IN 1962 I WAS IN STANDARD TWO

 In 1962, I joined Std 2, my class teacher was still the same Mr Kitigo, I had earlier been calling him Mr Chitigo , my school mates have  reminded me of the proper name. Although the school had only four classes, Std  1- 4, the school hours were not the same. Std 1 and 2 started classes at ten in the morning and the day finished at 1 pm. So as not to bring confusion, the upper classes 3 and 4, used the school bell, we used the sound of a wooden barrel that used to be under a lemon tree to signal changes in our timetable.

 

Our timetable was very simple, reading, writing and arithmetic. Singing and listening to ‘mazimwi’ stories from Mwalimu Kitigo, and a lot of outside activities.
We had people coming to the school to show magic tricks, the entrance was 5 cents,  I remember one Sikh magician coming to the school and he had this frightening trick of putting a box on a volunteers head and then sticking sharp looking knives into the box, we didn’t expect the guy to live with all those knives sticking into his head. But he was safe and sound when the box was taken off his head and the magician told us from that day the guy would be very intelligent. To tell the truth we didn't see much change then.
Outside activities apart from the usual football, we played marbles (gololi), many fights were started by this simple game, either you broke some ones favourite marble. We believed in boiling the marbles after purchasing them, we believed then they would have a longer life. Another game was spinners, this would be  round thing like a bottle top and two holes would be made in the middle,, and stringed and when span you could make them dance and some guys could even make them make a musical sound, we called them mbinga. There were even sweets that were made like mbinga and were quite popular.

Imported Mbinga

Now those were the boys games, I must admit I don't remember a single girls game, they were a different world then.

And then there were those students who came to school with wild fruits to sale, there were  so many varieties of fruits, I remember  Mitoo a very sweet fruit full of honey which we chewed the way  we do now with bubble gum, Mifudu  a sweet black fruit, Misasati a sour fruit, which if eaten too much can even get you drunk.

Mitoo

One day the headmaster Mwalimu George Nyakunga, assembled the whole school and told us that he had to go to Dar es Salaam for treatment and that we should pray for him. He did come back after treatment and called the whole school to tell us how his treatment went, and the fantastic things that were happeni in the big hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Just like before Uhuru, preparation for the firs year of Independence was on the way, the celebration was going to be bigger because our country was going to be a republic, each student was given a badge with Julius Nyerere's picture it was written, Jamhuri ya Tanganyika Dec 9, 1962. They were exciting times.

Tanganyika flag

But as I told you before calamity befell my father in November 1962, and everything in my family took a new turn. I was transferred from Mlandege Government Primary School.