A sneeze or a cough and Mogotio knows teacher John Ndoigo is around

91-year-old John Ndoigo (right) receives gifts from Mogotio Primary School alumni his thanks giving celebration last week. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

At 91, John Ndoigo still commands the same attention he commanded for 35 years as a teacher, both from his former pupils and even the great-grandchildren.

From a sneeze to a cough, strangers can easily tell who Mr Ndoigo is –a stringent disciplinarian whose spirit still cannot fade and whose efforts and love for education birthed Mogotio Primary School in Baringo County.

As teachers will always be, Mr Ndoigo too has become one, even when walking with the support of a stick, he still earns his respect with many of his former students still curtsying in respect.

And on a rare occasion, the village and the alumni from Mogotio Primary last weekend planned a souvenir-a celebration of Mr Ndoigo’s efforts that bore success.

“We are who we are today because of Mr Ndoigo. He is very strict with education matters, something that has transformed almost an entire Sub-County and beyond. He is a disciplinarian and strong nationalist who never entertained tribalism,” Ms Wambui Kinyanjui, one of his former students said.

As Mr Ndoigo’s story goes, he started from visiting every household in the village in 1958 while requesting for children to attend the school which he had just started it from a church. The villages then, as they still are today, were cosmopolitan, bringing together several tribes.

“He was a great man who was a close friend to my father. When I finally joined school, I could only speak mother tongue but Mr Ndoigo always made sure we mingled with everyone in school so we could learn Kiswahili,” MsKinyanjui said.

In the event that besides giving Mr Ndoigo and a few of his age mates a platform to jig to the oldies, nostalgia spelled the mood.

“Almost all of us who were taught by Mr Ndoigo have the same beautiful handwriting. We too share strong moral values and nationalism. Mr Ndoigo inculcated virtues like honesty, discipline and loyalty and that is why we have kept the values all along,” Ms Kisaian Milka said.

For Ms Kisaina, she later pursued teaching having Mr Ndoigo as his mentor.

“The village loved him because of his profession and my father always wanted his children to be teachers and that is why I ended up being a teacher, a fulfilling profession which I have never regretted pursuing. People who have succeeded through him are many,” Ms Kisaian says.

For Ali Rajab, Mr Ndoigo became a mentor to his community who always banked on education to improve their livelihood.

“He always will be a great man, he taught us to always give back to the society besides mentoring many of us who have successfully landed in good professions,”  Mr Rajab said.

And while Mr Ndoigo left Mogotio primary after heading it for 31 years in 1988, he still holds a strong attachment even from generations that only refer to him as a grandfather and did not see him in class.

“We named one of the lanes within the school after him and even the young generation who were not taught by MrNdoigo often dig up the history to know who he was,” Ms Patricia Shivega, Mogotio Primary school the head teacher said.

For Mr Ndoigo, starting the school was no easy task and had to maintain the discipline to bring the communities living together as friendly neighbors through education.

“It was tedious but surest way to get everyone appreciating school and benefits that come with education later in life. Most children did not want to go to school and often escaped and we had to be tough for things to work out,” Mr Ndoigo said.

He said he started the school with a fellow teacher who left soon after. The teachers had a few pupils and had to be hosted at a nearby church before they could construct a classroom.

“Finally, we put up mud structures for a classroom in 1558 from class 1 to class 4 and the population grew and almost everyone started sending their children to school,” he said adding that some of the vocal current council of elders from the region also schooled in in Mogotio.

Even as he counts his achievements as a teacher, Mr Ndoigo says he feels like he played his part but only wishes for more colleges and a University in the County.

“I am a proud person that most of the pupils have prospered and are holding different professions across the Country. Mogotio too has grown in leaps with businesses sprouting up as a result of education and growing technology. Farming as well has seen improvement as farmers are currently turning the sector into a good venture through researches and innovations,” Mr Ndoigo said.

As the party culminated into dances with gifts being heaped on the old man, the former students thanked the teacher with others.

“Some of his former students who are abroad have been requesting to talk to the teacher through Skype, and we are planning to pull that surprise again as part of the celebrations for his achievements. We want him to feel the power of education through technology too,” Dorothy Ndoigo, his daughter said.