A TEACHER'S DIARY : This is why Fiolina is fuming

What you need to know:

  • And there are very few people in Mwisho wa Lami and its environs, indeed in the whole world – that are both creative and hard working.

Everyone (except for a few misguided enemies of development) will agree that I am a very hardworking man. But most people will claim to be hardworking anyway. What sets me apart is that I am creative.

And there are very few people in Mwisho wa Lami and its environs, indeed in the whole world – that are both creative and hard working.

Despite all these, I still have created time to be the Dean of Busy Bee Top KCPE Preparatory Academy, where I have been going to prepare a good number of KCPE candidates from this region every evening and at weekends. Is it not a miracle that besides all this, I still have found time to pass by Hitler’s?

“Where do you get the energy to do all this?” Saphire asked me when we met at Hitler’s last Wednesday. Other than the occasional coming to school and drinking at Hitler’s every day, the only other thing that Saphire is known for doing is eating.

“I thank God for the energy,” I told him. He, however, told me to slowdown lest I get old fast.

But as they always say, heroes are not celebrated at home. Despite all my achievements, and the respect I get from everyone in Mwisho wa Lami and beyond, I am not respected at home. And of late, due to my very busy schedule, my parents and my wife seem to have closed ranks and ganged up against me.

Fiolina weeps

I was therefore not surprised when I returned home last Wednesday to find a brooding Fiolina, the laugh of my life. It was not the first time she was brooding and if she thought I was going to beg her, she was so wrong.

“Where are you from this late?” she asked me. “Schools closed at 5.30 pm!”

“You know very well I go for tuition at Busy Bee to make money for us,” I said.

“Which tuition goes upto 9pm,” she asked. Indeed the tuition had ended at 6.50pm, and I had passed by Hitler’s to thank the body that toils. There was nothing wrong with that. And a full-blooded Mwisho wa Lami man did not need to seek permission from his wife to pass by Hitler’s – or go anywhere.

“And do you drink at tuition?” she asked. “Your fellow teachers are making great strides in life while all you do is drink,” she said. I couldn’t believe she just said that. I had done so much, including educating her at Mosoriot. That was too much for me and I moved to slap her but she ducked.

“You want to beat me? You want to beat me Dre?” she asked. “I can’t stay here.” She packed some of her stuff and left the house. I did not try to stop her. She then walked out of house into the darkness. It was too late and I knew she would not go anywhere. I wasn’t wrong. A few minutes later, my father called me to his house.

“Why are you mistreating your wife for asking you development questions?” my father started.

“Mzee wacha kuongea mambo haujui,” I told my father. “I came back from school to find her angry and I don’t know why.” “I will finish the house don’t worry. I am working hard. Even now I am doing tuition so that I can raise money to complete the house, jameni hamuoni?”

“What was the other thing my daughter?” my father asked Fiolina.

“The degree,” she said, “Dre started his degree long before I started my course. I have finished mine na yeye bado.”

“Don’t compare a degree with your P1 course,” I told her. “A degree is different my friend. We are taught by professors not lecturers like yours. It takes time.”