High school alumni set to give alma mata major upgrade

Menengai high school Class of 93 during the meeting in Mombasa / BRIAN OTIENO

Menengai high school Class of 93 in Mombasa on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO

Menengai high school Class of 93 members with their former math teacher Joseph Ogema [in crutches] in Mombasa on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO

What started as an innocent Facebook post in 2013 by a former student of Menengai High School, who is in the UK, has now turned into a major movement that has seen the nearly shattered dreams of several students shine even brighter.

The Menengai High School Class of '93 has regrouped over the years and is now undertaking major projects to uplift their alma mater and ensure standards are not dropped.

“She posted a curious note, wondering where her former classmates would look, 20 years later,” Joseph Kang’ethe, a convener of the Class of 93, said.

She created a group and people started subscribing to it.

“People started with those cheeky remarks and anecdotes. But one day someone approached me and asked me to make an effort to look for each one of us in the Class of 93.

“Then the same request started coming from different classmates until I was sold to the idea,” Kang’ethe said.

He noted that that was the mustard seed and he took the initiative.

The first reunion was at the Rift Valley Sports Club in 2013, and only nine former classmates showed up.

“Three years later, it was bigger and better. Most of the programs the group started came from resolutions made in the 2016 reunion,” Kang’ethe said.

This was the year they had their pilot project, where they sponsored a girl who was then in Form 3, and is now a technician at Safaricom.

The Class of 93 group has 88 active members from all over the world.

“We have people from other years who also appreciate our work. A member of the ‘75 class, who is in New Zealand, was so excited when we repainted the school in 2019 that wehne he came to Kenya he made sure he took his family to the school and took photos and posted in our Facebook page,” Kang’ethe said.

“We are who we are because Menengai was,” he said.

Speaking in Mombasa on Thursday, the former classmates revealed plans to do a major facelift of the school, which is based in Nakuru county.

Menengai Alumni Class of 93 chair Edward Papa said the Saturday reunion was the sixth edition, but the first in Mombasa.

“We’ve made an attempt to always come together after every year to mostly reminisce the good days that we had together, to reconnect and to meet with some of our former teachers and appreciate them for the good work they did to us,” Papa said.

The former Menengai high student said they have a sponsorship program for needy students at Menengai high school.

Those needy students are identified from Form 2 and those who qualify are supported until they finish university.

“So far, we have sponsored 15 students who are in the pipeline. One of them is in the final year of study at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,” Papa said.

In 2019, the group helped paint the whole school.

“Some of us when we were passing the school we were not happy with the way it looked. So we mobilized funds to paint the school and give it some facelift,” Papa said.

The Class of 93 also helped the girls in the school to participate in one of the science club competitions.

“When we supported them, because they almost did not participate in the competition because of the costs involved, they actually went all the way to be recognized by the Silicon Valley,” Papa said.

The chair said they have also started a program meant to uplift the group members through a Welfare.

“We come in to support one another in cases where dire situations occur. We have supported our own through very difficult medical journeys. We also support one another in times of grief when we lose our loved ones,” Papa said.

A mentorship program started by the group to try and uplift current students and shape their lives in future is also ongoing.

“Looking back, Menengai has almost become a pale shadow of what it was during our days which has become our great concern right now.

“We are trying to see, as a team, what we are going to do to bring back the glory of Menengai high school,” Papa said.

The chair said they are now looking for other alumni members from other years to come up with common projects to uplift the school.

He said some of the buildings in the school are dilapidated and need renovation.

“We are told they are about 1,000 students per stream today, which is quite unbearable for that matter,” he said.

Joseph Ogema, a retired teacher who was at Menengai high school for over 35 years, was the chief guest invited by the Class of 93.

He taught them math.

Ogema said he was impressed by the togetherness of the former classmates and encouraged them to stay together and do more for the school and the society at large.

“Eventually, maybe they should incorporate the other years so they have one big alumni body,” Ogema, who had not seen his former students for over 30 years, said.

The retired teacher was coy when asked to compare the education curriculums 8-4-4 and CBE.

“To be honest I cannot give a very objective opinion because I, personally, don’t understand CBE. I have been in education for many years but up to now, I don’t understand. So, I can’t say whether it is good or bad.

“As much as I have tried to get into it I’ve not really gotten to understand what it’s all about,” Ogema said.

He, however, said it is important to keep the binds formed in school because they help in future when everyone has their own career.

“These are big people in society and this is how networks are created,” he said.

INSTANT ANALYSIS:

Alumni groups are usually platforms to network and reconnect but they can also be a source of development of channeled in the right way. Menengai high Class of 93 is just but an example. There are many more.