In the 1970s, Nigeria emerged suddenly as the economic powerhouse of Africa, due to the skyrocketing price of crude oil.The Nigerian currency, Naira, became a strong currency to reckon with, vying with the US dollar and the British Pound. The oil boom was like a 'big bang', sending money waves that attracted job seekers to Nigeria. The Nigerian government launched an ambitious development programme which envisioned progress in the fields of education, health, roads, etc.
They recruited foreign teachers, doctors, engineers and technicians to implement the programme. In addition to the expatriates recruited from overseas, there were others who travelled to Nigeria to get jobs. Nigerians were very kind and generous to those who went to Nigeria looking for jobs.
At that time, Lelamma and I were in Kenya. Our opportunity to go to Nigeria came very late, in November 1981. We were posted to Government Teachers' College, Shuwa, 230 Kms away from Yola, the capital city of the North Eastern State, Gongola. Before going to Shuwa, we stayed with Mr NA Joseph, a friend and native
of ours. He dropped us at Shuwa.
Shuwa didn't match Gakarara , our former village in Kenya, in scenic beauty.
Shuwa was sparsely populated, with mud huts at random, with tall grass and guinea corn here and there. The college trained boys for Primary School Grade 2 Certificate. The campus was very vast, with an area of about 12 square Kms. It was
unthinkable to reach the college on foot, from the main road. A car was necessary to
move to different parts of the campus.
One prominent difference in the education systems in Kenya/ Nigeria and South Africa is that in the former, schools meant boarding schools. Even in remote villages,
there are boarding schools, which are very popular with the learners. In South Africa, black children were marginalised by the apartheid authorities. Boarding schools weren't on the cards, and the effect of that is felt even today, with teachers and learners travelling long distances to their schools.
GTC Shuwa had 1000 students, 10 hostels, 50 teachers and 48 houses for teachers.
The college was well-designed, probably by Italian or German engineers. As we were late -arrivals at Shuwa, we were allocated a house , A 7, about 1 Km away from the school buildings. When we went near the house, only the roof was visible, because the whole area was covered with dry, tall grass. A group of students were assigned to clear the compound. They cut down the grass within minutes, using pangas. They were very disciplined and respectful.
We weren't in no-man's land because there were already many expatriates, including Malayalees, already settled there. Varkey Mathew ( Baselius College,) and his wife, Reeba, Prof Mathai and Zachariah Oommen ( CMS College ), Mani Kurian and his wife Susy were the Malayalees there.There were 4 Pakistanis, 4 Filippinos, an Ethiopian and a Kashmiri. We felt very happy and at home, with our own people around, and also due to the hospitality of the Nigerian teachers and other staff. They were polite, respectful and had a sense of humour.
The three-bedroom house allocated to us was very nice, but the vital things were lacking- water and electricity. There was a huge generator which was supposed to supply electricity to the whole college, but the connection ended at the principal's house. Water was supplied from the college's own tanker. The college had its own petrol and diesel pump, mostly used by the principal.
A 8 was the last house, uninhabited and surrounded by thorn trees and tall grass. One day, I saw some monkeys playing there. I counted 23 of them.
There was a well in the centre of the residential area, which never went dry despite all the residents drawing water from it. So we never experienced acute water shortage.
The principal, Mr KM Adda, was an enigma. He seldom appeared in front of the teachers and students. He was almost inaccessible because he had a saying, '' Familiarity breeds contempt.'' He believed in the devolution of authority, and assigned various responsibilities to the ' concerned masters', eg water master, housing master, discipline master etc. There was an ' electricity master' even though there was no electricity. Mr Adda was a polygamist who lived in a palatial house near the entrance to the college compound.
Mr Adda seldom appeared for the morning briefing. Mr Joseph Garba, the Deputy
Principal would emerge from the Principal's office, to brief the members of staff.
Once or twice a month, he used to address the school assembly.
