The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Post Correspondent
There was a mini-cyclonic hailstorm at St Augustine’ High School. Yes, three boys were slightly bruised, hospitalised for check-ups and immediately discharged. Yes there was confusion that Thursday night, but students were quickly evacuated from dormitories whose roofs were blown away to safe and dry dormitories where they shared beds with brothers. Thanks to the courage and swiftness of the headmaster and his admin team! They bravely faced the night skirmish and woke up to an appropriate counselling session for the students writing final examinations. Well done! Nothing illustrates acting in-loco-parentis better!
The greatest news is that nothing worse happened in a scenario where a fatal disaster could have happened. Every grateful Christian thanks God…no one was seriously injured or killed.
The import of this article is to generally alert boarding schools…even day schools, not to quickly forget the Chimanimani-Chipinge disasters. It is better to be caught aware than not. A good school must always anticipate anything during this rain season. What does a school do immediately in the wake of rough rains, injured students or destroyed dormitories? Is there no special training required for students for them to know what to do and what not to do in the wake of disasters like stormy weather, floods, cyclones, fires? This reporter is clearly not an expert in disaster management, but a school worth its salt can and must easily get this information from experts in the area.
For St Augustine’s High School, the recent cyclonic threat or skirmish is a wake- up call. A blessing in disguise would not be an overstatement!
This is the message for St Augustine’s…certainly one of the best centres of both academic and spiritual equilibrium…there is no doubt about that. Indeed one of the best schools and mission centres in the country!
But this mission school is as old as Methuselah. The mission, which was the first in Rhodesia to offer education to black students, was established in 1894.
It opened its doors to black students in 1939…and veteran leading politician and heroic freedom fighter, Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo was one of the first class of six students. Some of them are Godwin Salale, Martin Kaunda, Esther Langam, Simoyi Kaji and Phion Kamuroyi. There is no doubt the great mission has seen its days. While to say it is fit to go down in history books as an important tourist attraction would be too strong, elements of a monument are clearly visible today. Some of the benches and tables Chitepo used are still around.
To go on priding in a school with buildings that are cracked and falling with roofs taken away by a wind no stronger than a mosquito, is jingoism (foolish love or obsession of something that belongs to you and imagining it is the best even when you know it is not). It is not patriotic love.
It must dawn on the minds of the inheritors of this great mission and school that as they do what must be done immediately to bring the school back to order, and that must be done yesterday, effort must be made to rebuild the school and teachers’ houses.
New structures must go up now and confine the 1894 buildings to history. Some structures that are of no historical significance must surely go down and up must be new ones. It is not a foolish exaggeration that serious cyclonic rains will simply carry the whole school and deposit it in some far off location. And when this happens, let no one say you were not warned. The Responsible Authority and the parents must not wait until something nasty has happened and they begin to blame each other.
This reporter is aware that rebuilding the mission this size is not a walk in the park. But it can and must be done. We can no longer continue to pretend that we do not see that our children learn and reside under architectural traps. It is cheaper I am sure to buy a new jacket than to continue to stitch the old one and weigh it down with heavy patches.
It is certainly going to take new commitment levels and disrupting a few things, especially in the mind, for this to happen. Such schools must begin to adopt new ways of thinking that include doing difficult things immediately…and taking a bit longer to do the impossible.
One of the brightest ways of accomplishing such a task is to run away from a system that hinders progress or change because it is tied to antediluvian red-tape stereotypes. Maybe it is time St Augustine’s Mission owners started to think of joining existing or starting own trust schools…maybe transform into private or independent schools.
This way they can and will enjoy the independence of charging viable school fees needed to address major developmental projects like rebuilding old missions that now look more like ruins…perhaps even enabling them to pay their teachers well so that they deliver their services competently and happily. Only food for thought!
