Paul Duwai-Sowa, Toronto, Canada
How do we feel? Well we feel fine because this weekend November 24 through Sunday November 26, 2023, thousands of past students of one of the best grade "A" secondary institutions in Sierra Leone, Christ the King College, Bo, the Achimota in Ghana and Eton College in England type, will remember their high school years as 10, 11 and 12 year olds on the first day of school, to academic achievements, sports, quizzes and debates, puberty years, girls, disco and to many other extracurricular activities.
The meet is also an opportunity through the 70 years existence of the school to see classmates and friends, and to share stories about their lives present and past.
In 1953, the pioneering efforts of the Catholic clergy, paramount chiefs, Hotagua, Foday-Kai, Alimamy Jaiah Kaikai; educators and stakeholders in the South ushered in an all boys Catholic school in the heart of Sierra Leone’s intellectual capital, Bo City.
*What is distinct about Christ the King College, Bo is that it is not a colonial establishment. It does not fit the colonial narrative. It was not set up to train colonial administrators like the Bo School.*
Through the pacesetter mentality of its first Principal, the late Rev. Fr. Michael Corbett, Christ the King College, Bo became a science and engineering pool producing scientists like Dr. Phillip Hassan Lukulay, Dr. Aloysius Joe Jackson, Prof Edmond Nuni DVC IPAM, petroleum chemist Sam Zoker, Dr. Bondi Gevao, Dr. Alie Patrick Koroma, Dr. Obrasua Omusu, and Dr. John Kai-Sam; professors Thomas B. R. Yormah, Aiah Lebbie, Patrick Thomas, Peter Denis Musa, former DVC Fourah Bay College, USL, Prof. Lawrence Kamara, and Principal of College of Medicine & Allied Health Sciences, USL, Prof Mohammed Samai; and a host of other disciplines in agriculture, medicine and political science.
The institution has also produced prominent international and local leaders including, former UNIDO Director General and UN Under Secretary for Energy, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, former Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, MD (HHS) United States and now Sierra Leone Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, Chief of Defence Staff Brig. Peter Lavahun, former Bank Governor Steve Swarray, engineer and author Andrew Kelli, aviation engineer Dr. John Tambi, Dr. Augustine Mannah Sowa in the UN, Dr. Jude Amara, engineer John-Bosco Kaikai, Rev. Dr. Robert Michael Sowa in Scotland, Dr. Bernard Lebbie in Australia, Dr. Musa Sandi in China, Dr. Mohamed Dauda in the USA, Dr. Christopher Sondai in the UK, former Vice President of Sierra Leone, the late Solomon Berewa, Principals Gabriel Amara and Henry M. Sheku, Director General in the Sierra Leone Civil Service Ansu Tucker, legal luminaries Charles Francis Margai, Martin Michael, and Boakai N. Kanneh, in Liberia; health consultant Maurice Koroma, Andrew Jawa Thomas, business mogul Rodney Michael, Chief Executive Officer Paul Joseph Amara; and an endless list of other professionals across all sectors in Sierra Leone and around the world. When it comes to excellence, Christ the King College, Bo is determined to give the Bo School a run for their money.
This year 2023, Christ the King College, Bo has turned 70 and to celebrate, the alumni association of the institution known as COBA has organized a red carpet dinner at the royal Galliness Paradise Banquet Hall in Bo City.
Activities organized by high school alumni associations in Sierra Leone have become a social phenomenon and ever so glaring at milestone celebrations where events are romanticized and amplified on social media in their most entertaining form.
Christ the King College in Bo like the Bo School, St. Edward’s, and Grammar School is no exception to the frenzy, pump and pageantry that has come to mark milestone celebrations from lousy reunion night to band parades known as "march-past".
This year’s celebration will honor 70 years of CKC’s academic excellence in science and innovation with a global transcendence — recognizing products of the school in politics, engineering, economics, agriculture, architecture, law, teaching, military, sports and music.
As we await the grand finale on Sunday November 26, Thy Kingdom is sure to Come (Adveniat Regnum Tuum) with melodies echoing from recent school songs to the founding golden notes that have defined the boys, men and women who have knocked the doors of Christ the King College.
_King most holy, King of truth,_
_Guard the lowly, guide the youth;_
_Christ the King of glory bright, be to us eternal light._
_Angels, saints and nations sing:_
_“Praised be Jesus Christ our King;_
_Lord of life, earth, sky and sea,_
_King of love on Calvary!"_
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