A Discussion with Keith Shiundu, 2010 Graduate of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya

June 1, 2010

Background: As part of the Education and Global Social Justice Project, in July 2010 undergraduate student Ryan Covington interviewed Keith Shiundu. Since the death of her father Shiundu and her mother have lived in Kibera, a large Nairobi slum, and she entered and graduated from St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School. In this conversation, Shiundu shares stories from her past, thoughts on the present, and dreams for the future—a conversation that provides powerful insights into the diverse and inspirational roles St. Aloysius plays in the lives of numerous children.

Can you tell me about your background, and how these experiences brought you to St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

I come from a family that is poor. My mom was a housewife, so when my dad died, nobody could pay for me to continue on to high school after I cleared my primary education. I couldn’t get into a high school because it was expensive, so without St. Aloysius I would not have ended up in a school that could provide a quality education.

My story about how I heard about St. Aloysius is a bit funny and exciting: We lived at a place where there was ventilation, so you could hear what the other guys in the other rooms were saying—there were no secrets. When I was cooking after I had run errands helping my mom, I heard some neighbors talking about St. Aloysius from the other room. The next day I went to find out what St. Aloysius was because I heard it provided free education, and I wanted to get into high school. I went to St. Aloysius the next day, and I told my mom, but she couldn’t accompany because she wasn’t feeling well—she was sick. I came alone and talked to the priest, and he was very passionate about my story, and he gave me some interviews—written and oral ones. I passed both of them, so I started Form One.

I feel that St. Aloysius is a hopeful place.

What is your daily schedule like, and how, if at all, has your view of education evolved since enrolling at St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

I wake up as early as 4:00 a.m. for my personal studies at home. At 5:00 a.m., I prepare myself to come to school—I don’t get breakfast because they prepare it at school, and sometimes it’s hard to get breakfast at home. At 6:00 a.m., I leave for school because I have to walk for 30 minutes. I go to the library till 7:45 a.m. and then have prayers before school starts at 8:00 a.m. In the evening, I go to the library from 6:00 p.m.—schools ends at 5:30 p.m. I go to the library in Kibera until 8:00 p.m.; it’s a community library that helps students in Kibera, because sometimes it’s hard to study at home. At 8:00 p.m., I help my sister for an hour—doing the dishes and cooking. Sometimes I prepare studies at night and at 10:00 p.m., off to sleep.

When I was still in primary, I used to view education as, “Okay, I just have to pass this level and then go to the next level.” St. Aloysius has enabled me to view education not just as something I have to use to pass the examination, but something I have to use everywhere. It’s an all-around thing—it’s got to be intelligence in books and other things, like social life and intellectual life.

What has your greatest accomplishment been in your nearly four years at St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

My greatest accomplishment is the fact that I’ve held on until this time. It’s very challenging for the girl child to be in school—there’s a lot of challenges out there from, sometimes, people discouraging us and men out there to get us. The fact that I’ve reached the place I am today, that’s one of my greatest accomplishments.

I attribute my ability to hold on to my mom. She has been there, she has always encourage me to go on, and when I feel like I want to give up, she says, “No, please hold on. Work the best you can.” She has always encouraged me to work hard. Sometimes when I feel discouraged, maybe I failed an exam I really expected to pass, I go to her and say, “Mom, I failed this, but I didn’t expect to fail this.” She tells me, “Oh, it happens. Keep it up.” That encourages me.

Also, the teachers have always been there for us. When some things happen in life and you are too down, and maybe you don’t perform well in that year or that term, they come to you. It gives you a morale to go on.

What has been the greatest obstacle for you thus far?

One of them is getting from home in the morning. It’s kind of risky because in Kibera things are always happening—rape cases.

Sometimes you find that there are things you don’t understand in class, so sometimes you are discouraged. The teachers are always there for us—they always want to make sure they we all understand everything they are teaching. As a student, you can go on your free time and meet with the teacher, so that he or she can help you understand what you didn’t understand together.

What do you think the core values are here at St. Aloysius Gonzaga? How have you applied these values to your current study, as well as your aspirations for the future?

The main values that they are trying to teach us are to learn and to serve. They are not just giving us this education, and saying, “Go away and start your own families. Be selfish and get appreciated for your own selves.” No, they want us to be able to help other people out there—this is an understanding of the teachers, the community, past graduates, and the students.

Developing to learn and serve, I really work hard for a better future. I see a better future—it’s very bright. I love studying out there, and when I have free time I like going into the community and studying with small groups of youths and students discussing the matters of life. I also love helping—I pray that one day that I will be able to help others like I have been helped at St. Aloysius.

What is your greatest strength?

My greatest strength is my faith—the faith that I have in what I’m doing and my self-esteem. The past also gives me a lot of strength. When I think of what happened to my family in the past and what is still happening to them right now, that gives me the strength to go on. Also, the fact that I believe in God and I know that he is always there to help me. I have confidence in myself—I have self-esteem. I don’t just let anyway bring me down, and tell me "Oh, I don’t look good." I just say, “That’s you, but I know myself.”

