Dear parents,
How are you, I hope you are doing well and having fun. I have much to tell you how my journey
was. When you said that last goodbye to me I started feeling lonely and rejected. But when I
reached the plane it started becoming worse. I started crying alone that I am leaving you. The plane
started moving and I saw some planes landing since I got a seat next to the window. The plane took
off and we started going up. Wooh! My ears. I felt they were blocked and completely blocked.
When the pilot said we were in France, I remembered the parcel you told me to open only when in
the plane. So I did that and I found some very lovely messages from each one of you and I was
very happy to hear from everyone how you wished that I stayed much longer than that and that you
will miss me big. I so much enjoyed the words that encouraged me and I didn’t cry anymore. I also
enjoyed the chocolate that you bought for me. I reached Nairobi Airport safely. I was very happy to
get here safely, but when we were on the way from the airport [with Dennis Tongoi, the friend who
is helping Freddie on our behalf], one of the tyres burst which was the same same side that burst
when we were going to the airport! That was very bad...
I enjoyed one day at home and gave everyone their presents. Good news: When I arrived at home I
was told that Roselyn [his older sister, who ran away from home last year]had come and talked to
Granny, and that she lives in Nairobi. Bad news: After that I was told that now Antony [his older
brother]is in a very bad behaviour of drinking beer. He is still working at Windsor Hotel [a tourist
hotel on a golf course near their home], and very lucky to be having a job at his age. The money
which he gets is enough to start a business or do something constructive, because sometimes he
gets more than 2000/- [£20] a day in tips if he is lucky [a vast sum for working people in Kenya].
There was a white woman who trusted him very much, but he lost her trust. She was willing to help
him and because she trusted him she left a golf bag, a very big one, with him. But instead of
keeping it he sold it and used the money to take beer together with his friends. That’s not a good
idea. Don’t you think so? What I would like you to do is help me in praying for him to change his
behaviour.
I came to school on Thursday. I have met Haicha [his best friend] and four more friends still from
Busara and now we are ten in our class (Form 1) and 241 in the whole school. [Freddie has changed
schools this year from Busara Academy (a primary school) to Mustard Seed School, which follows
the British curriculum through to GCSE.] The school started last year on 11th Jan. 1999 with 7
pupils. That’s when the founder planted the mustard seed, and you can see we are now 241 and
there are more to come. I was happy too to be in a new school and in a higher class. I like it and I
enjoy it. Mustard Seed is a good school compared to Busara. We are woken up at 5:45 a.m., take a
shower and prepare until 6:30 — time for breakfast — then go for Prep at 6:50 a.m. While in Busara
we would wake up at 4:30 a.m., start morning prep at 5:10, then go for breakfast at 7:00. My
friends from Busara write and say that they are missing me...
I can’t wait to see you once more. Two years seems too long to wait. I have wanted to write earlier
but I have kept writing halfway letters then I start crying and I look at my handwriting, it’s very
horrible, so I tear the paper and throw it in the bin. But today I gained courage that I should write
to you guys.
How is everyone? I hope Stephen and Jennifer are doing well too. My friend Haicha is okay but
sometimes he behaves very badly. He has started swearing and using bad words here and there. I
tell him to stop but he doesn’t. One morning when we were going to take a bath, I happened to
push him and he was in one of his bad moods. I tried to say sorry but he couldn’t accept, so I
waited for him to calm down. I told him I wished to apologise and at least find a solution, but it
came out so badly that he used any swear word on me that came to his mind. We spent 3 days
without even saying hallo. I did pray for him and myself too and one evening as we were going for
games, I talked to him and said sorry. He accepted my apology and I realised God can do miracles
and wonderful miracles. We are still friends and I like him and he also likes me. But the only thing is
that he is swearing a lot and is not stopping. He says that he respects Christianity and is therefore
trying to stop, but because of his friends here in school he says he can’t stop. Pray for him and me
to be understanding people and talking the right way.
Your son, Freddie Letter dated 17th AprilDear parents,
How have you been? I hope that you are fine and that you are doing okay. I’m okay and am very
fine. I closed school on 4th of April and we are going to open again on 2nd of May. That’s a very
long holiday. I’m happy now that I’m in form one and that I’m not in primary again. I have seen the
hand of the LORD taking me through that term nicely. We praise God for that nice job he has done.
I was position 6 out of 11 with 805 marks unlike the half term exams where I had 763 out of 1300
marks. So at least I have seen that I am improving.
