*** In Trouble with Bensouda over beautiful Nzomo** After being away for several weeks, Skastina, our “Female Headmaster” popularly known as Bensouda, finally came back last Monday; and immediately called for a staff meeting. Everyone was seated — except Saphire and Nzomo, who have never arrived in school before 9.30 a.m. Nzomo walked in at around 9.52 a.m. “And who are you?” Bensouda asked her as she walked in. She had dyed her hair red and was wearing a dress whose length was the same as Fiolina’s skirts, which means that quite a bit of her fundamentals were exposed, something that I joined other people in condemning but which deep down I liked. “I am a teacher in this school,” said Nzomo, nonchalantly, as she sat down. “And who are you? I have been around for some time and never seen you?” Everyone went quiet. We never imagined anyone asking Bensouda such. I could see Bensouda seething with anger but trying to control it. “I am the headmistress of this school,” she said. “I hope you were told that I demand of all my teachers to respect time for meetings.” “Thanks madam but no one told me early enough that there would be a meeting,” said Nzomo. “We need to be notified early.” “I expect you to be in school on time so not having advance notice is no excuse for coming to my meetings late, is that OK?” “Madam Headmistress,” started Nzomo but she was interrupted by her phone ringing. “Excuse me…,” she said and started walking out as she picked her phone. “Hi baby, just got to school and missing you already….” She said as she walked out. “Dre how did you accept such a teacher?” Bensouda asked me. IN MY DEFENCE “I am sorry madam, but I was not given an opportunity to see her before accepting her,” I said. “But I must mention that I have attended one of her classes and Nzomo is one of the most thorough teachers I have ever seen in class .” No one seemed to believe this. “Are you sure?” wondered Bensouda. “That could be true,” said Mrs Atika. “Dre has spent most of his time in the last two weeks with Nzomo so he must know a lot about her.” It was good Mrs Atika was supporting me but her last comment was a little embarrassing especially since the HM looked at me menacingly on hearing that I had spent most of my time with Nzomo. We, however, were interrupted by Nzomo who walked back to the staffroom. She was finishing the call. “Thanks sweets for the call, love you baby, mwaaa…laters” she said. “My agenda for the meeting today is to review how we are doing in terms of syllabus coverage,” said Bensouda. “In January we all committed to be through with the syllabus by the end of second term and I hope we are all on track.’ She asked each teacher to update her on their progress. “I can’t lie, my involvement in sports means that I will finish in third term but before October,” said Tito. No teacher was on track. “Dre, I am shocked that we are all not on track,” she started. “As the Deputy, you are responsible for ensuring that the syllabus is fully covered on time.” We were again interrupted by Nzomo’s phone ringing. “Baby I told you I am in a meeting but talk to me my prince….,” she said as she walked out. Bensouda looked at her as she walked out and just shook her head. SPECIAL REQUEST The HM continued admonishing me for abdicating my duties and told me that she wanted to see a turn-around. This was the first time ever that Bensouda was speaking to me this way. Nzomo was still out when the meeting ended. I went straight to my office after this and Nzomo came to see me shortly after. “Hi Dre,” she said as she closed the door behind her. She sat down in an eye-satisfying angle. “I have a request that I do not know if you will allow it,” she said. “If it is something I can assist in I am always willing to assist,” I said. “The staffroom is very noisy at times making it difficult to concentrate,” she said. “Yah, our staffroom is a little noisy but so are many staffrooms,” I said. “I will talk to the teachers. “That’s good but what I wanted was if you could allow me to be using your office some times when I need to concentrate on something.” I agreed. That afternoon after lunch, Nzomo came to my office carrying a load of books. She closed the door behind her, sat on the visitor’s chair and started marking them. Other than her phone that kept receiving messages every other two minutes, she fully concentrated on her work. At some point, I felt a little uncomfortable so I opened the door so that teachers in the staffroom could see us but she closed it a few minutes later. “I am using your office because the staffroom is noisy so when you open the door, you make the office noisy as well,” she said. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS By Wednesday, Nzomo was using my office almost all the time. On that day, I told all the teachers to share with me their schemes of work and records of work for review in line with what the HM had said. Bensouda was particularly harsh towards me during the meeting and I needed to do something to show her that I was working. On Thursday morning after tea, Nzomo came to work from my office. As usual, she closed the door behind her. Other than the books she was marking, she kept responding to her phone messages ever two minutes, smiling all the time. “I haven’t seen your schemes of work, have I?” I asked her about half an hour later. “Oh, I have them here and can show you,” she said. She stood up and towards me and started showing me her work while bending close to me. Unlike other teachers, her schemes were neat and well filed. She was very close to me as she showed me and my eyes wondered elsewhere soon after but who was I to complain? Suddenly the door to the office opened. I knew it was the HM as only Bensouda never knocks my door every time she comes in. “Oops I’m sorry!” she said on seeing the two of us. “So this is why this door is always closed?” She said as Nzomo quickly moved to the opposite side. “No, Nzomo was showing me her schemes of work, very neat work compared to what other teachers have,” I said sheepishly. “I don’t expect you to say anything bad about Nzomo, do I?” she asked. “I now know why you approved of her coming despite my reservations. Enjoy Dre, enjoy” she said, banged the door and left. She left school immediately, visibly angry and has not talked to me or answered my phone calls ever since. I can’t afford to anger Bensouda. I must find a way of winning her over — without losing Nzomo! mwalimuandrew@gmail;facebook/mwisho-walami
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 22:29:08 +0000
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