We rescued our teacher Moi from drowning – Baringo old man

In 1947 a teacher dived into a river in Baringo to take a dip but took too long to resurface, to the horror of a pupil who was watching. 

Three of his other pupils, however, acted fast and jumped in after him, pulled him to the surface and resuscitated him. 

The man would go on to be the country's second and longest-serving president—Daniel arap Moi. 

Simeon Kenduiwo, 89, from Kituro in Baringo Central subcounty was the pupil who was watching Moi swim. 

He said Moi was his class three teacher at the then Colonial Government African School - Kabarnet intermediate, currently Kabarnet High School.

"He was my best mathematics, mother tongue, handwriting and physical exercise (PE) teacher," Kenduiwo said.

Mzee Kenduiwo was addressing the media while signing the condolence book at the Kanu offices in Kabarnet town on Monday. He was holding an old torn general subject exercise book that he has kept for 73 years.

Moi died on February 3 at 5.30am after a long illness. He will be buried at his Kabarak home in Nakuru county on February 12.  

It was a Saturday in February 1947, Kenduiwo said, when Moi led his class of 35 to swim in Kiberenge stream, near the current Baringo County Referral Hospital.

"Moi usually said swimming was mandatory for both pupils and teachers to learn life skills and for physical fitness," he said.

"I was watching when Moi jumped into the water but took too long to come up. Instead, we spotted some bubbles on the water's surface."

Kenduiwo was not a good swimmer but "without hesitating my three colleagues, William Sirma Kogo, Beo ole Njaule and Morio Lekesio, quickly jumped into the five feet deep stream to rescue Moi," the old man said.

Their teacher's leg had been caught in the roots of an indigenous tree locally known as 'Lomoiwe' under the water. "Otherwise he was unbeaten when it came to swimming," Kenduiwo said.

First aid 

The pupils quickly pressed Moi's stomach to resuscitate him.

"We then let him bask in the sun for close to half an hour before accompanying him back to school. He took us to his quarters and gave us some mandazi," Kenduiwo said.

A majority of his classmates have passed on and only four of them are left, he said. The other three are William Kogo, Joshua Kiptui and Chebet arap Bowen.

When Moi rose to power his pupils agreed to keep the incident a secret as "it would sound like shaming our leader", Kenduiwo said.

Moi, an alumnus of the former Kapsabet Teachers' College, left the intermediate school in 1948 to serve as principal at Tambach Teachers' College in Elgeyo Marakwet District before joining active politics in 1955.

Kenduiwo said Moi was time conscious. He recalled being awakened every morning by  Moi's singing, 'Jesus is with me always, with me at work, with me wherever I go' and  'it is a long way to go to Britain but my heart always lies there'. "His songs served as a morning bell," he said.

Kenduiwo went on to join Kapsabet High School and later Siriba Teachers' Training College, where he studied animal and crop husbandry.

In 1981, while attending a fundraiser at Kapropita Girls' High School,  Kenduiwo said, Moi recognised him in the multitude and called him to the front.

He said Moi immediately offered him a job as an Agricultural Technical Extension Officer in Marigat where he helped to enrich the production of Perkerra and Loboi irrigation schemes until his retirement in 1992.

Kenduiwo eulogised Moi as a loving, generous and a humble leader. "He kept his promises," he said.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya