DAD STORIES: No one will ever take my father's special place in my heart

Caroline Wothaya Karuitha (C) on her graduation day with her father Justus Karuitha and mother Veronica Wanjiku. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Dad hated academic weakness and believed that the amount of input would always produce an equal amount of output.
  • Besides academics, he valued and still values hard work. He detests laziness.
  • My father has always been supportive of my ambitions.
  • What would you like your dad to know this Father’s Day? Can you say it in 800 words? Email: [email protected]

Whenever I woke up to the sound of Catholic tunes being hummed and the aroma of fresh groundnuts being cooked, I knew dad had come home right after I had fallen asleep the previous night.

He worked far away and would visit monthly, bringing with him niceties for my siblings and I.

I recall developing a penchant for writing at an early age, an art that was fuelled by reading the newspapers that my father Justus Karuitha bought regularly, as well as the many story books he would to bring us.

VALUES HARD WORK

This bolstered my confidence to participate in several essay writing competitions that dad helped me mail through the post office. Although I didn’t bag an award in any of them, my mastery of language was fostered.

Dad hated academic weakness and believed that the amount of input would always produce an equal amount of output. While in Standard Six, I loathed a time he came home on a one-month leave and made me sit for hours solving mathematical problems, and reprimanding me whenever I got the answers wrong.

To his elation, the effort paid off because my grades improved considerably. Every time he came home at the beginning of the school holidays, we’d exchange pleasantries briefly and what followed was the dreaded “Riu ndeherai report forms!” (Now bring me your report forms).

Besides academics, he valued and still values hard work. He detests laziness and it never sits well with him when anyone in our household oversleeps or claims not to have the know-how to perform a chore, the daunting milking of cows notwithstanding.

Consequently, my siblings and I would take part in tilling land, herding cattle and harvesting acres of maize.

For some time, we had pushed him to get us pet rabbits and he eventually did. He got us a doe and a buck that quickly reproduced, making us the sole rabbit owners in the village.

The feat earned us substantial bragging points in school. But it came with the responsibility of fending for them every evening after school.

Like quintessential children, we soon grew tired of the tedious task. Dad would have none of it, reminding us every time that we got what we asked for and should therefore shoulder the burden that came with it.

I always avoided being in dad’s bad books as much as I could since he never forgot a major mistake you committed, even if it was committed five years earlier!

SUPPORTIVE

In Form One, I failed to indicate that what we had were academic days and not visiting days. As a result, my father, always sporting sneakers and a wide-brimmed hat, came bearing chicken and cake, oblivious of the academic clinic that had taken place earlier.

When he got wind of the same from the head teacher, I was given the tongue lashing of my life and was reminded of the shortcoming in the subsequent years whenever I irked him.

My father has always been supportive of my ambitions. With him being a former judiciary civil servant, I gradually developed an interest in law and worked towards pursuing it as a career. After completing high school and qualifying for the same, my university invitation letter came bearing a different course.

Knowing what I really wanted to study, he insisted that I should check with public universities to establish what they charged for a privately sponsored programme. But I shelved my dream when I realised the fees required would financially strain my parents, especially since my siblings were also in college.

I could write so much about my iconic old man, like how bewildered I was when he once brought me sanitary towels in high school; about how thrilled I was when he bought me my first pair of Bata shoes; about how he gave me a thorough thrashing for truancy; about how sweet the scones he brought were and how we’d devour them with relish; about the funny monikers he branded us (mine was hamburger); and so much more.

In retrospect, the virtues of hard work, honesty and diligence that he instilled in me will always live on.

You hold a special place in my heart that no one will ever take. I love you dad. Happy Father’s Day!

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What would you like your dad to know this Father’s Day? Can you say it in 800 words? Email: [email protected]