At the assembly, sometimes corporal punishment was administered by Idi, the school assistant, and by the ' Seargeant', a shy, former soldier. At one assembly, I saw tender leaves of the nearby papaya cut down , as Idi raised his whip to beat a student who lay in front of him, with his buttocks ready to receive the ' bitter medicine.'
The students were very disciplined and cooperative. Corporal punishment was an exception. When talking to the Vice principal or to Senior teachers, they would
sit on the floor, half-kneeling, as a sign of respect. We had 4 students who lived in our
' Boys Quarters'. They helped us in doing some chores. On Sundays, two of them would accompany us to the market at Michika. It was an open market, where the people brought their products like cassava, yam, sugar cane, mangoes, bananas, dry fish etc. Chicken and goats were available. Beef was displayed on worn-out wooden tables, with flies swarming around. Our boys would follow us carrying shopping bags. We used to buy chickens and, sometimes, goats. The goat would be tied and put
in the boot of my VW beetle. Our Pakistani colleagues were experts in slaughtering goats. We used to divide the meat among 4 or 6 families. The taste was 'lekker'. Of the food items in Nigeria, the yam tops the list as the tastiest item. It's soft and easy to cook. It's most palatable to a Malayalee because we have similar things like 'kachil'. The Nigerian ' peppe soup ' is also very tasty.
At the weekend, two teachers on duty would inspect the hostels. The students had to clean their surroundings, arrange their beds and line up for inspection. They wore
all-white uniform. The teachers would write reports about various aspects . The teachers were supposed to inspect the hostels even in the night, before bed-time.
One weekend, a funny thing happened. The inspection in the night was rarely done because the hostels were far and it was dark. The teachers on duty didn't conduct the
inspection , and wrote a report :'' Everything was all right.'' A student had absconded.
He travelled by a taxi, which was involved in an accident. Two or three days later, the
student returned to the school , limping. The teachers on duty became laughing stock
of the staff.
Mrs Susy Mani Kurian was in charge of the department of Education, with Leelamma as her deputy. I accompanied them to very remote villages to observe the teaching practice of the trainees. For a whole week, the students were given
full charge of the school, including teaching and administration. The students did
their duties with great enthusiasm and energy.
Mrs Reeba Varkey was the youngest of the Malayalees. I think Varkey Mathew had 'snatched' her right from college. Many years later, Reeba became Chairperson of Kottayam Nagara Sabha ( Municipality ).
In 1982, Mr Samuel Kochummen ( Bhanu ) and Gracey Kochummen joined
GTC Shuwa. Bhanu taught English. As Subject Head of English, I used to sign his
lesson plans. Bhanu had up to date knowledge of many spheres-politics, literature,
films, you name it. He was always one step ahead of me in knowledge. After his return to India, he published a book about happy married life.( ' Dampathya jeevitham Ningalkku.')
At some weekends, Bhanu would request me to travel to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which has hit international headlines in recent years due to the brutal massacres carried out by ' Boko Haram'. At that time, Maiduguri was perfectly peaceful. The purpose of our trips to Maiduguri was to buy gold from the market. Bhanu had many friends and relatives in far-flung parts of Gongola State, who gave him 'orders' to buy gold. The sale of gold was informal, with some old men relaxing on carpets, displaying gold coins, bangles, rings etc.I was amazed to learn that there were some African goldsmiths around. One day, after purchasing gold coins, we went to the goldsmith's workplace. The goldsmith used the same methods of melting used by Indian goldsmiths. The coins would be melted and turned into bangles, to be worn by Malayalee ladies.
When we started living in Shuwa, my daughter ,Kuleena was a toddler. I had coined her name from the first letters of Kuriachen, Leelamma and Narithookkil. Also, it's a name with a meaning-' noble'. On the first day of teaching at the college,
it was a problem where to leave her. Mr Khajuria's ( the Kashmiri ) wife was not employed. We thought that Kuleena would agree to accept the company of Mrs Khajuria, but she resisted, no matter whether the lady was Indian or African. Anyway,
we left her with Mrs Khajuria. Luckily, after a few days, we got a girl to look after the child, and it was acceptable to her.
