FRANCIS KITIME BEGINS SCHOOL AND JOINS THE SCHOOL BAND

 

After my grandmother Elizabeth’s illness in 1942, she was taken to live with her parents, her mother Adelaide Se Mkombe ‘Bibi Kongo’,  and her father  Benedict Saula.
 In 1943 her two children began school. Francis Kitime  joined standard 5 at Tosamaganga Middle school. He was tested by being given an English text book to read. It was a book written by Michael West. Francis chose  his favorite story in the book, it was a story called Farada. He was able to read fluently, ‘Farada Farada where are you now, if your mother the queen could see you now, how sad she would be’.
 Father Schiolla the Headmaster, was very much impressed he even suggested that Francis skip standard 5 and 6 and straight away start from standard 7, but his father Mwalimu Raphael,  refused.
 Francis and his sister had an advantage as both their parents were teachers they learnt to read English very early, and being able to read English at the time was assumed to be intelligence. His sister Isabela Kitime also started schooling at the girls school nearby that was under an Italian nun Sister Clementine.
The two children now quite lonely, their mother being sick and their father a teacher far away gave each other secret names. Fa and Sa, Fa being short for Francis and Sa being short for Isabela. For many years even into their adult hood they  continued calling each other by those names.
Francis was given school uniforms  with a number on the shirt pocket it was number 144. That was the number on all his school uniforms that he used for all the years that he was in that school. The school had a brass band, Tosamaganga Brass Band, it was started by one of the priests then  Father Prina. Father Prina also taught Chemistry and Physics. Immediately after starting school, Francis joined the school band, but joining the school band wasn’t straightforward, it only happened when someone left the band. Then Father Prina would  go to each class and examine all the students, he would ask them to open their mouths and would check their lips and  teeth. The day Francis was picked out for the band he was told by Father Prina, ‘You will play the cornet’. And so he joined the band and  learnt how to play the cornet and  much later the saxophone.

Tosamaganga Band, Francis Kitime standing on the third row third from left holding a trumpet

The school band would  travel to Iringa and  play in the British Club during British Public Holiday. Several times  the band went to play in Ifunda a village a few miles from Tosamaganga,  it was during the second world war and there was a Polish Refugee Camp there. Among the Polish Refugees there were some musicians, one of them was a music Professor who taught the band to play Polka No 1 and Polka no 2. He also learnt how to play the mandolin and the guitar which they borrowed from Father Musso another Catholic priest. Him and his friend a Chaga boy  whose name was Raphael Ndaskoi would learn how to play the guitar vamping style in hiding as the priests did not approve that style of playing.

Francis Kitime, front row third from the left holding a mandolin. Father Musso in the middle, next with the guitar  is Mr Kambanyuma

Some of his fellow musicians in the band were Alexander Mtuya who played the bass trumpet, Joseph Mahiga the trumpet, Henry Dadimba Chaula also played the bass trumpet. Michael Mtasiwa  a very shy student used to play the cornet, he could play very high notes on the cornet.