Reasons as to why some teacher’s lifestyle defer to that of their colleagues.

Some few years ago some professions people undertook could make them seen as the kings and queens of the village. Such people were respected and seen as role models to the upcoming generation. One of the most respected careers back in the days was teaching and if you happened to associate with one at your village back in the days you could simply notice how clever they were since before getting their jobs they had joined one of the public campuses or colleges to pursue their careers.

Early in the morning they could prepare themselves and wear their nice clothes they bought sometimes back and had stored them in their suitcases and are meant for special days while riding their newly purchased bicycle or motorcycle if one happened to have one while going to work. With all these said nowadays you will find that some teachers with same level of education and maybe earning same amount of salary living world apart lives compared to their colleagues until you wonder what makes such a difference in lifestyle? Then what are some of the reasons behind the difference in life between the birds of the same feathers? Here are some of the reasons:

1. Loans

Teachers who think for a better tomorrow will use the loan they applied for to improve their lives. Some will open businesses like shops, others will buy motorbikes to operate as boda bodas while others will buy a plot and go ahead and build rental houses. Some will invest in furthering their education while others will take their children to good schools. All these are meant to see a brighter future some years to come. As others will think of such nice ideas others will only take the loans to enjoy some short term luxurious lives. One will buy a motorbike or bicycle not for a boda boda purpose but the one they will be using to ride around the villages in search for local brews of chang’aa or pubs that sales beers.

2. Debts

With the banks slashing some big some amount of money from the teachers who applied for the loans without better reasons of its use thereafter, it’s a guarantee that at the end of the month they go for the small amount of money that remained at their accounts of which before reaching back home you will think they never went for their salaries. Since you had promised “mama pima” that you will pay at the end of the month you pass there and cash out some thousands of money as a pay for the liquor you used to pass by to drink almost the entire period of the month. After leaving the “mama pima” you forward directly to that place you used to order the pork meat and pay for it again. After that you go home with 1000 bob remaining in your pocket at a time when your child who recently joined form one has been sent home for school fees. That’s the time you will find such parents’ children being transferred from boarding school to day school even when they had excelled in their academics to join the boarding school and even end up separating with their partners because of not providing for the family.

 

3. Alcoholism

While some will manage to balance between managing family responsibilities and responsible drinking, some will entirely dedicate their time drinking all sorts of liquor. The so called specialists in taking liquor to the extent of being nicknamed names like “kalewa” will care less in differentiating the days of work and weekend. To them all days are the same and for better for worse, with or without money they make sure they enjoy some few bottles of beer or local brews every day. Some will do that to the extent of forgetting to report to work while some who drink early in the morning will attend to work but strain to perform their duties of teaching. And now with the Matiang’i era as the CS for education, education officers and directors check into schools randomly and unexpectedly and i bet if such teachers are found (drunkards), one may lose his or her job hence messing up his/her family lives and the people who depend on them.

I hope and believe that such teachers will change their attitudes and try and do the right things at the right time whether at work or back at home since they should understand that they got people who depend on them and others look at them as role models.