On the morning of 22nd January 1996, as a timid young boy carrying a plastic paper bag (now banned), wearing "Akala" a well wisher dropped me at Starehe Boys' Centre & School. I did not know this was the beginning of my own journey of self discovery.
This well wisher had picked me from Kobuya- a little known sleepy village in Rachuonyo, Homa Bay County. She brought me to Nairobi on her trip to visit her husband who stayed somewhere in the city. No sooner had she dropped me at "Starch" than she left to proceed with her trip.
In my plastic paper bag, I had everything that I owned. My most valuable possession being my KCPE result slip having scored 579 out of 700 marks in the 1995 KCPE Exams from my village school, Kobuya Primary School. I had turned my back on the village and risked everything on this trip. I was determined to go to STAREHE. Nothing would stop me. And at Starehe if I got there I would create my own luck and write my own history, no matter what.
At Starehe, I met one man called Geoffrey William Griffin. At that first meeting, I do not know what we talked about because I could not even comprehend his accent....
But I only remember a few words from that interaction, 23 years later, "...George, forget about everything you have been through, you are now at STAREHE!" he said with pride and assurance hitherto unknown to my malnourished self. "Here, you will become whatever you dream of becoming..." He went on. I later came to learn from Geoffrey Griffin that "STAREHE" is a term he coined in 1959 to mean PLACE OF SAFETY.... in his own words "...as my way of giving back to this Country! "
Well earlier in my High School days, I had entertained the thought of being a pilot....I do not know how I ended up as a Medical Doctor....
As they say, the rest is History.
So, today, on this special day of my life, I introduce to you in these two videos and the photo, my CHAIRMAN, RAYMOND RONO deep inside his village in NANDI County.
Raymond Rono is the Chairperson of the OLD STAREHIAN SOCIETY. Raymond left Starehe in 1990! about 6 years before I joined.
Raymond and I share one belief, that it is possible in our lifetime to CONQUER POVERTY, INEQUALITY and INDIGNITY through the provision of quality Educational opportunities to BRIGHT, NEEDY and MERITING Kenyan children and to transform them into a conscientious lot that will carry Kenya forward into the future.
Towards this end, Raymond, my Chairman is walking for 350 Kms, RETRACING HIS STEPS from Kaboi Primary School, Nandi County to Starehe Boys' Centre & School over 14 days! What a sacrifice, what a man!
Raymond is walking to raise KES 10 Millions to go towards the GRIFFIN MEMORIAL ENDOWMENT TRUST FUND (GMET), the vehicle that the OLD STAREHIAN SOCIETY and other partners founded in 2009 to further into posterity the philanthropic work of the Late Dr. G.W. Griffin who founded the Starehe Schools and Directed Starehe Boys' Centre for 46 years providing Education and care to bright but disadvantaged boys like MYSELF and Raymond Rono and transforming us into the lovely, polished and confident people you can engage today.
Until his demise in 2005, Geoffrey William Griffin aka Boss, as we fondly called him, had helped over 14,000 children get an education. His work begun by recruiting waifs who were rendered homeless by the Mau Mau struggle relying on his two assistants Gatama Geturo and Kamiru Gikubu to persuade them from the streets of Nairobi into the place of Safety. Here he started by training them skills like carpentry, metal work, motor mechanics etc simply to prepare them as workers when "Uhuru" came. Later, the Centre got recognised as a School and begun admitting boys via the usual route... however, still many juvenile delinquents, orphans and destitutes were sent there by the Courts, churches and community leaders. He took in all those he could accomodate. Other than those who walked into the gates of Starehe like myself, Geoffrey Griffin also sponsored many more bright but needy children in several schools across Kenya. The man Geoffrey Griffin was a colossus in every sense of the word and in his honor, The Griffin Memorial Endowment Trust Fund (GMET), now runs anchored by the OLD STAREHIAN SOCIETY.
In his own wisdom, Geoffrey Griffin also founded the OLD STAREHIAN SOCIETY in 1969 just 10 years into the life of STAREHE because he foresaw the OLD STAREHIANS being the future of the STAREHE he had founded.
As you wish me HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY, you can make it better and sweeter by DONATING anything to the GRIFFIN MEMORIAL ENDOWMENT TRUST through the Walk by Rono. I will donate my own birthday party budget to it today.<script src=“https://platform-api.sharethis.com/js/sharethis.js#property=5d2f91816e155200136e2f5a&product=inline-share-buttons ”></script>
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