RE: ALUMNI SERIES:  Professor Anne Muigai

What are you currently involved in career wise?

I am a Lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.  I also am a researcher and have several research projects on going. I serve on two Boards, KEPHIS and Commission for University Education.  I am also an advisor to the African Union on matters of animal genetic resources and I have a short term appointment to the WHO Advisory Committee on   developing global standards for governance and oversight of Human Genome editing.

How did the formation sessions or seminars given in the school influence your life?

They taught me the importance of working hard, working well, finishing tasks, being a woman of dignity and character; things that I do even today.

 What is your favourite memory from your time at Kianda School? 

During our days the Kianda Secretarial College was housed in the building now housing Kianda Foundation offices. I think we must have been in Form 2.  My classmates and I would wait, often munching on Choc Stick or Red Devil ice cream, outside the building for the secretarial students to walk down to the dining room for lunch.  We would then comment on their dresses- they wore the latest fashions.  The stilettos they wore were admirable!!

Why did you choose to join Kianda School? 

My sister and I attended Faida Club and my father had seen the transformation that the club had made on us. So when we went home with a brochure announcing a new intake for the new school (at that time the school was only two years old) – my dad jumped on it and ensured that we were there to sit for the interview

Who influenced you most during your time at Kianda School? 

Miss Njogu and Miss Roche.  Miss Njogu taught me how to study.  I used these study skills right through university.  She also taught me that as a student the most important thing that I needed to do was to study, that I needed to dedicate time to it and to do it within an ordered structure and that to pass any test one needed to revise for it.

I remember two incidents that got me under Miss Roche’s radar.  One was going for choir practice when it was convenient for me…which meant that I missed many sessions.  The second incident was when we were supposed to report to school in full school uniform for a school trip and a number in my class turned up in home clothes.  The trip was cancelled but for me Miss Roche also withdrew the deportment badge that I had been awarded the previous year!  A deportment badge was awarded to the girl who had exemplary character, was neat and who the school felt was a good role model for the others.

That fact alone changed the way I approached life after that. I realized that it was important to do the right thing and at the right time.

What advice would you give to a current  Kianda student (or maybe a potential Kianda student) about their time at Kianda School? 

I think that most times when I was in school I did not appreciate or even comprehend completely the wealth of character building that was going on. It was only when I left that I looked back and began to appreciate what was transmitted to me.  I remember once when I had just began my university studies, a visiting exchange student from the UK asking me where I had learnt to speak perfect English.  The answer was clear…at my high school!

 Any final comment?

The girls who go through Kianda end up different and special. They are confident, well poised, make prudent decisions, and it is no surprise that many have ended up in the top tier of their careers and profession.  I am very proud to be associated with Kianda and I wanted my children to experience the same. I am delighted that two of my four children (the other two are boys) have passed through Kianda.

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