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.

JOHN KITIME THE EARLY DAYS

I  was born at Kipengele hospital in Njombe, my father was then a teacher at Njombe Middle School. Some of my earliest memories begin between 1957 and 1958 after my father got transferred to Iringa Middle School. I remember my father's first office which he stopped using in 1958, I remember his black car which he sold in 1958, and I certainly remember the two coloured Vauxhall Cresta he bought after that. I remember the brothers who lived near the school and knew how to play the guitar, They would sometimes borrow my fathers guitar and play and sing, their house was very near  Samora Stadium gate in Iringa. They were called Duma brothers, I remember one of the songs they played, I was told it is in Zulu language !
The lyrics went like this;
Ewe Zumbatila,
Buno bunodumo
Buke bukeka simfana kwao ndendende
Pamineti mamua
Umjomba zilezia
What ever that meant.
In 1961 I joined Std one at the Government primary school. This was the same school my grandfather taught in 1954. It is the oldest school building in Iringa to date.
 The first government school in Iringa was at 'Kumafifi' this translated would be where the hyenas live, the place was near the area where there is the residence of the Iringa Regional Commissioner, it was just a grass thatched  simple stick structure.  The school was later shifted to where the Ismaili Jamat presently is, and it was later moved to where there now  is a graveyard very near the Samora Stadium, at all  these places the school structures were of just sticks and grass . Finally in 1947 the school got a permanent building. The school was just 4 classes. And was named Elementary School.

To my first day in school, I was escorted by my father, not that the school was far, in fact it was quite near, maybe it was to give me confidence. There were two beginers classes,  standard one A and  one B, I was enrolled into to STD 1B, our class teacher was Michael Chitigo, on the first day in school he told us he was from Tanga, Tanga was a famous town then. Mr Chitigo taught us everything, reading writing and arithmetic, singing.  We had two text books, Someni kwa furaha, for learning how to read and write, and Hesabu za Kikwetu book 1 for arithmetic. The favorite time in class was when Mr Chitigo told us stories, sad stories, happy stories and even frightening stories of beings called Mazimwi who had magical powers that could bring you food and happiness or make you just miserable.
Six months later most of us  could read and at least write our names. I
t was not all play and fun Mr Chitigo had a cane he called 'Mr. Kamwene', everyone at least once tested Mr Kamwene. He hid this cane on top of the class cupboard, many times we attempted to steal Mr Kamwene but we were too short  to reach the top of the cupboard. The joke is many years later I became a teacher in the same school and came to a realization that we must have been extremely short because I could even see the top of the cupboard just standing.
The class teacher for Std 1A was Mrs Kalinga, a very good friend of my mother, our class almost never met her unless, Mr Chitigo got sick.

   

The block on the right was for  Std 1A and 1B Classes

Our Headmaster was George Nyakunga, a very cheerful man who died very early. He was father's friend so I knew him even before I joined his school. 

School fees were 10 shillings per month, and also parents had to pay I shilling and fifty cents for a pair of school uniforms. The uniform included two shorts made from Khaki material. The material was famously known as 'Kaki stakapoti', this was because it was manufactured in England in a town called Stockport. We were also given two white Jinja shirts. They were designed like a T-shirt, no buttons in front just a small pocket on the upper right side of the shirt. We felt very grown up in the those new uniforms.
One of the students were were together  was the famous David Mwaibula, who became better known for laying the ground work of the present Dar Es Salaam City transport  system. He must have been in Std three when I started school.

He taught me this song.

We mtoto we, wacheka nini we,

Kama wanicheka mimi angalia  

One of the most memorable thing that happened during those early years was the rumour that began that a 'Jini' had occupied one of the girl's toilet room and had the habit of pulling the girl's nickers when they were helping them selves. It was terrifying for us all. The girls were scared of entering their toilet and we boys were scared of going to our toilets because we had to pass very near the toilet occupied by the 'Jini'.

 

The building in front was the girl's toilet, alleged to have a 'jini', behind that  behind is the boy's toilet

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   One day the headteacher, George Nyakunga  called an assembly and announced that the problem with the 'Jini' is over, a very old man had come and had slaughtered a goat as an offering and the 'Jini' had drunk the goats blood and left the toilet. Many years later I came to realize Mr Nyakunga just told us a story to put our fears to rest. No goat was ever slaughtered.

Small pox was still quite common and so we got innoculated for that at school. As the end of the year grew near, stories of Tanganyika getting Uhuru, were quite common even though we simply did not know what that was about. But a few days before Uhuru we were all given a badge written Uhuru 9th December 1961. The days before Uhuru we were busy cleaning the school area it had to be clean on Independence Day.