Life's Challenges, Trials, Exams and Triumph

IN MY LAST blog, I wrote of the modest marks that I attained in primary school and the humiliation I often endured at constantly being last in my class at one of Kenya's most prestigious high schools.I will always emphasise this point so that those that belittle others can bow in shame. However, most of all this is meant to encourage those that can make it but lack the voice to tell them that they can beat the odds.

I WOULD never have thought that I could study law. In fact, I did not even fill the university application forms that we were to fill whilst in high school.One only needs to look at my earlier academic background and understand why.The system just doesnt believe in those that the society shuns Now having studied an undergraduate and post graduate degree in law, I wonder what the big deal was back then. Surprisingly heads still turn when one says they are studying law. ' Oh you must like to read then', they say. I wonder if studying in the other discliplines is any diffrent. However, I have the feeling that this is just another of those steriotypical notions that adolise the legal, medical and other professions such as piloting etc.

STILL, I will never forget my experience in the University of London whilst studying for my masters in the LLM- International Law. After studying for an undegraduate degree for three years, I found myself studying for a superior course in just one year.Well what I knew is that studying for exams is one thing, sitting for the exams themselves is another. It should be surprising that what one studies for 12 months is determined by a mere12 hours of sitting in an exam room. I have to say that it is an enduring experience. Each exam takes three hours. Now you can imagine that 3 hours is approximately the time it would take you to drive toMtito Andei from Nairobi, Kenya. Sitting for three hours can be an exhausting exercise but trust me that three hours in the exam room can seem like a mere 10 minutes.

TIME seems to move so fast yet there is usually so much to write and still being relevant. It is not the questions that are necessarily hard but the exam conditions that are difficult. In fact patience and calm are the key virtues and are just as important as what the questions requires you to answer. This is because frustration can easily lead one to mess up a year of hard work in a matter of 10 minutes. One inspiring thought however was, that after so many years of exams, I knew that I probably would never have sit for written exams at University ever again. A taught masters is the highest level in which one can sit for written exams. As you know, pursuing a PhD is purely research and one is examined by an oral exam called the Viva.

EVERY DAY I dream of that day that I will stand before a panel to defend and convince them how my thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge.After that I shall convert my thesis into an important book. The year 2005 was the greatest and most successful year of my life. Not only did I lead the University of London with a score of a Distinction in the LLM Public International law, I was also awarded the Draper's Company Prize for Academic Excellence. In addition I was offered an unconditional offer from Sheffield University which containes a full departmental scholarship award under the supervision reknown expert of international law. Despite the clear path that I believe I am destined, this is not a small feat for that boy from Ngethu.

HAVING SAID THAT, I know that along the way, just like those dark days when few believed I could do it, there shall be serious challenges. Amidst this success, theywill be trials and temptation as I engage in the real world which I can say from a personal perspective, is a dangerous world. Because of this, I know I will have to be extremely careful in my approach and I have to give extreme thought each time I have to make a decision.However, there are those that guide the Ngethu Star in me, too special to be mentioned here.

Lessons From High School

TODAY I have been thinking about my experiences in high school.Mangu was a great experience I got to live the life that states that 'no one is a child of a lesser god' and how one treats others shapes this life. Mangu had people from all walks of life and teachers of all kinds. I know that my KCPE marks (350 out of 700) were not enough to get me to Mangu but later I realised the importance of examining the bigger picture, which provides for the occasional necessary evil and that everyone deserves an equal chance. No one ever ought to be underated just because of the steriotypical thinking of society.

NATURALLY, and given my modest grades, it was difficult to fit in within one of the most prestigious institutions in Kenya .One only needs to look at the history as well as the present positions that ex Mangu Men hold in order to understands the formidable contribution Mangu makes to the society. No matter how much I tried, I was always last, helpless and designated an intellectual dwarf amongst the country's finest brains.

STILL, with the help of the school's then basketball coach, I discovered one very legitimate way in which I could beat all the 'A 'students. I played basketball and loved it with a passion.Each time I met the so called 'brains of the country' on the basketball court, one thing became clear,I would emerge the best and this became one way in which I could walk with my head up high. Because of basketball, I travelled to places in Kenya that I had only heard of whilst watching the weather forecast. I also got to travel to Uganda and Zimbabwe and other places that I had only previously seen on the Atlas Map.

THE GAME of basketball taught me the heartfelt pain one can go through in the aftermath of a great loss.I will never forget the 1996 Basketball finals held in Kakamega when we lost to our rivals Aquinas. Despite the fact that I was not part of the team that year, I had joined them as they trained very hard for this particular game.In the end, just like us, Aquinas lost, cried and wept after they too had lost to Mombasa Baptist in the final game. This period introduced me to the harsh realities of this world, that it is not the best that necessarily wins.Just like love, being the best is not enough. One has to be in harmoy with nature.But, there were other lessons.

DESPITE Mangu's prestigious status, there was a clear class and tribal struggle and the system was full of intellectual patronage. This is why all that survived the Mangu experience have something special to give, they acquire this unique status. When you brush shoulders with people from all walks of life, all you can do is learn a lot.But learning is only one thing and living the lessons as well as adapting to what life has to offer, in given contexts, remains the ultimate challenge.