I know of a Malayalee lady who took her two-year old son to the classrooms because there was nobody available to take care of him in the house. The toddler was observing his mother, but he didn't write any report !
( to be continued)
They recruited foreign teachers, doctors, engineers and technicians to implement the programme. In addition to the expatriates recruited from overseas, there were others who travelled to Nigeria to get jobs. Nigerians were very kind and generous to those who went to Nigeria looking for jobs.
At that time, Lelamma and I were in Kenya. Our opportunity to go to Nigeria came very late, in November 1981. We were posted to Government Teachers' College, Shuwa, 230 Kms away from Yola, the capital city of the North Eastern State, Gongola. Before going to Shuwa, we stayed with Mr NA Joseph, a friend and native
of ours. He dropped us at Shuwa.
Shuwa didn't match Gakarara , our former village in Kenya, in scenic beauty.
Shuwa was sparsely populated, with mud huts at random, with tall grass and guinea corn here and there. The college trained boys for Primary School Grade 2 Certificate. The campus was very vast, with an area of about 12 square Kms. It was
unthinkable to reach the college on foot, from the main road. A car was necessary to
move to different parts of the campus.
One prominent difference in the education systems in Kenya/ Nigeria and South Africa is that in the former, schools meant boarding schools. Even in remote villages,
there are boarding schools, which are very popular with the learners. In South Africa, black children were marginalised by the apartheid authorities. Boarding schools weren't on the cards, and the effect of that is felt even today, with teachers and learners travelling long distances to their schools.
GTC Shuwa had 1000 students, 10 hostels, 50 teachers and 48 houses for teachers.
The college was well-designed, probably by Italian or German engineers. As we were late -arrivals at Shuwa, we were allocated a house , A 7, about 1 Km away from the school buildings. When we went near the house, only the roof was visible, because the whole area was covered with dry, tall grass. A group of students were assigned to clear the compound. They cut down the grass within minutes, using pangas. They were very disciplined and respectful.
We weren't in no-man's land because there were already many expatriates, including Malayalees, already settled there. Varkey Mathew ( Baselius College,) and his wife, Reeba, Prof Mathai and Zachariah Oommen ( CMS College ), Mani Kurian and his wife Susy were the Malayalees there.There were 4 Pakistanis, 4 Filippinos, an Ethiopian and a Kashmiri. We felt very happy and at home, with our own people around, and also due to the hospitality of the Nigerian teachers and other staff. They were polite, respectful and had a sense of humour.
The three-bedroom house allocated to us was very nice, but the vital things were lacking- water and electricity. There was a huge generator which was supposed to supply electricity to the whole college, but the connection ended at the principal's house. Water was supplied from the college's own tanker. The college had its own petrol and diesel pump, mostly used by the principal.
A 8 was the last house, uninhabited and surrounded by thorn trees and tall grass. One day, I saw some monkeys playing there. I counted 23 of them.
There was a well in the centre of the residential area, which never went dry despite all the residents drawing water from it. So we never experienced acute water shortage.
The principal, Mr KM Adda, was an enigma. He seldom appeared in front of the teachers and students. He was almost inaccessible because he had a saying, '' Familiarity breeds contempt.'' He believed in the devolution of authority, and assigned various responsibilities to the ' concerned masters', eg water master, housing master, discipline master etc. There was an ' electricity master' even though there was no electricity. Mr Adda was a polygamist who lived in a palatial house near the entrance to the college compound.
Mr Adda seldom appeared for the morning briefing. Mr Joseph Garba, the Deputy
Principal would emerge from the Principal's office, to brief the members of staff.
Once or twice a month, he used to address the school assembly.
At the assembly, sometimes corporal punishment was administered by Idi, the school assistant, and by the ' Seargeant', a shy, former soldier. At one assembly, I saw tender leaves of the nearby papaya cut down , as Idi raised his whip to beat a student who lay in front of him, with his buttocks ready to receive the ' bitter medicine.'
