HOW I BECAME A SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL(MUHONIA)

I really have had very many nicknames but the one that has struck me the most is 'principal'.I  usually have a hard time explaining to people that the school has a principal but they just don't get it.This  is how it came to be.
I took my final exams from Egerton University  in April 2010.I begun to think about my next form after graduating bearing in mind how many people graduate each year in Kenya and the thought of getting a white collar job immediately disappeared.I don't like sitting idle and so I begun thinking about my next course of action.I thought about the village where I come from and how I could make a difference in it.The majority of the people are either illiterate or semi-literate(ndemu village,mugunda location).The distances between secondary schools back then was huge,so I thought about establishing a secondary school.I wrote a business plan and a project plan for the school.The next best thing I did was to get signatures so that I could approach an NGO(non governmental organization) for funding.After just getting nine signatures,people begun to question me on issues like:where will your school be located?;who will pay the teachers?;how will you market the school to get students?These issues were real but I knew solutions would come around so I didn't give up.When I got to the village the situation completely changed;I had copies of both the business plan and project proposal for the school but I was completely broke.I had no money to commute to get funding or even at least rent a space where the school could be situated.I talked to people about the plan and they all agreed it was a great idea but the major problems I  faced were:land for the school as students need a playground and the operational costs for the school.The latter two weighed down my motivation.However, as I was talking to the 12th person in the village,he told me that the society was planning to start up a community secondary school at Muhonia primary school grounds.I met the organizing committee and they told me to apply for a teaching position.I did as advised and I got the job.We started from scratch with no students and after two weeks we had 16 students.On several occasions I have had to write project proposals for funding.In so doing,we have been able to get school fees for some students who were either orphaned or had poor parents who could not afford school fees which were back then ksh3800.We have been able to get funds from st.John Brothers from Mweiga,Alpajeta,latiff(local authority funds)laikipia east and CDF laikipia.My main setbacks were when I wrote a project proposal for the construction of a tuition block for the school to the CDF commitee.The CDF Laikipia East wrote back to us that we had been allocated ksh900000 and even some contractors who wanted to bid for construction tender visited us.I was so delighted when the then Councillor for Ngobit ward mr.Mumbiko came to the school to inform us about the allocation.Suddenly we received some news that the funding was thrown out on technicalities about the registration of the school.This year the school has 34 students and is now registered by the kenyan government.I wish the oncoming administration success and will not hesitate to tell them that we need results,
I extend my gratitude to mr.Michael Njogu Mbogo(comrade teacher),the school oversight committee,the Muhonia primary school fraternity and my students.That is how I got involved in the birth of MUHONIA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL.I thank God for the favor of actualizing one of my purposes in life. Credit however goes to everyone who had a stake in  the school both directly and indirectly.
MUHONIA is located at the border between KIENI WEST and LAIKIPIA EAST.
I remain
Anthony Muriuki
Kieni constituent