Mwiri in a Time of Change, 1963-7
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Mwiri in a Time of Change, 1963-7. A Personal Memoir (revised, February 2011 for minor corrections and additional pictures) Peter Woodsford Introduction I arrived at Busoga College, Mwiri in August 1963 for a one year posting with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). This was the first year that VSO sent out graduates in significant numbers – there were I think ten of us and I was the only male! We had had a very general orientation weekend in London and then were off to Entebbe on a Comet 4 (a lovely plane) via Benghazi and Khartoum. I had just finished a mathematics degree at Cambridge, having done my secondary education at Weymouth Grammar School, a co- educational state day school on the south coast. Uganda when I arrived The situation at Mwiri, and in Uganda, was very interesting. Independence had been achieved less than a year before. Indeed, one of the first external events I remember is the First Anniversary celebrations at Jinja, with a march past of local organisations headed by the Mwiri contingent (with Head Prefect Mwanja Magezi to the fore) and the band of the Uganda Army still looking very much like the 4 th Battalion of the Kings African Rifles. The British influence was still very evident. The last Governor-General (Sir Walter Coutts, who had stayed on for the first year in an advisory capacity) visited Mwiri just before leaving the country. When early in the following year there was a ‘spot of bother’ at the Jinja barracks (and elsewhere in East Africa), the Uganda government requested help from the UK and the Staffordshire Regiment made a brief appearance on the streets of Jinja. Mwiri in a Time of Change, 1963-7. A Personal Memoir by Peter Woodsford 1 of 16 But the overall mood was very much one of national pride, of determination to make the new country and government a success and in a word, of optimism. Big changes were afoot, not least in the education system, and these were to have major effects on Mwiri. Mwiri when I arrived Busoga College, Mwiri in September 1963 gave the appearance of being a well-oiled machine, with well-established traditions and customs very much based on the British public school model. The expatriate staff had mostly been there for at least five years: the Headmaster, Jack Coates, had been there since 1934 and Head since 1943. The Headmaster and several of the senior staff had been appointed by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Other expatriates, on government terms, had been carefully selected and were in sympathy with the Christian aims of the school. There had also been until recently an experienced African staff, with the post of Second Master being traditionally held by an African, but by the time I arrived only Justin Lwabi (Biology) was still in post and he was soon to move on (and up). The others had also moved on to important posts in government, either in Kampala or Bugembe. A number of them, such as Mr. Nsaja, were on the Board of Governors (which was chaired by the Archbishop of Uganda, Leslie Brown). There were two streams (Blue and Yellow) to School Certificate (SC) level and eight houses with about 40 boys each. Three of the houses were still housed around the Quad with the classrooms. The big change was to come in January 1964 with the introduction of Higher School Certificate (HSC) classes. This was the subject of great anticipation, and not a little controversy. Was the school going to keep all its good SC students or would they be allowed to move on to Budo or Makerere College School (as many of their fathers and elder brothers had done) or to the apparently greener and more liberal pastures of Ntare School? In the event the ruling came through, that Mwiri boys would stay at Mwiri, at least for the initial HSC intake. The Quad before Chapel. Mwiri in a Time of Change, 1963-7. A Personal Memoir by Peter Woodsford 2 of 16 Big building changes were underway, Presidents, Willis and Nadiope being moved to new locations away from the Quad and new HSC classrooms being built in the space vacated. Four new teachers arrived as part of the build-up for HSC – Martin Cash and Pat Davis to teach Geography, Terry Howell to teach Chemistry and myself to teach Mathematics. More were to follow in 1964. I recall Geoff and Pam Charrett taking Pat and I aside after an early staff meeting and telling us we should never be alone together after dark, ‘as this would give the wrong impression to the Africans’. I have to say we departed to Pat’s house for a (very