Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Colossians 3 : 15
A house that grew out of an outcrop of rocks on top of a hill. This was my first school. The building material as natural as when it was created, lay scattered around it in the form of one enormous natural rock garden. I never saw what the roof looked like it was the teeth shaped parts right across the highest part of the building that captured all my attention. Like a medieval castle they were there to show strength and as I ran up the obstacle course of the bolder strewn terraced steps I was excited to be at school.
The room we used was the largest,+ as seen on the left of my drawing. We never went into the other rooms which were either in disrepair or used for storage. There were 16 of us ranging from about 5/6years of age to a few quite grown up 12 year olds. We had one teacher but to my mind I had many. I don’t remember ever standing in a line/queue next to her desk. Bubby and I asked those around us for help. We were the only two children in Sub A.
The teacher would take us into the entrance hall once in a while to check our reading. We would stand next to her chair and read. “See John run. Run John. Run Janet”. It was all a bit so what. In the last bit of our day, our teacher would read to us. It was for the older children but we loved it. Stories about explorers, animals, missionaries, inventors. A real mix. I don’t remember not understanding.
But the real fun was when we went outside. The ant lion holes were tickled with our little hands holding the thinnest of sticks. The ant lions would come up and grab with their pincers and we would giggle, shake them off and watch them use powerful back legs to kick up the sand then disappear down a hole of their own digging.
Then because the sand was full of small bits of iron we brought magnets from home and we collected bottles or tubs of iron filings. These we would then make pictures with using glue on paper/cardboard from used boxes or whatever was a good shape. We also spent time making force lines with magnets under the paper.
When the older children used to start jumping from rock to rock there soon was a whole line of us playing follow my leader with Bubby and me at the tail end. Our legs not long enough to jump all the gaps but we certainly tried. I don’t remember anyone breaking a limb but I do remember what happened to Steven and Douglas. They were digging a den in their own garden and it collapsed with Douglas having to be rescued after being buried alive. I liked Steven. But that is an aside.
There was also an orangy yellow stone fruit that had a lychee like slippery pip with not much flesh. It had a wild taste which made your lips pucker when you first bit into it. We would suck on these pips for quite a while. None of us choked. Well that was just Bubby and me we were the little ones in a great big family.
My first year at school. What a privilege! No wonder I love travelling not much can live up to this.
Peace of heart lies in perfect resignation to the will of God.
Francois Fenelon
What an interesting introduction to education. Where was this school?
Thank you Mary. 😊 It was in Zimbabwe which
was then known as Southern Rhodesia.
Oh wow! That building must have had an interesting history. I wish I could find out. Johanne Seligman built a church house right there where the school had been. They must have demolished it. Were those the Zork boys you mention? I know Beverley Clifford was there then – one of the big girls.
Love your memories. Write more!
I am so disappointed that they took the house down. Yes, that was the surname. I don’t believe Beverly was with me then she was at Patterson Park. Thank you for your encouragement. 🙂🤗
Dad enjoyed this post! He says he learned things that about those days that he never knew before. He wants to know who Bubby is. 🥰
She was the only other Sub A student. That was her name for us. I think her parents lived next door to Uncle Ivan.