For the self-esteem part, there are people out there whose self-esteem has been crushed, and you look at children, youths, or teenagers...whatever happened in their past makes them very pessimistic of the future. Because I have this self-esteem—it’s not that things happening to me have always been good—I know sometimes things happen in ways you wouldn’t expect. I’d like to help other people gain back their self-esteem if they were abused in some way, or their ego was crushed, I’d really like to help them. For now, I help my friends. Sometimes when I see my friends, and there’s something happening and I don’t think too good of it, I just encourage them.

The community of St. Aloysius is very beautiful—it’s a good environment because of the people you see around us. I learn from them—from Madame Beatrice [the principal of St. Aloysius Gonzaga] who has been able to run a school. Not many mixed high schools are run by a female teacher, so that has helped me gain self-esteem because I can see that we can do it. St. Aloysius has played a big role in me being the way that I am. I have also learned from Father Terry [Charlton, the founder and chaplain of St. Aloysius] because of what he had—although it wasn’t all that big—that vision enabled us to have this place.

My education has shaped me into who I am. For the girls I went to school with in primary, after they had cleared their primary education and they had nothing to do, they ended up getting married because they needed money. They didn’t have a job, so they needed somebody to take care of them. It’s all so miserable.

What are your aspirations for after graduation from St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

I aspire to be a teacher—an English teacher. I love English and would love to teach English, with one of the major aims being to use it as a weapon to help children who are abused. I believe that if I teach English, there’s a possibility I would get into a school and identify what is always happening in schools in Kibera—you find that many children are being abused silently, and it’s a silent cry. When it’s worse, it’s when you see it in the media, but I’d like to get in a situation that before it gets out of hand, I’d be able to identify that this is what is happening.

My experiences with my teachers—in particular Madame Jill—is that they have expectations of their students that are so amazing that sometimes you don’t achieve what they had hoped for that subject. Madame Jill is always patient and ready to correct you—ready to show you the direction—and she’s really a friend of the teacher. Other teachers are also great, so that’s one of the biggest impacts they’ve had.

I also love English. My favorite books are The Child Called It—it’s an inspiring book and really brings out what happens in society. I’ve also read the autobiography of Barack Obama, Dreams of my Father, and also books on Martin Luther King, Jr.

For choosing a career, St. Aloysius has provided so many counseling sessions—career counseling and social counseling—that have helped me and other students know what we will be able to do with the future and to also know where you are best fitted. St. Aloysius has played a big role in our choosing of subjects.

To what extent, if any, do you affiliate yourself with a particular religion? Has your faith changed since arriving at St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

I’m Anglican, but there’s some things I’ve been taught at St. Aloysius like prayers, so coming to St. Aloysius, I’ve been spiritually strengthened. Through the prayers and the songs—through everything that happens here—I feel apart of the religion of St. Aloysius.

Since coming to St. Aloysius Gonzaga, do you believe you’ve become more open as a person?

Coming to St. Aloysius has made me more open as a person. I mean, I’m able to interact with people, and that was not one of my characteristics before—I couldn’t speak to so many people. St. Aloysius has really encouraged me, so when you are given tasks for the first time, and you say “Will I really make it?” and then you find all these things are okay. The way I am has been shaped by St. Aloysius.

What extracurricular activities are you involved with?

I love basketball—it’s one of the major extra-curricular activities. Also, I’m involved with drama: dancing—traditional dances—and acting. In the journalism club, we write articles, and there is a period of time where we have photojournalism training sessions—a friend of the school offers to train the journalism club for this. We also get to publish what we have in the newsletters, and there’s the weekly news we present to the school during our break times.

How do you think the Kibera community views St. Aloysius Gonzaga?

The Kibera community looks at St. Aloysius as a hopeful place for young people. Whenever you speak of St. Aloysius, people look surprised and say “Oh! School of St. Al’s!” because of what St. Aloysius is doing. Most of the time, when you go out there, the image portrayed of St. Al’s really amazes many people, so they say, “You come from the slum and you go to St. Al’s. You look like somebody who goes to Alliance” [1].

What do you think of the new school and its new location?

The new school is a very big school. It’s beautiful, it’s a conducive environment for learning, and it has space. In the old school, it never used to have enough space, so now we have enough space. When a room is being used here, there’s another place you can go to study.

Do you have any other insights, stories, or comments about St. Aloysius that capture its mission or how important the school is?

The importance of St. Aloysius to me is the fact that I’m getting the great education I would have never gotten—I’ve been enlightened by St. Aloysius. Apart from the education, the sessions with your teachers and the counseling sessions have helped.

Being at St. Aloysius is just a blessing—it’s a blessing you cannot measure to anything else.

1. Alliance is a high school in Nairobi that routinely is ranked as the top secondary school in all of Kenya.

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