There’s a story that’s been told less and less over the years about how Eldoret came to be. Unlike most major towns in the colonial era, Eldoret’s population growth sparked because of the Boer settlement in the area.
The story goes that in the early 1900s, after the Anglo-Boer war of 1899 in South Africa, many Boers did not want to live under British colonial rule. Instead, they began the northward trek and settled in East Africa.
In British East Africa, despite being under the British colonial regime, the Boers felt less stifled. They built homes and set up farms in Uasin Gishu, especially around Eldoret. The area came to be known as the White Highlands. More Boer settlers followed suit and the population consistently increased.
With modern times approaching, institution-based education became a need. The Boers pushed for the colonial administration to set up a school but there was a conundrum; while the former wanted their children educated in their Afrikaans language, the colonial regime would only agree to build them a school where children would learn and speak in English. With the two constantly at loggerheads, the Boers decided to set up their own private farm schools. One of the schools noted during this time is Broederstroom School that was set up by a Boer pastor, Reverend Loubser.
In response to this, the colonial administration established a small school in the 1920s in Eldoret that enrolled all Europeans – including Boers. The European Primary School was an English speaking and learning institution. However, because the area was mostly inhabited by Boers, there were constant communication mishaps between the new students (who were Boers) and the school’s teachers (mostly British).
For this reason, the government encouraged British settlers to move to Uasin Gishu. However, by 1944, despite an increase in students and a change in name to Central School, over two-thirds of the student population were Boer and still, no teacher spoke Afrikaans.
That year, British settlers pushed for the establishment of another school, one that would accommodate their needs. Hill School was set up at a former Royal Air Force base and is said to have been set up to predispose the perception that the British and Boer children could not study together. In the end, numbers showed that the school admitted more British students.
Despite the existence of both schools, frustration between the British and the Boers continued and during this period the Central School was renamed Highlands School.
In 1955, the government decided to put an end to the conflict by making plans to merge both schools. In January 1956, Hill School and Highlands School were changed. The former expanded, a merger of both schools, while Highlands School upgraded to a secondary school for girls. The school amalgamated with New Girls’ Secondary School that had relocated from Nairobi to Eldoret. Today we know the school by the name it took on in 1978 – Moi Girls’ High School, Eldoret.
The student population of the new Hill School was 500 but gradually, more students enrolled. It turned out that the previous fuss was all noise and the Boers and the British could learn together. There was another cloud of hope on the horizon. With Kenya at the homestretch of her independence, African students joined Hill School and today, the school has laid a foundation for bright students, ushering them into secondary schools around the country.
Some of the outstanding possessions in Hill School are two paintings by Gwen Bristow – the school’s first Art teacher – that adorn the school’s dining halls. One visual features Boers moving with an ox wagon, making their way to the White Highlands. The other is a painting of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
From division to unity to inclusion, Hill School and Moi Girls’ High School give meaning to what history is all about.
Now we invite the Hill School and Moi Girls’ alma mater. Mko area? Share your memories of your school with us.