Wainaina, 79 sits for KCSE after deferring dream for 60 years

Samuel Wainaina, 79 sits for KCSE after deferring dream for 60 year.[Ken Gachuhi/Standard]

Samuel Wainaina, 79, is among hundreds of thousands of candidates who sat for this year’s KCSE examinations, his story standing as a testament to lifelong learning and that no dreams are too far to achieve.

Wainaina was born in Oljororok, Nyandarua, and his journey back to the classroom comes over sixty years later, after poverty denied him a chance to enrol for secondary education.

“I was among the top performers in the 1966 exam and was confident of joining high school. I was even interviewed to join Mang’u High School,” said Wainaina.

Determined to educate him, Wainaina’s father, who worked on a white settler’s farm, handed him his savings and borrowed more from friends to send him to school.

It was during the same period that the Kenyan government announced a plan to resettle Kenyans on their own farms from villages designed for squatters working for the whites.

The situation posed a difficult choice for his parents, who had to choose between educating him and paying for the land. They left the decision to Wainaina.

“Anyone who was to be settled had to pay Sh361. My father told me to choose between education and land. I chose land and returned to him the school fees he had given me,” he said.

With the dream for more education put on hold, Wainaina began working in the new settlements until 1968, when his uncle linked him to a company that made artificial fishing flies for sports fishing.

“I perfected the art and was elevated to quality control and later to a managerial position. The company later closed down, and I was rendered jobless,” he said.

His two friends, who had the chance of furthering their education, funded him to start a similar business, where his salary at the start went towards his share capital in the business.

“I worked with them for some time before we wound up the company. I started my own company where I worked alongside my wife. Later, I handed it over to my children and went back to the farms,” said Wainaina.

He settled in Laikipia, where he teamed up with local farmers to register the Kenya Livestock Producers Association, which introduced pedigree cattle to the local community.

After their progress was noted, the association members were brought on board the Kenya National Farmers Federation, which gave Wainaina exposure to interact with more educated persons.

“I then became a board member in the East African Farmers Federation. My limited formal education often posed challenges. It was then that I realized I had to upgrade my education,” he said.

In 2013, he joined a group of other senior citizens who rented space in Gilgil town and hired tutors for their secondary education. The group, however, disintegrated before they realized their dreams.

“Three years ago we revived it with the help of teachers from a local secondary school who even offered us the laboratories for practical lessons in science subjects,” he said.

His return to school received overwhelming support from his family. His grandchildren, among them Mary Njeri, a master’s degree student, took up the role of tutoring him whenever they are home.

“We are very supportive of him regarding his education. Helping him with tuition and exercises is the least we can do to honour the sacrifices he made for our family,” said Njeri.

Wainaina is confident to perform well in the KCSE exam and join a university to pursue a degree in community development. He believes this will enable him to contribute more meaningfully to society.

“I want to join a university and study community development so I can be even more relevant to my community,” he said.