Award-winning actress Catherine Kamau Karanja alias Kate Actress recounted her school-going days revealing that she was expelled for mimicking her principal.
Speaking in an interview on ‘Jessy Junction’, Kate told MC Jessy she was in Form three at Chogoria Girls High School in Tharaka Nithi when the incident occurred.
She had been bored and decided to entertain herself and her classmates at the expense of their school head.
“I started to imitate the teacher, it was 4 am. I was bored in class. Normally our headmistress would cover herself in a blanket and walk around the school to check in on us during the morning preps. So, one day I also decided to take the blanket and move around the school pretending to be her. Unfortunately, she found me,” Kate narrated.
The expulsion saw her join Loreto Convent Msongari in Nairobi, where she suffered from culture shock and was teased for having a Meru accent.
“I read a line from the book Encounters from Africa and the class burst out into laughter because of my accent,” she said.
After completing her high school education, Kate joined KCA University for an accounting course.
“Mum insisted I apply for accounting at KCA University, and I did. Wacha nikwambie nilianguka nilikuwa nimesimama na kichwa. I have never balanced any account. I had no balance in life, how do you expect me to balance account,” she wondered.
Later on, her mum took a loan of Sh400,000 and enrolled her at Kampala International University in Uganda. Three months later, however, 19-year-old Kate got pregnant.
She returned home and broke the news of her pregnancy to her mother through a letter before running away from home to stay at a friend’s place.
“That was her greatest fear and I walked into it, pap! Kids can kill you, I disappointed her. I think I have spent the rest of my life trying to make it up to her and I think so far so good. I thank her so much. She never gave up on me,” said Kate.
