The tea stall near the bus station had three wooden tables. Baraka asked Amina to meet him there because he did not want teachers to hear. She arrived early and ordered tea without sugar. She carried the payment packet but kept it in her bag.
Baraka's phone rang before he sat down. The voice on the other side was loud. Baraka answered, "I will give you a plan tomorrow, not today." When he ended the call, his hands were shaking.
"The lender?" Amina asked.
"Do not start like an accountant."
"The final reference went to the equipment lender."
Baraka looked at the road. "I found equipment when the school was still walls and three chairs. People wanted lessons to begin, but there was no printer, desks, or water tank. I went to the supplier."
"On credit?"
"On a promise."
"Whose promise?"
Baraka produced folded invoices. The equipment had been purchased in the old company's name. On the back was a payment table with past dates and an outstanding balance.
"Why did you hide it?"
"Because Mother was ill. If she knew the school carried debt, she would sell the house."
"And instead you wrote a new company?"
"I needed an investor. A new company looked clean and made due diligence easier."
Amina opened another invoice. The supplier had accepted six months of payments, but Baraka had pledged term fees as collateral. He had spoken to Mama Njeri, not to all the members.
"She was the temporary chair, not the whole company."
"She gave me room to save the school."
"She gave you room to decide without notice?"
Baraka struck the table. The cups jumped. Two people turned to look.
"I paid teachers when you were making plans on a laptop," he said. "Who arrived at two in the morning to open the water line?"
"You carried the work. That does not give you permission to erase the history."
Baraka pulled out another paper. "Sign this. A new family guarantee. The lender will move the deadline."
Amina read it. It made her personally responsible for the entire debt, including charges she had never approved. She returned it.
"I cannot sign."
"Do you want the school to die?"
"I do not want a secret debt to become secret authority. We will write the debt, its source, the assets purchased, and a repayment plan."
Baraka opened the lender's message. The term sheet was prepared for the new company and stated: *founder has no continuing interest*. The company stamp sat above the debt paper.
Amina took a photo with Baraka's knowledge and asked him to initial that he had handed her the copy. She sent it to no one.
"You will use this to trap me," Baraka said.
"I will use it to stop anyone else from signing in your name without understanding."
"If you go to Saidi, the investor will leave."
"Perhaps an investor who buys control without membership should pause."
The lender called again, requesting a settlement schedule. Baraka put the phone on the table and answered in front of her. He promised a plan. Amina asked him to separate medical information from the school debt; the lender agreed to receive a schedule without the family's health details.
Baraka admitted he had used the phrase *temporary operations* so the transfer would not look like an ownership change. Amina asked him to write, in his own hand, a list of the printer, desks, tank, and costs. He signed and dated it.
"Tell Saidi I tried to pay teachers," Baraka said when they left.
"I will. You must also tell him why you were ready to give the investor every board vote."
Baraka had no answer. His phone received another copy of the stamped term sheet. The debt had entered the investor's light, and neither sibling could pretend it was only a family secret.
Baraka's confession did not erase the debt, but it put a name and a reason beside every transfer. Baraka placed the lender schedule in the file after signing his explanation. # End of Chapter
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