We have received the first contribution on the series we launched a few days ago to commemorate yet another anniversary of the Albert Academy, one of Sierra Leone’s prominent high schools. Enjoy:
My Days at A-Kaymory
By Bakar Mansaray, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
My first day at the Albert Academy saw me through the scary initiation ceremony as a “Fresher” in September 1969. Little did I know that the next six years will see me through the mentorship of teachers whose influences on me will model my future career development. I remembered how Miss Garber and Mr. Bangoura toiled to correct my pronunciation of French words in the French textbook “Pierre et Seydou”.
Mr. Thanansingh (Ten en Six) from India, in his “gun-mot” trousers at the Chemistry lab, could hardly be forgotten as he strained to pronounce the letter “V” in the formula for velocity and pressure. I could still visualize Pa Bailor, our Biology teacher, asking us to rub the back of a frog with our bare hands while standing threateningly over us with the notorious “Bat” ready to thrash our rumps. And Mr. Neale? Oh, he would flog the devil out any pupil who dared not solve his problems in simultaneous and quadratic equations. He got me thinking of playing truancy but I dreaded the idea of being caught at “Joe Tex”.
With the school band at its best in my last Thanksgiving march-pass ceremony, I saw myself tip-toeing in my new but tight black shoes instead of marching. Sweating in my suit and red and white tie, I prayed to see the end of that march-pass so that I could walk home “ten-toe” and say good-bye to an Academy that helped to make me a forward-thinking man. “Esse Quam Videri”.
Photo: The author.
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