The students were very disciplined and cooperative. Corporal punishment was an exception. When talking to the Vice principal or to Senior teachers, they would
sit on the floor, half-kneeling, as a sign of respect. We had 4 students who lived in our
' Boys Quarters'. They helped us in doing some chores. On Sundays, two of them would accompany us to the market at Michika. It was an open market, where the people brought their products like cassava, yam, sugar cane, mangoes, bananas, dry fish etc. Chicken and goats were available. Beef was displayed on worn-out wooden tables, with flies swarming around. Our boys would follow us carrying shopping bags. We used to buy chickens and, sometimes, goats. The goat would be tied and put
in the boot of my VW beetle. Our Pakistani colleagues were experts in slaughtering goats. We used to divide the meat among 4 or 6 families. The taste was 'lekker'. Of the food items in Nigeria, the yam tops the list as the tastiest item. It's soft and easy to cook. It's most palatable to a Malayalee because we have similar things like 'kachil'. The Nigerian ' peppe soup ' is also very tasty.
At the weekend, two teachers on duty would inspect the hostels. The students had to clean their surroundings, arrange their beds and line up for inspection. They wore
all-white uniform. The teachers would write reports about various aspects . The teachers were supposed to inspect the hostels even in the night, before bed-time.
One weekend, a funny thing happened. The inspection in the night was rarely done because the hostels were far and it was dark. The teachers on duty didn't conduct the
inspection , and wrote a report :'' Everything was all right.'' A student had absconded.
He travelled by a taxi, which was involved in an accident. Two or three days later, the
student returned to the school , limping. The teachers on duty became laughing stock
of the staff.
Mrs Susy Mani Kurian was in charge of the department of Education, with Leelamma as her deputy. I accompanied them to very remote villages to observe the teaching practice of the trainees. For a whole week, the students were given
full charge of the school, including teaching and administration. The students did
their duties with great enthusiasm and energy.
Mrs Reeba Varkey was the youngest of the Malayalees. I think Varkey Mathew had 'snatched' her right from college. Many years later, Reeba became Chairperson of Kottayam Nagara Sabha ( Municipality ).
In 1982, Mr Samuel Kochummen ( Bhanu ) and Gracey Kochummen joined
GTC Shuwa. Bhanu taught English. As Subject Head of English, I used to sign his
lesson plans. Bhanu had up to date knowledge of many spheres-politics, literature,
films, you name it. He was always one step ahead of me in knowledge. After his return to India, he published a book about happy married life.( ' Dampathya jeevitham Ningalkku.')
At some weekends, Bhanu would request me to travel to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which has hit international headlines in recent years due to the brutal massacres carried out by ' Boko Haram'. At that time, Maiduguri was perfectly peaceful. The purpose of our trips to Maiduguri was to buy gold from the market. Bhanu had many friends and relatives in far-flung parts of Gongola State, who gave him 'orders' to buy gold. The sale of gold was informal, with some old men relaxing on carpets, displaying gold coins, bangles, rings etc.I was amazed to learn that there were some African goldsmiths around. One day, after purchasing gold coins, we went to the goldsmith's workplace. The goldsmith used the same methods of melting used by Indian goldsmiths. The coins would be melted and turned into bangles, to be worn by Malayalee ladies.
When we started living in Shuwa, my daughter ,Kuleena was a toddler. I had coined her name from the first letters of Kuriachen, Leelamma and Narithookkil. Also, it's a name with a meaning-' noble'. On the first day of teaching at the college,
it was a problem where to leave her. Mr Khajuria's ( the Kashmiri ) wife was not employed. We thought that Kuleena would agree to accept the company of Mrs Khajuria, but she resisted, no matter whether the lady was Indian or African. Anyway,
we left her with Mrs Khajuria. Luckily, after a few days, we got a girl to look after the child, and it was acceptable to her.
I know of a Malayalee lady who took her two-year old son to the classrooms because there was nobody available to take care of him in the house. The toddler was observing his mother, but he didn't write any report !
( to be continued)
Comments
Post a Comment