Dr. Eddah Gachukia has long been recognised as one of Kenya’s foremost educationists, as well as gender and development activists. She is celebrated as a pioneer member and founder of renowed organisations such as the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) and National Council of Women in Kenya, to name a few. Her commitment to bringing development to the country through the longstanding causes she has championed has her counted by many Kenyans – both men and women – as a mentor, including many women trailblazers celebrated in this book.
Born in 1936, Dr. Eddah Gachukia’s journey to becoming a pioneer educationist and gender and development activist started at an early age. Her parents who had both attended school were determined to educate their children. Looking back, Gachukia shares that she was privileged to go to school. “My father was very progressive and forward thinking. He was a teacher in Nairobi who was earning next to nothing. My mother had also gone to school and passed. She had attended what is now known as Mary Leaky Girls High School.” Her earliest recollections are those of her mother teaching her how to write on ashes.
Born in a family of five children, Gachukia’s parents also adopted two of her grandfather’s youngest children making a total of seven children. She shares that she was already enrolled in school by the time she was six, which was unusually early at the time. “Because of the sharpening from my mother and because my sister and brother were already in school, I was eager to learn what they had learned.” During her formative years in school it was rare for girls to be sent to school, more so at a very early age. She found herself attending school with grown up women. “I remember a woman I was with in standard four coming back as our teacher in standard five. It was funny because she wasn’t particularly sharp, but she was mature and there was a shortage of teachers.”
Although her mother passed on during her early years of schooling, Gachukia completed class five and passed her Common Entrance Examination. This meant that she could proceed to what was then referred to as primary top school. She then enrolled in a school in Kiambaa that was very far from her home. The journey to and from school was quite challenging especially due to the weather. “I was in a class of 20 students, 19 of whom were boys. You don’t know what that does to your confidence, as a little girl coming from far in the company of boys.” She remembers the headmaster with affection. “I would arrive school soaked in rain and he would take me to his house so that I could dry up and change my clothes. These were the peculiarities of the day.”
To counter the challenge of distance, her father took her to Mambere School in Kikuyu, now known as Musa Gitau Girls Secondary School, which was a boarding school. “The principal looked at me and denied me entrance as he thought I was too small. My sister was already schooling there and I was dying to join her.” She broke boundaries as a protestant admitted to a Catholic school when she subsequently joined Limuru Catholic Boarding School in standard seven. A year later she proceeded to then Kabete National Technical Secondary School. Gachukia surprisingly failed her certificate of primary education on the first attempt. Having enjoyed school immensely, she interviewed to join P4 teaching, which was the lowest form of teaching. She was rejected for the position because she was too short to write on the black board. “Small incidents like those stayed with me.” She took the primary education exam again and was delighted when she passed.
Her next stop was the African Girls High School now known as Alliance Girls High School. “A former schoolmate who had proceeded to African Girls came to visit wearing her khaki uniform and green tie. It was that green tie that I went after not the education,” she jokes. The school only admitted two students from each district, and Gachukia was lucky to gain the coveted admission. “It was a positive experience because it exposed me to girls from all over Kenya at an early age.” The experience, she says, enabled her to adopt a nationalist disposition. “I remain good friends with many of my schoolmates from African Girls High School. Many of them became teachers.” She passed her O levels and proceeded to complete her A levels.
Gachukia enjoyed her time at the African Girls High School. She was assigned the duty of delivering mail to other students. She also initiated the Drama Club, which went on to compete and win in the National Music Festival’s Traditional Song category. “If I was to repeat my life, it would be my time at African Girls High School. I especially enjoyed boarding school because I was able to escape the work at home.” Growing up in a rural setting, Gachukia found domestic work challenging. “I tried very hard to carry water but I always experienced pain in my neck. If you have gone through such challenges you want to obsessively be part of bringing change for women and girls. Boys never did such work. My brothers only had to take the cattle for grazing but the girls had numerous tasks. The world to me was always unequal especially for girls.”
Those experiences shaped her interests later in life. “I really wanted to help women overcome some of the societal challenges that bogged them down.” It is therefore no surprise that a major portion of her career has been dedicated to advocating for gender and development. Gachukia is a pioneer member of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake. She served as the organisation’s vice chairperson and national secretary. She was also a chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya, and cofounded the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE). FAWE now has presence in 35 African countries. Some of the passionate causes she took up in the 1970s and 1980s while at the Maendeleo ya Wanawake was bringing water close to homesteads. Reproductive health has also been dear to her. “My mother died in childbirth. That has been the root of my passion in advocating for reproductive health.”
Her passion for women and children carried through to the causes she advocated for during her 10-year reign as a member of parliament. After completing her A levels, Gachukia attended Makerere University and studied for a diploma in Education. She taught at Thika High School for a few years and in 1963 joined the University of Leeds on a British Council scholarship to further her studies. She received a certificate in teaching English and fondly remembers the impressive thesis she wrote on Teaching of Literature in African Secondary Schools. She was married and a mother of three at the time, and as such, she had to take her three young children with her. Her husband, Daniel Gachukia, was at the time studying in France.
