The Clash of the Titans and Other Short Stories

6. Bliss Was It in That Dawn to Be Alive

27 6 6. Bliss Was It in That Dawn to Be Alive hen I saw the inscription ‘Welcome to Dadaya High School’, on an emotional return to my former school, I suddenly remembered the lyrics ‘Maborder anoramba, anoramba Mwari Baba, tichambomwawo koro […] maticha anoramba, anoramba Mwari Baba, tichambodzidzisa maths [...]’. (Boarding students deny; they deny our beloved Father, God, we will need to drink koro/sugar-water solution […] teachers deny, they deny our beloved Father, God, we will need to teach maths […]). These are lyrics of a popular song we used to sing in church during our years at our beloved Dadaya Mission School. Tears started running down my cheeks as I held my picture, a relic of a cherished teenager hood spent at Dadaya. A myriad of images imprinted in my mind like ducklings are to the sound of their mother’s call, kept coming as I promenaded along the school driveway, three decades after my departure in the 80s. I had a distinct sense of déjà vu as I watched the current crop of students going about their chores. They seemed oblivious of the fact that they also one day would leave Dadaya. I recalled my glory days when I first set foot at Dadaya after having completed my primary education at Vungwi School in neighbouring Shurugwi district during the turbulent years of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. During my penultimate year at primary school, I began to seriously consider my school choice for secondary education. This necessitated a discussion with my father who had also gone through the secondary education system before taking up the teaching profession. My father had gone to Kutama W 28 Boys High and Dadaya Mission. I was as sure as day follows night that I was destined to attend either of these two schools. It was indeed a formality to ask for his opinion. We agreed that I would apply to both schools when the time came. I spent the rest of the year fancying myself a border at a mission school. When eventually I was doing my last year in junior school, the time for me to do applications for a form one place had arrived. It was very much fashionable to apply for as many places as one could during those years. One of the most popular phrases we used in our application letters was that we hoped to ‘pass with flying colours’. A letter without that phrase was deemed to have been written by a mediocre student. We would show off the number of responses we had received from prospective secondary schools. I applied to many highly esteemed schools that included Dadaya, Kutama, St. Augustines, Cyrene, Goromonzi, Fletcher and St. Patricks. As the year wore on, my preferred choice for my high school began to gravitate towards St Augustines High School which is in The Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. During this time my father bought me a lot of books, particularly English novels and plays written by playwrights, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. All of the books were simplified versions suitable for a person of my age. Some of the Shakespearean plays he bought me were Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth. I took to reading these books like a duck takes to water. My father was at pains to impress on me that these were the type of books I would be reading in high school, and would help a great deal to improve both my written and spoken English. My father recited passages from mainly Macbeth and Julius Caesar and I was so impressed that I could not wait for 29 the year to end so that I begin my secondary education. I also liked Charles Dickens’ book, Oliver Twist. I was very touched at the abuse Oliver Twist was subjected to especially when he would ask for more food when the pangs of hunger were biting. I also read lots of Shona novels such as Gehena harina moto, Dzasukwa mwana asinahembe, Mweya waMbuya Nehanda, Ndakaitei and many others. I was so impressed with the portrayal of Chiedza, a character in Gehena harina moto. She was portrayed as having dazzling beauty to an extent that I began to dream of meeting a girl like Chiedza later in my life. In a way I was preparing myself for secondary work. Meanwhile, as the year moved towards the sunset of its life, I realised that the ‘day of reckoning...