You had asked me several questions like who my class teacher is and who my best teacher is and
what is my the name of our headmaster. My class teacher’s name is Miss Kezziah Wambui, and she
is the lady who takes care of our class and she is our English teacher. She is also the one who marks
the English exams for the secondary section.We don’t have a headmaster, but our headmistress’
name is Mrs. Njiru. My best teacher is Mr Otaro. He is the one who teaches us Physics and Maths
and also he teaches Chemistry in Forms 2 and 3. Our head of school, that is the Manager, is Miss
Stella Karanja, and she is the daughter of Mrs. Karanja the manager of Busara Forest View Academy
[Freddie’s former school]. So those are the answers to your questions.
In school we do some new subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology. We also do French and
Computer. As I had told you before about my position, I’m not so happy about them, though I did
my best. I am hoping to do better than that next term.
I am at the Tongoi’s place now, and I am staying here for about a week or two so that we can
communicate with you and also discuss some of the things together. I came from school by public
transport all by myself [a 160-mile journey], and I arrived here safely. Praise the LORD. Until now I
have been staying with Shosho [Granny], and she is still sick, so please add her in your daily
prayers.
I think I will end there now, hoping that you are glad to hear from me. Goodbye for now and we
pray that we are going to keep in touch with one another. The time is not on my side coz I am not a
fast typer so may the LORD Almighty continue being with you. Good bye and GOD bless you. I will
be waitng for your letter tomorrow.
Your son, Freddie Letter dated 13th May Dear All, How are you? I hope you are fine and that you are doing well in each and everything that you do. I am fine and more to say so thankful of the letter you sent me. I was so happy to have my first second term letter from you guys. I appreciated each and everything that you wrote and to my great concern that you love me all and you care about me... Greetings to Dad. Now you are !!! how many years? I can’t remember. Congratulations and may the glory of God be in you. It was good to know that Stephen is OK and he is going to school. That is very good and God bless you and strengthen your faith and may the Lord open the eyes of those people who disrespect your faith and may you grow to be a God-fearingman. It was not good to hear that Jennifer always has headaches and stress. What you’ve got to know is that God loves you, and it’s good that your headaches come and go. I want to tell you that my Granny’s headaches are very bad because they last for two-three days. You should be happy that you are able to rest and be given peace in the house. Let me tell you something. My Granny would get a headache and then would start having stress and depressions. She would think of when her son (my Uncle Frederick) would come and take her to the clinic. Okay! So uncle goes to work, and he is normally off from work at 5:30 to 6:00, and instead of making a stopover at home he goes with his friends outside and takes beer with them. So he comes home drunk and eats food and goes to sleep without even having greeted Granny or maybe to ask how she is. So Granny will spend the night sleepless and thinking of how her son hates her because, how can he come and not even say hallo. So she continues wondering just like that and morning comes. She is worse than yesterday. The headache has now caused her high blood pressure So that’s just a short story of about a day. Imagine if it was a week! So it’s good that your headaches come and go and we praise the name of the living God that you’ve never undergone that deep headache that would cause high blood pressure. I will pray that you might get stronger and stronger than even Stephen. Okay? Now to Mum. Okay, you told me to imagine that you are blind and I am with you in school and you would like me to describe it to you, so it’s like this. When you are from the bus stop you’ll walk until about one and a half kilometres on a dust road, and then there is a big huge gate, a red one written in white, MUSTARD SEED SCHOOL. There is a small house for the gate man and just past it there is a small diversion where you will get through and you get in a big building. There is the administration block and on top there, there is our school motto written as ARISE AND SHINE. Up the stairs there is our Manager’s office, she is Miss Karanja. Just outside her office there is the computer lab and the Deputy Head, Mr. Kamau. He is a very nice teacher and he teaches us CRE [Christian Religious Education] and he was at Busara [the ‘parent’ school that Freddie formerly attended]. He is my best teacher. Our Headmistress Mrs. Njiru left, and our new Headmistress is Miss Murunga. She is also a nice saved Christian teacher. OK, let’s go back. From there is the Primary Section, which is divided into two. The upper (years 5-8) is upstairs and the lower (1-4) is downstairs. The Secondary Section is also upstairs and on the left side of the Manager’s office. We have Form 1’s [Freddie’s class]and Form 2’s, and facing us on the opposite side are the Form 3’s. Then downstairs we’ve got our dormitories which are divided into 4: the primary classes 1-5, 6-8, then Form 1 & 2’s together and the seniors, that’s Form 3’s, sleep separately. Outside the whole building is an incomplete laboratory, and the Dining Hall is also there. Outside on the opposite side of the Dining Hall is an incomplete building. A very huge building which will soon be the secondary boys’ dormitory, and downstairs will be the bus park or garage. On the other side of the building we’ve got the primary and secondary girls’ dorms, and it’s separated by the teachers’ houses. Then on the right hand side is a big field bigger than the basket ball pitch at Lord Williams [Stephen & Jennifer’s school in Thame, which Freddie attended for a week in January], and round in shape. This term