decorous) cup of coffee. Pat did follow the injunction to keep her shoulders and knees covered, during teaching times and on the Hill, but I think she found the Jinja Sailing Club more congenial. Getting Started I lived on my own in the small house between the Headmaster’s house and Mr. Taylor’s. It had a bhati roof and mosquito gauze windows and a veranda with a superb view over the lake. It had previously been occupied by Mr. Albert Taylor, who had moved on to work full- time for the Scripture Union. (it was many years later that I learnt that a youthful Yoweri Museveni from Ntare School had attended a SU summer event at Mwiri shortly before I arrived. There he thought long and hard about the scriptural injunction to ‘turn the other cheek’ and concluded that in some circumstances this was not right and so he departed from the ‘Balokoli’). I took the advice of other staff members and took on a venerable houseboy – Mr. Maliyo Wambi, who came with an impressive set of ‘chitties’ going back to his days as a batman in Burma in WWII. Bobby and Elizabeth Jones, who were on leave, had with typical generosity left their car for the use of the incoming VSO so I was more comfortable than any VSO had a right to expect! Mwiri in a Time of Change, 1963-7. A Personal Memoir by Peter Woodsford 3 of 16 The highest classes I had initially were S3 Mathematics, along with some S1 English. The keenness of the boys to learn was a pleasant surprise. Learning the names was a great challenge. I became deputy housemaster of Wako, with Gordon Silk, who was also head of mathematics, as housemaster. Martin Luther Ocheng was head of house and captain of the school football team. Boarding school customs were all a bit foreign to me, but I was soon becoming familiar with the Mwiri version – house ‘parts’, ‘sublampers’ and ‘kumolos’ to say nothing of ‘flying’ 1 and perennial school fees problems. The range of school activities outside the classroom was impressive and all members of staff were expected to contribute (and did so). The Scouts were without a master in charge (Peter Eriaku having left) – who better to take this on than the new VSO? I had been a Wolf Cub but graduating to Scouts had fallen by the wayside with the move to the grammar school. Fortunately the Scout troop pretty much ran itself with excellent scouts like Atanaziraba, Sembera, James Waiswa and Wairindi (later Abwoli, name changes did happen sometimes much to the confusion of Bazungu staff, who also had to figure out that brothers didn’t have the same names). Later the same logic, when Colin Sherwood went on leave, led to a very inexperienced Woodsford becoming Health Master. Naomi Lukungu ran a very tight ship in the Dispensary – ‘managing’ her was quite an art! Her contribution to the school over the years was remarkable and we still visit her when in Uganda. School plays were always highlights and at Christmas 1963 there was a performance of ‘Julius Caesar’ produced by J. Barry Taylor. Julius Nyerere had translated the play into Swahili. The Mwiri version was in English, but the political undertones were evident to all. Pascal Mukasa played Mark Anthony, Patrick Kisitu was Caesar and Mwanja Brutus. (in the early 1990’s we were in Jinja and there was a gathering of OB’s to greet us and to welcome back Paulo Wangola, who had just returned from exile in Nairobi. Most of the cast of ‘Julius Caesar’ were there and they fell into their old roles – ‘Hail, Caesar’….etc). 1964 The new HSC cubicles, extensions on the end of the existing houses, were ready in time and the HSC classes started up. Most of the intake were former Mwiri SC students but there were some newcomers, including B. K. Raval, an Asian from Jinja SS and a number of Catholics. Mwanja Magezi continued as Head Prefect as did most of the other prefects. Mathematics teaching became very stimulating intellectually – not only were we starting up the HSC course (fortunately using textbooks with which I was familiar from my own A levels just five years earlier) but also we were introducing the School Mathematics Project modern maths course at SC. This was very new ground – it included elementary matrices which I had only encountered at university. Never a dull moment and the students were very willing and sometimes able. The situation was the more challenging since the Silks went on leave, so I became head of maths and housemaster of Wako. One of the outstanding juniors in the house was D. S. Magezi (who was in fact the younger brother of HP Mwanja). He first came to notice as the President of a newly-formed table tennis club.