01/10/2025
The Day the Wind Went to School.
It was the 2nd of October 2023. Lunch had just been served, teachers proudly devouring their ugali with beef, while students, as usual, managed with ugali and sukumawiki. By 2:00 pm, everyone had dragged themselves back into classrooms, ready for the dreaded afternoon lessons.
But nature had other plans.
Around 2:30 pm, the sky turned gray, and a big mischievous wind swept in like a comedian cracking jokes. At first, it playfully whistled through the trees, but then boom! it started uprooting them like carrots. Not satisfied, it went for the rooftops of classrooms. Sheets of iron were flying around like kites at a festival.
The old stream-side building where Mr. Kusienya once had his office shook dangerously, and the wind threatened to carry away the computer lab and the Form One block. Panic exploded. Students scattered in every direction, some running, some screaming, some just frozen in shock.
Electricity blinked out, plunging the school into darkness. Teachers and students piled on verandas and corridors, praying the wind would spare their heads. The store that held precious rice and stationery was blown apar, an academic tragedy, because rice was the “gold” of the dining hall.
The deputy principal, Mr. Muyekho, did his best to marshal order, shouting instructions like a general at war. But the wind wasn’t done humiliating teachers.
Mr. Wamasimbi and Mr. Kusienya lost their precious reams of paper scattered like confetti at a wedding. Teachers’ houses also took a beating. Poor Mr. Siambi found his well-stocked kitchen destroyed: eggs broken, rice soaked, shopping washed away. Meanwhile, Mr. Wambulwa’s house, already known for its emptiness, was reduced to just soggy bedding and an even emptier kitchen.
Then came Mr. Aluchura, who had tried to secure his superbike, TV, and eggs. But the wind tossed them like marbles. To make it worse, a bold student named David tried sneaking into his house, perhaps to “rescue” valuables. Instead, David Isan, received a thunderous slap from the furious teacher that sent him sprinting back outside faster than the wind itself.
Through all this chaos, Mr. Wamkota couldn’t resist cracking jokes. He laughed at teachers whose kitchens had once been full but were now completely destroyed, teasing them as if hunger had finally humbled their pride.
By evening, the students thought they’d be sent home. Their chants filled the air: “Tunaenda nyumbani! Tunaenda nyumbani!” But the principal, Mr. Moyi, crushed their hopes. He ordered them to remain on campus. With Mwenge Hostel partially destroyed, students were forced to squeeze into the remaining hostels, sharing beds and floors for the night.
Luckily, amidst all the destruction from broken eggs, soaked rice, scattered electronics, there were no injuries or fatalities. It was a day everyone at school would never forget: the day the wind went to school and almost enrolled itself as the new principal.
