Dealing with Nostalgia
Why one's old school still matters so much!
Most Asians have strong memories of the the schools they went to in East Africa. I find that my older brothers and their friends also fondly remember their time at school. It is the secondary school that East African Asians went to that matters most, partly because they remember the experience of their formative years but also their triumphs and successes not only in academic terms but also in their participation in sport, their trips for camping, boating or any outdoor activity, their rows and friendships with their teachers and the generally happy times they had at school. There are also many memories of laughter, sometimes at the expense of a teacher and other times at the expense of a student. There is also the perennial talk of how all the boys in a class fell in love with a certain teacher or a particular girl. Remember this is a recollection of life of Asian males. I have no idea of what the East African Asian women remember of their schooling!
Many Asians also talk about how they did very little work at school and got away with low input. This can also extend to how they cheated their parents to other cases where they feel that their parents did not supervise them enough or were not capable enough to monitor their education closely. Had this been the case, they might have done better in their new homes in the west. The Asians always refer to successful boys and girls who were high achievers and how they have done well in the countries they migrated to by virtue of how they worked hard at school. Of course, achievement at school is not the only indicator of success. Many people develop later in life.
Talk to any group of Asians from Nairobi, Kampala and Dar-es-salaam, the names of a number of prominent schools always come up but generally adding up to less than 10 schools overall which have played a major role in the development and lives of East African Asians. Those Asians from Kampala recall their days at Kololo, Old Kampala or the Aga Khan Schools. British Asians with backgrounds in Nairobi refer to a number of elite schools which were high on academic achievement and also excelled in sport. There are similar recollections of schools in Tanzania.
My own days in Kololo Secondary School in Kampala made a major impact on my life, not to mention the Sikh primary school that I also went to. It is a great joy to be in touch with primary teachers who taught me as long as 45 years ago and also teachers from Kololo Secondary School.
Where does all this lead to? The East African Asians' nostalgia needs to be tapped and turned into a positive force. Schools in East Africa have received help from Asians, some of whom hold fundraising dinners for their old schools. There is the occasional news of the old boys' and old girls' fundraisers but there is no strategic action which can convince the heads of those schools that the East African Asians can be relied upon to become real friends of the schools they went to. One or two people who have come back from Kampala report that the heads of schools are worried about tokenism from 'do-gooders' who have handed over the one-off cash donations, which are warmly welcome but do not help to address the real needs of the schools. The most painful remark to be heard in recent months was that East African Asian visitors have made pledges which have not materialised.
Are you thinking of what I am thinking?
Most Asians have strong memories of the the schools they went to in East Africa. I find that my older brothers and their friends also fondly remember their time at school. It is the secondary school that East African Asians went to that matters most, partly because they remember the experience of their formative years but also their triumphs and successes not only in academic terms but also in their participation in sport, their trips for camping, boating or any outdoor activity, their rows and friendships with their teachers and the generally happy times they had at school. There are also many memories of laughter, sometimes at the expense of a teacher and other times at the expense of a student. There is also the perennial talk of how all the boys in a class fell in love with a certain teacher or a particular girl. Remember this is a recollection of life of Asian males. I have no idea of what the East African Asian women remember of their schooling!
Many Asians also talk about how they did very little work at school and got away with low input. This can also extend to how they cheated their parents to other cases where they feel that their parents did not supervise them enough or were not capable enough to monitor their education closely. Had this been the case, they might have done better in their new homes in the west. The Asians always refer to successful boys and girls who were high achievers and how they have done well in the countries they migrated to by virtue of how they worked hard at school. Of course, achievement at school is not the only indicator of success. Many people develop later in life.
Talk to any group of Asians from Nairobi, Kampala and Dar-es-salaam, the names of a number of prominent schools always come up but generally adding up to less than 10 schools overall which have played a major role in the development and lives of East African Asians. Those Asians from Kampala recall their days at Kololo, Old Kampala or the Aga Khan Schools. British Asians with backgrounds in Nairobi refer to a number of elite schools which were high on academic achievement and also excelled in sport. There are similar recollections of schools in Tanzania.
My own days in Kololo Secondary School in Kampala made a major impact on my life, not to mention the Sikh primary school that I also went to. It is a great joy to be in touch with primary teachers who taught me as long as 45 years ago and also teachers from Kololo Secondary School.
Where does all this lead to? The East African Asians' nostalgia needs to be tapped and turned into a positive force. Schools in East Africa have received help from Asians, some of whom hold fundraising dinners for their old schools. There is the occasional news of the old boys' and old girls' fundraisers but there is no strategic action which can convince the heads of those schools that the East African Asians can be relied upon to become real friends of the schools they went to. One or two people who have come back from Kampala report that the heads of schools are worried about tokenism from 'do-gooders' who have handed over the one-off cash donations, which are warmly welcome but do not help to address the real needs of the schools. The most painful remark to be heard in recent months was that East African Asian visitors have made pledges which have not materialised.
Are you thinking of what I am thinking?
posted by K Singh Ajimal at
12:02 am
1 Comments:
One's school matters in that it puts the foundations in your life.
For some it sets you on the path of honesty & in others the path of dishonesty as some of us who were involved in the Kololian Charity have well come to know & what a coincidence, some of the dishonest are actually on this email list.
After all not many of us raise money for the poor black students in Uganda that now use their old School (Kololo Senior Secondary) so that some of the richer committee members of that Charity Committee can dispose of the monies for their own benefit & squander the monies on so called ahem awareness trips to Kampala. I hope that their sins will come back on them.
Details of that Charity fund raising can be found here http://www.totallyafrican.com/Kololian/Pages/News/CommunityNews.htm & the guilty names (In broad terms they are singularly not Goan, Ismailia or Sikh in origin) can easily be discerned. You can exempt & thank Kalwant Ajimal for his efforts as he was the only one on that committee who argued for the money to go to Kololo School.
If you know them remind them that they should hand this money over to someone who will do the honest thing & tell them that I shall not rest until they have done so.
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Anonymous, at 10:04 pm
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