From Manyani to Starehe: How the confluence of destiny and dreams birthed notable school

On May 8, 2014, the then President of the Republic of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, announced to the nation the death of the last of Starehe School’s founding directors, Mr Joseph Kamiru Gikubu. Mr Kibaki was not just the head of state at the time, but also the patron of the school. The man he was bidding farewell, Mr Gikubu, had died at the age of 80 after serving the Starehe community for 55 years.

The first of the founder directors to pass on was Mr Geoffrey Gatama Geturo, who died on June 24, 1991, aged 54. He, too, had dedicated his life to Starehe for over 30 years.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of the most famous of the three founders, Dr Geoffrey William Griffin, who died on June 28, 2005 at the age of 72 years. Dr Griffin not only founded Starehe with Gikubu and Geturo, but was also the founding director of the National Youth Service (NYS).

It was for this reason, then, that, on Sunday, June 28 this year, the Starehe fraternity congregated at the school chapel for a memorial service celebrating the lives of the three founders.

While many people applauded the marvels achieved by these three men, few knew of the painful circumstances that brought them together, their ability to overcome the antagonism and animosity occasioned by their opposing roles in Kenya’s fight for independence, and being united by their focus on one mission: the transformation of young men into productive members of society.

This is the mission they committed their entire lives to, and they executed it with passion until each breathed his last.

HUMAN DIGNITY

The story of Starehe is a story of recognition, respect and trust in the goodness, human dignity and productive capacity inherent in every human being, no matter their race, tribe, station in life or current mindset. It is a story that offers many lessons for some of the challenges that we face in Kenya and other parts of the world today.

Geoffrey William Griffin was born on June 13, 1933 to a colonial police officer based in Eldoret at the time. The family later moved and he went to primary school in Kitale, where he excelled and proceeded to the prestigious Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School).

He was to leave school midway through Form Six to seek employment and adventure, and was employed as a survey cadet. This afforded him the opportunity to travel widely throughout Kenya before being called up to military service in the fight against Mau Mau.

His military training was to take him to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and subsequently gave him an opportunity to travel to Britain for further military training.

He returned to Kenya and served as an intelligence officer based in Fort Hall (now Murang’a), where we was responsible for gathering and analysing intelligence on Mau Mau activities, including debriefing captured fighters and suspects. He was therefore very familiar with what these men were capable of. And it was chilling.

Fast-forward to Manyani, where Dr Griffin met two young Mau Mau detainees, one a firebrand, the other intense and reflective. Joseph Kamiru Gikubu had joined the freedom struggle in his teens and, as a result, forfeited his schooling. Those of us who knew him experienced his unique language and style that reflected this early sacrifice.

He had already earned himself a name in and around his village in Banana, Kiambu, and to escape capture, had run away to Tanzania. He is said to have returned to Kenya disguised either as a Maasai or Somali (the stories are not consistent on this). Gikubu was eventually captured and taken to Manyani for rehabilitation.

Geoffrey Gatama Geturo was also in Manyani for rehabilitation. He had had his schooling interrupted at Kangaru School by Mau Mau activities, and being the more educated of the detainees, served as an interpretor.

WORKING TOGETHER

It is in this role that he encountered Griffin and Gikubu, and the three ended up working together in Manyani and Wamumu. Eventually, the men gave up their careers to found Starehe, a passion they would share to the end of their lives.

Giving up their careers was not the only sacrifice they were to make, though. Starehe became their singular pursuit and their families saw little of them — Dr Griffin used to tell us that he had to disappoint a girlfriend to make Starehe his primary commitment, especially after NYS was added to his responsibilities immediately after independence.

Those who know anything about Mau Mau understand how vicious they were against anybody associated with colonialists. There are many stories told and written about the atrocities committed on white families, colonial chiefs and collaborators.

The colonialists returned this favour by visiting untold cruelty upon anybody associated with Mau Mau, including the most dehumanising torture and summary execution.

So for these three men to find a common purpose in the transformation of the lives of young men, and to execute that purpose with passion and commitment until death, is a lesson in the restorative and transformative power of purpose, passion and promise.

It is the awesome outcome of choosing to trust those whom you have little reason to trust.

That trust was certainly not based on the race or community that each individual was associated with. It was based on their individual experience of each other as human beings, the time shared in Manyani resulting in a recognition of the inherent goodness and respect for the pure intentions of each person, and eventually recognising that they shared a common purpose of giving promise to every young person.

The passion for a common purpose and belief in that promise made it possible to trust each other where their respective backgrounds provided no basis for such trust. One has to mull over that again and again to truly understand its significance.

Choosing to trust those that we have little reason to trust is a theme that underpinned Starehe’s way of life, right from inception as a rescue centre and youth club for those abandoned to vagrancy in the city.

As youth delinquents, their very lives up to that point had been sustained by illicit activities and it was inconceivable to most people that these rotten young people could be entrusted with resources and equipment, indeed with leadership responsibilities over their own lives.

As far as the powers that be were concerned, this model was bound to fail and they feared that putting such a group together could mean nothing but trouble.

Indeed, the communities around Kariakor and Ziwani where the centres were located were anything but welcoming. It was only after the intervention of the then area Member of Parliament and Starehe’s first patron, the late Thomas Joseph Mboya, that the community grudgingly left the white man and his two colleagues to their strange undertaking.

