if you can relate please share, we shall try to send it by whats app too. OLD PRIMARY SCHOOL DAYS!Teacher : Kodi nonse mwasamba?Students : Inde tasamba, aphunzitsi bwerani mudzaone nokha, ngati mupeze wina asanasambe, muyenera kumchotsa samveraa lamulo.Teacher : Kodi nonse mwapesa?Students : Inde tapesa, aphunzitsi bwerani mudzaone nokha, ngati mupeze wina asanapese, muyenera kumchotsa samvera lamulo.This was one of the popular songs that we sang during assembly as the teachers would go round checking if we had taken baths, our teeth were brushed, our hair was kempt and if we had tucked in our uniforms.The shabbily dressed were sent home or given some punishment which we called ´chibalo.´You will agree that everywhere this was the case, be it at Chitawira Primary School or Lingadzi, St Pius, Kanjedza, Chigoneka, Limbe Primary, Kabwabwa, Mlambalala, Mphungu, Dharap, Mbidzi ,Catholic Institute(CI) etc.Songiso had stolen some chocolates and Abwande was caught in possession of njere za kabichi. Then we had the story of Tipitana, who had to choose who the most important among the sun, moon and air.At that time, Mc J. Kamwana was the inspector General of Police and the Army General was Khanga.Dr Daniel Kachamba was a musician maestro while Samangaya continuously thrilled us.We had mental Arithmetic, Dictation and Lembetso. We also had a spellings test.My father would give me 3 tambala to cater for my snack at break time. We bought zitumbuwa, mbajira or nthongera. Timve was the brother of Tsala while Dingase was Sibo´s sister. I also remember characters like Matemba, and Dziko.During weekends, we went to swim at Chimwankhunda Dam or Lingadzi River. We took Shell oil or Livio with us to smear our bodies after swimming.You will agree that we had poems like:Ten little monkeys…………………… Five fingures up, five fingures down………… Kokoliliko kwacha, Mlesi anadandaula motere……......This is the way we make our bed (x 3) early in the morning.................................These were days when Kwinyani and Pewani were our popular cartoons and Ted Powell was the Malawi National Team Coach.We learnt about reasons why there was slow development during the Akafula Period or before Malawi got independence. One of the reasons was that there was plenty of game to supplement people´s diets. At primary school level, did we really know the meaning of the word ´game´?Hahahahahahahahaha! We memorized the reasons that made development slow. The others included:1. Farmers were not allowed to grow certain cash crops eg tea and coffee;2. Crops grew well but with little care;3. There was Thangata System;4. There were no achikumbe programmes;We boarded UTM buses when going to Lilongwe or Blantyre or Zomba. This was before we had Yanu-Yanu, Tuwiche and Jakumusi buses.Our Histrory teacher told us that America was named in honour of Amerigo Vespuci and that James Bruce had discovered the source of Blue Nile. Rexona and Vinolia were soaps that were common. Vinolia came in two brands: Lavender and Amber. Cheselene and close- up were the toothpastes that we used.It was Henry Morton Stanley who was sent to look for Dr David Livingstine and that Mlozi and Jumbe sold slaves in exchange for salt and gun powder.At home, games that were played ranged from football to netball, Chipako to Roundas, Bula to ´Kapambayako Sikadya ena koma anapiye,´ Pikinipikini my banana to Chipapapa.We were adventurous. We set traps to catch birds that included phingo, sisisi, mpheta, pumbwa, timba, phwiti etc.We watched Shaolin in the Monkey Shadow and Enter the Dragon. We liked Bruce Lee and Jack Chan. These were household names.Civics demanded that we look to the right, left then right again before we crossed the road while in Health Education, we learnt the three types of food namely Carbohydrates, Proteins and Vitamins.Most of you will agree that we collected bottle tops, ´mawerengero´ at Maimba Bar or Kamba Bottle store. These bottle tops helped with the solving of arithmetical problems. Of course, we watched mini soccer while there.It was the time when the story of Majoti was popular.I went to school barefoot until it was time for Youth Rally, when we received Zonke shoes with matching socks. Shoe Rubber came and my father bought me a Piccadilly shoe which did not last until he later bought me Shooters. I understood him because North Star was expensive.It was during handwork that we made brooms and mithiko. Since I was not that good, I would buy a broom at Kamba Market or a mthiko at Area 18A Market. On 6th July, we watched football after traditional dances were over. Malawi was playing against Uganda. Kamuzu Stadium was packed to capacity. There were many people. Everyone was around. The mood was frenzy!In Geography, we were asked to name the district that grew most tea or the country that led in the growing of Coffee.Then Queen Elizabeth of Britain came to Malawi.Schools competed for the Mayor´s Trophy. We went to Blantyre Youth Centre or BAT Ground to support our teams.Arithmetic was a problem to most of us. We disliked Profit and Loss problems and avoided Compound Interest questions. We memorized BODMAS which stood for Bracket Of Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction.ROYGBIV was a mnemonic that helped us to commit to memory the seven colours of the Rainbow namely: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.Our parents danced to the beats of ´Sina makosa´ by Les Wanyika and ´Shauri yako´ by Orchestra Super Mazembe .We worked hard in school as we wanted to get selected to Secondary school. I wanted to go to BSS or Box 2 while others liked Chichiri or HHI and yet others were for Bwaila or Robert Laws.We made fun of the Lilongwe City Council (LCC) and City of Blantyre (CB) folks as they collected refuse in Area 18 or Nkolokosa. We shouted, ´Alayila!´ We often shouted at them as they collected and emptied dust bins.And Jetu had beaten Mahilasi while Tough Ben Chitenje was challenging Cobra Nyirenda. Later, Drake Thadzi knocked down Tarbaby Bazooka Maseko.Then we had the City Mock Examinations. The questions were difficult.Not everyone sat for Kamuzu Academy Entry Examinations but we all sat for the Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC).Towards the end of the term, we had the famous Youth Week. We took hoes, brooms and buckets. ndisisonga.blogspot/2011/06/old-primary-school-days-teacher-kodi.html
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 01:43:16 +0000
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