pieces. However, even this would be forgiven and forgotten by everyone, and Ambira would continue with her march to recovery.

I happened to have joined immediately before the beginning of continuous assesment tests, an exercise that left me with the worst results I had ever imagined. I had not been in school for a few weeks and as such had missed a lot. Life in form one is like reading a novel...it is full of discoveries just like reading a chapter full of suspense after another. I terribly flopped since most of the things were new to me. This was further compounded by the fact that I had just been introduced to three new subjects...I had not been doing Business Education, Social Education and Ethics, and Agriculture. I had not had enough time to even update my notes, but I was so prepared to start afresh that even bad grades would not kill that passion within me.

My resolve to start again gave me hope day-after-day, to become a better person. I had to be very patient with myself if I ever wanted a full recovery. I had been advised to do so during my secret counseling session with Madam Rose Norrah Oluoch; may her beautiful soul continue resting in unending peace. I have mentioned before that teacher-student relationship at Ambira was amazingly remarkable. I had been introduced to the madam by a colleague who had felt that I needed to share a secret with someone that I would trust...he felt as if I had this burden that, to his keen eyes, was always written all over my face. The madam would later take us through English and Literature, and our relationship made my grades in English to become better with each passing day....