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13 Chapter 3 Going to School With the exception of Cecilia, no other member of our family in those early days was baptised. Indeed, Cecilia had been baptised as a child into the Roman Catholic Church in an emergency, when she fell ill. However, although we were non-Christians, we all went to church every Sunday, and when I was old enough and able to go on my own, I enrolled at the ‘bush’ school at Ngaruma Lutheran Parish Church. This was at the beginning of 1941. I was eight-anda -half years old, but among the youngest boys in the class. The ‘bush’ school was a sort of kindergarten where we played, learnt to pray and the Catechism in accordance with the teachings of Dr Martin Luther. Here at Ngaruma we started to learn the three ‘Rs: namely, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. There were no classrooms and we sat on the benches of the Church, nearest to the altar. These front benches were fixed with raised front boards and served as long desks. There was a movable blackboard placed on a tripod stand on which the teacher wrote with a chalk. In starting to learn how to write we used slates and slate-pencils which, like the blackboard, you could wipe off with your hand or with a piece of cloth. There were no classes as such at Ngaruma, but beginners came late in the morning at 11 a.m., whilst those who were in the second year or more advanced, reported early at 7.30 a.m. In 1942, when I witnessed the beating of that notorious thief, I was already in the second year. I was very keen to learn when I went to school. Ismael gave me his old slate as he did not need it since at the school he was then attending, they used exercise books. By the end of 1941 I was able to read in Swahili and was gradually improving my handwriting on the slate. The side of the slate used for handwriting exercises had permanent parallel lines in which the pupil tried to write, and this made us get used to writing letters of equal sizes. The other side was ruled with squares and was used for arithmetic exercises. We also learnt the prayers and the Catechism by heart. As a church school, Ngaruma, of course, placed a lot of emphasis on religious knowledge, and the stories of the Bible 14 were intensively taught. As soon as a pupil was able to read, he or she was expected to have the Bible in Swahili. During “Advent”, the month preceding Christmas, the teachers, who were also evangelists, would give me one or two excerpts from the Bible which I would cram and then recite to the congregation during the evening prayers. I remember reciting excerpts from The Old Testament, forewarning of the coming of the Messiah, shouting in Kichagga from “Zechariah Chapter 9, Verse 9”. The pupils attending the bush school were of different sizes and ages. Especially some of the girls were quite advanced in age, and they used to stop coming for classes as soon as they were able to read and write. Most parents then wanted their daughters only to be able to read the Bible and sign their names, and as soon as they were able to do so, they stopped coming to school. These girls would then learn at home how to attend to family chores and have the procedure of clitorisdoctomy (genital mutilation) performed on them before they got married. Although around Marangu this practice more or less lapsed in the 1960s because the educated leadership strongly objected, it is sad and shameful that female genital mutilation has not yet been nationally outlawed, despite more than forty years of enlightenment under an independent government. Many boys were much older than I was, and those who found it difficult to learn as fast as we smaller boys, felt embarrassed or frustrated and became truants. The Church and the Native Authority, even in those days, strongly urged parents to send their children to school. Especially for boys, going to school was regarded more or less as compulsory. When the teacher during the morning roll-call discovered that a boy had not turned up, he would send a team of strong boys to the truant’s home to trace him and bring him forcibly to school if he were not sick. Girls who played truant were not affected by...

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