This archive report was first published on 7 May 2020.
Published on May 7, 2020, in Nairobi News, a nostalgic article reminisced about the good old days of school life in Nairobi.
During the 1990s to mid-2000s, school life was simple, yet full of hard learnings from tough teachers and parents at home. Caning was the standard form of punishment in most schools, but despite this, students enjoyed school, especially on weekends when they were spoilt for choice between going for school trips, playing games, or attending movie nights.
School trips were a must-go, especially if they involved visiting a sister school across town. However, the most thrilling experience in school was writing and receiving love letters from the girl you had a crush on.
The author of the article attended Kirangari High School in Wangige, Lower Kabete area, which was a provincial school under the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) during their high school years (1999 to 2003). They indulged in writing lots of letters to girls they met during school trips, such as games, science congress, mathematics symposiums, and drama festivals.
Back then, social media was unheard of, and cellphones were still a novelty in this part of the world. This explains why students used to exchange school addresses rather than phone numbers, and they had to have a pen and a notebook to note down the addresses correctly.
It was common for every school to have a guy who sold cool writing pads, envelopes, and stamps, as well as another guy with the gift of writing sweet love letters in poetic form, complete with a nice fragrance and a calligraphic address on the envelope.
Most letters had to have an intro to set the right mood for the agenda, and the ultimate goal was to make a good presentation and ensure you got a reply from your crush. A classic end to any letter was some dedications of the hottest love ballads of the time from world-famous artistes.
Some of the author's personal favourite dedications were 'Missing You' (Case), 'Do I Ever Cross Your Mind' (Brian McKnight), and 'Sweet Lady' (Tyrese).
After writing the letter, students would carefully fold the pad in a unique way, slip it into an envelope, and write something like 'guess who? Whether ready or not here I come' or 'open with a smile'. Then came the long waiting period for a reply, which could take a whole month or two, depending on whether you had made a positive impression on your crush and how often your school received letters.
Every Wednesday evening during supper time, students would anxiously wait for their names to be called out as their letters were read aloud. Receiving a letter was a big deal, and those who received even one letter never went unnoticed among their peers. Receiving two or three letters earned you celebrity status!
The old tradition of writing love letters earned students many friends and a few enemies along the way, making school life bearable. Writing love letters is one of the most cherished memories that the author has of their high school days.
