A deeply personal story shared by East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) member Suleiman Shahbal has reignited conversation around humility, resilience, and forgiveness, after he revealed how a painful high school experience came full circle decades later.
Shahbal, a Mombasa-based businessman and politician, recounted that his early days at Nairobi School were marked by financial constraints that set him apart from his peers.
Joining Form One from a modest background, he said his family could not afford a brand-new school blazer, a key part of the institution’s uniform.
To cope, he purchased a second-hand blazer and had it altered to resemble the official design.
But the effort did not shield him from scrutiny.
“During a school parade, a prefect singled me out and mocked my blazer in front of the entire school,” Shahbal recalled in a past interview.
He described the moment as humiliating, particularly for a new student trying to settle into an elite environment.
The public ridicule, he said, left a lasting impression. Beyond the embarrassment, the incident underscored the social and economic divisions that often play out in school settings, where appearance and conformity can influence how students are treated.
Despite the setback, Shahbal said he remained focused on his education and future ambitions, eventually rising through the ranks to become a successful entrepreneur and public figure.
Years later, the memory of that moment would resurface in an unexpected way.
According to Shahbal, roughly 30 years after the incident, the same prefect who had once humiliated him approached him seeking employment.
By then, Shahbal was in a position of influence, capable of determining the outcome of the request.
Faced with the opportunity to retaliate or forgive, he chose the latter.
Shahbal said he offered the former prefect a job, opting to extend a second chance rather than revisit past grievances. He explained that the decision was informed by personal growth and a belief that leadership should be grounded in empathy and restraint.
“I did not see the need to punish him for something that happened many years ago,” he said, adding that people change and circumstances evolve over time.