She returned to Kenya in 1965 and went to work for Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), then known as the Curriculum Development Research Centre (CDRC). She wrote children’s books, developed curriculum and also coordinated the development of the Tujifunze Kusoma Kikwetu (TKK) programme. The programme, she
says, focused on teaching reading in indigenous languages for the first three years of school. The initiative was birthed from her encounter visiting schools where she discovered that there were students who were unable to express themselves due to language barriers. It was during that period that she felt a need to go back to school. She enrolled at the University of Nairobi for her undergraduate studies. As had been her previous experience, she says that she enjoyed undertaking her degree.
In 1974, Gachukia and her husband founded the successful Riara Group of Schools after they purchased a house and the attached Balmoral Kindergarten. “We saw the house and liked it, so we purchased it and moved in. The little school was full of European children. When people realised we had taken it over, they brought their children.” Classes were conducted in the patios, living room and other various rooms. What started out as a Kindergarten then branched out to include a primary school. “We were convinced by our parents to start a standard one with some three children who had just completed nursery school.” Over the years, Riara has steadily but surely expanded to
educate thousands of students with the inclusion of diverse international students. To accommodate the expansion, the group of schools is now housed in different annexes along Ngong Road. “In 1998 we realised a lot of the children who come here come from Eastlands. We managed to get a plot there and built a school with a kindergarten, primary
school and girls secondary school which is a boarding.” In 2003, she chaired the Task Force on Implementation of Free Primary in Kenya.
“Education in Kenya is one of the areas heavily invested in, but because of population, demand surpasses supply. I’m glad no child can be sent back home. It took going beyond the budget to mobilise every available resource and I’m privileged to have chaired the Task Force.” Together with her husband she also cofounded Riara University. “The university is more of my husband than myself. I was feeling too old to take on the project but he was really determined. Every year he studies the statistics on how many students enroll in form four, how many pass to go to university and how many enroll in university. After finding that only 10% entered university, it became his obsession to meet a fraction of the demand.”
She shares that the journey with Rirara University has been extremely challenging in all aspects including financial.
Starehe Girls Center is another long-term passion project that Gachukia took on. “I visited Starehe Boys Centre in 1963 and seeing what Dr. Griffin was doing left a lasting impression.” She asked him why he did not consider doing the same for girls but he could not take on the project. She took interest in the cause and in 1979 the President committed to building a Starehe Girls Center and a committee was formed. Although progress stalled for years, she pursued the cause and with the support of government, donors, veterans and stakeholders in the industry, Starehe Girls Center was opened in 2005. The Center started with only 70 students but by 2013 had grown to 420 students.
For pleasure, Gachukia enjoys taking walks with her husband as well as exercising. They have a personal trainer who trains them twice a week. “It is good for us at this age.”
She also loves to spend time with her grandchildren as well as with her children at Riara. She purposes to visit all of Riara’s locations regularly. “If by the end of the day I have visited the kindergarten, lower and upper primary as well the high school and university, I feel happy and humbled by God’s blessings.” She also enjoys her visits to Starehe Girls.
Words of Wisdom
“Life changes so fast.”
“We still have a lot to do regarding gender matters.”
“You cannot separate development from education.”
“Kenya is one of the most heavily invested in education, but because of
population, demand surpassed supply.”
“Every two months I meet 12 of my schoolmates at African Girls High School. We
decided we wont meet at our funerals.” The longtime friends often visit the Thogoto
Home for the Aged in Kikuyu and Little Sisters of the Poor in Kasarani to establish the needs of the elderly residing in the homes. “We visit and worship together. As you grow old you learn to appreciate the Lord more.” Despite her overwhelming achievements and contributions to Kenya, Gachukia remains humble and unassuming. “I was totally unaware that I was making contributions that were at a national level. I was just doing my job.” She still teaches poetry in high school and finds the discussions she shares with her students enjoyable. “These are some of the
things that make my life worthwhile.” Fondly known as shosho by her over 3000 pupils, she counts herself lucky for having a large extended family that includes the countless students that have gone through Riara.
Gachukia is extremely grateful for her family. “I thank God that my husband and I still enjoy each other’s company. We may at times not share the same views especially in politics, but we agreed a long time ago that we are friends and we work well together on projects.” Her children also hold a pride of place in her heart. “If I write my memoir I’ll
have a lot to say about the fun times I had with my children.” The grandmother of nine also dotes on her grandchildren and says that she especially enjoyed playing with them when they were little.
Due to her stellar contributions to the country, Gachukia has over the years worn many awards and recognitions both local and international. She was also bestowed with a honorary doctorate in Education by Kenyatta University.