LOYALTY QUESTIONED

And so Mr Geturo kept on rounding up boys and serving as interpretor as the Mzungu explained their intentions.

This philosophy was to be repaid back to Dr Griffin when, in 1964, he was appointed as the founding Director of the National Youth Service (NYS) by President Jomo Kenyatta. This despite the fact that he was white and the NYS mandate was to train and reintegrate youth previously involved in, or disenfranchised by, Mau Mau and other political activities.

His appointment would be constantly criticised and his loyalty questioned, especially by MPs. He was also to work with a leading Mau Mau freedom fighter, Waruhiu Itote (General China), who was to become a personal friend and succeed Griffin at NYS.

From 1964 to his retirement in 1988, Dr Griffin served as director of both NYS and Starehe, mornings at NYS and afternoons and into the night at Starehe. He had to learn to trust both the staff and students in the two institutions if he was to succeed in both.

Trusting staff and students required personal sacrifices and commitment by the founders of Starehe. Every member of staff employed by the school and centre had to be interviewed by one or all of the three founders.

They had to communicate the philosophy of Starehe and confirm that the individual being considered would invest their every capacity in the pursuit of Starehe’s mission: the equipping of young men with the values, knowledge and skills to become leading, productive and transformative members of society.

Mr Geturo served as the deputy director responsible for academics, and therefore liaised with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for teaching staff. Even teachers had to be personally interviewed by Dr Griffin who, together with the managing committee (the equivalent of the Board of Management), had been appointed agents of TSC with the authority to supervise and discipline teachers.

Many teaching staff who went through this process have some very interesting anecdotes about that first interview.

The admission of students into Starehe went through the same rigour, with Dr Griffin personally conducting interviews of every applicant. You can imagine a Standard 7 pupil from some far-flung village appearing before Dr Griffin to personally answer questions about his family circumstances, the life experiences that had shaped him, performance at primary school, expected performance at final examinations, and future aspirations.

For some of us, it was the first time to be subjected to such an interview in English.

In later years, this responsibility would be delegated to those of us who were in the student leadership team and had to account directly to Dr Griffin why we chose one boy over another.

The admission process had to be sacred, free from any form of interference from any quarter, and the result was that every boy admitted knew they had earned their place in Starehe. It was the beginning of a culture of personal responsibility and accountability that makes Starehe what it is.

STAREHE ALUMNI

When I think of the Starehe founders and the successes they have achieved, it gives me confidence that no challenge is insurmountable.

Mr Gikubu’s story is especially inspirational. It is a story of a life that is worthy of study by every young man in Kenya. It is a life that demonstrates the success that can be achieved irrespective of the hand you get dealt in life.

It is the story of a teenager filled with passion for his country, invested with the purpose of transforming the youth, consumed by the need to actively engage in whatever task he is called to perform.

Above all, it is a story of faith in the human race.

From Banana to Manyani to Wamumu to Starehe and finally to his resting place in Juja, Mr Gikubu’s life demonstrated that there is nothing anyone can do to you to break your resolve or human dignity. You can bring change for the better, wherever you are, no matter your skills or circumstances.

Success in life depends on your faith and beliefs, on your revealed purpose, on your passion, on your hard work, and on your persistence till excellence and the promise are delivered.

These are more about the character of the man than about his abilities. Which is what Starehe focused on building — the academic excellence was a by-product.

Starehe’s founders also understood that the future of Starehe would be secured by the Starehe alumni, the Old Boys of the school. And so Dr Griffin established the Old Starehian Society (OSS) in 1969. He also identified Yusuf Mutuku King’ala, an Old Boy and deputy director responsible for Academics, as his designated successor.

But, as fate would have it, Mr King’ala died on November 8, 2005, less than five months after Griffin’s own death. Mr Gikubu had to take the reins and, despite his limitations, delivered the performance that Starehe had come to be associated with.

Today, Starehe needs its alumni more than ever before. None of the current students have experienced all the three founder directors and the current Form 1 class has not met any of the founders. It is up to the alumni to share their experiences of these founders with later generations of alumni and students, and in that way, sustain the Starehe Way.

Above all, Starehe needs the Old Boys and Girls whose lives have been transformed from poverty to prosperity to give back to their alma mater. Every Old Boy needs to demonstrate at least three things: that they are a paid up and active member of OSS; that they are actively contributing to Starehe either financially or in time commitments; and that wherever they are, they are maintaining the good name of Starehe by providing exemplary leadership and contributing to transforming the society we live in.

The Starehe founders taught us that even the most difficult human beings have some goodness in them, they have aspirations for their lives, they can perform if equipped, and above all, they can make a positive contribution to the world.

Perhaps it is time we borrowed the lessons left by these founders to address the youth challenges we are facing. Whether it is alcohol and drugs, unemployment, crime and insecurity, or extreme violence and terrorism, these can be transformed if we apply new methods that put greater faith in the human race.

It would be a worthy credit to the founders of Starehe.

Mr Mwaura is the Chairman, Old Starehian Society and a member of the Starehe Managing Committee. He is also the CEO of KPMG East Africa.