I attended Thaita Primary school, which was sponsored and managed by the Anglican Church (AC). All school students had participated in Sunday school, and those who were absent were whipped on Monday by the headmaster. They were then required to go home and come back with a parent. I was never missing. Sunday school started at 7 a.m. and ended at 9 a.m.
Some of the most incredible things I learned in Sunday school included the Ten Commandments and the Gospel of John Chapter three and verses sixteen to twenty-one (John 3:16-21, NIV). The church service was held after Sunday school wrapped up. Since there was no church building, both services took place in the school. Instead of joining my parents in the adult church service, I joined my father’s relative in the Salvation Army (Jeshi La Wokovu) in Kerugoya. The Salvation Army parade began at 10 a.m. at the relative’s home. He was a church leader. We would go from his home to Kerugoya shopping center, where the open-air service was held for an hour and included preaching, singing, and giving testimonies. We would then make our way to Gaitheri Salvation Amy Church and worship until 3 p.m. I was impressed by their marches and their impeccable dressing. In the Salvation Army, I learned to play the flywheel ring (Karing’ aring’ a). When I graduated from school, I was no longer obligated to attend Sunday school, and I stopped going to church altogether.
With the free time I now had, I began smoking dry maize silks, imitating the older boys who smoked kīraiko, which we could not afford. I began dressing differently and started working to earn a living while still under my parents’ supervision. It was years later that I put my faith in God and began going to church.