MWALIMU ANDREW: How my troubles led me back to church

Those of you who have been following Mwisho wa Lami happenings on these pages know about my work troubles. Through all this, I have had to be strong, and not show anyone — even my wife — that I was going through a rough patch.

Of course, these stories reached my folks, with the version that I had not just been demoted as Deputy HM, but I risked losing my teaching job altogether.

“His days are numbered,” Sapphire told everyone at Hitler’s.

“Wacha tuone maringo atapeleka wapi,” said Rasto, whom I have helped very many times.

When my father talked to me the other week, he seemed to empathise with me. I reassured him that all was well, and I reminded him that Sapphire is still a teacher despite all the things he had done.

TRUE COLOURS

I then gave him something small, just to show him I was not suffering. He walked straight to Hitler’s where, once he got drunk, I hear his true feelings came out.

“Wacha atolewe madaraka, hata afutwe,” he is reported to have said about me. “Mshahara yake hatujaona hata siku moja”. He told everyone that he had expected that, once I got employed, I would build him a new house, but I did not. “Tunaumia ni kama hatuma mtoto ako na mshahara kubwa.” All these reached me the same day.

Although she never talked about it, Fiolina, the laugh of my life, seemed to like what I was going through. She has always believed that if I wanted her to get a teaching job, I could do it instantly. The people who know me well know that I am pro-women, and my joy is when women advance in their education and careers. My problem with Fiolina is not that she is a woman; it is about her personality.

Given her maringo, imagine how she would treat me if she were to become a TSC teacher. That said, I, however, have never blocked her from getting a TSC job. Nevertheless, she seemed to like what I was going through; and while she didn’t want me fired, she wanted me to be taught a lesson.

At school, the teachers who had seemed to be on my side quickly shifted alliances to Kuya. Last week, they all turned up for a staff meeting Kuya called for and chaired.

Clearly I was alone, with no one standing with me, until the other week on Friday. That’s the day Kuya had asked to be allowed to use my office.

“Sometimes I have too much work, and I just want to sit somewhere where I can concentrate and work quietly,” he had said. “I respect Dre as the deputy and do not want to push him from his office, all I am asking for is if I could use his office sometimes for the good of the school.”

Bensouda accepted this.

BACK TO CHURCH

That Friday evening, I remained behind after all teachers had left, and started removing my personal effects from the office, so that Kuya could take over the office. That is the evening I received an unexpected guest: Apostle Elkana Manasse, the Revered Spiritual Superintendent of THOAG (The Holiest Of All Ghosts) Tabernacle Assembly.

“Let us pray,” he said as soon as he got in. He said a short prayer, saying he was responding to a voice that had told him of a brother that was suffering.

“So tell me what is going on,” he said after the prayer. I told him that there wasn’t much, just the usual challenges that every teacher goes through.

He seemed to know more, for he touched me on the head and started praying again. In his prayers, he equated me to Job in the Bible who lost all he had but still triumphed. We talked more after the prayers, during which I was more open with the Apostle.

“God tells me that you will soon be the HM of this school,” he said, adding that what I was going through were tests meant to strengthen my faith. “Be strong and you will overcome. Waver and you will be swept along with the waves,” he advised me.

He said he had been sent by the Holy Spirit to be with me during this difficult time, and all that I needed was to open the door for Him. I gladly accepted.

He called me on Saturday twice and we prayed, during which he asked me to go to his church on Sunday.

I was given a rousing welcome last Sunday when I arrived in THOAG, sitting in front of a seat that had been reserved for me, with the sermon the Apostle gave seeming to describe my situation exactly.

“Mwalimu Andrea, everyone may desert you, but this church will stand with you.” he said, amid cheers from the congregation. He, once again, prayed for me, and invited me for Men’s prayer session last Monday evening and another session for up-and-coming Christians last Wednesday evening, both of which I attended. And just like that, without knowing it, I had rejoined Apostle Elkana’s THOAG (The Holiest Of All Ghosts) Tabernacle Assembly! Riswa!