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What we do or did not do as parents will come back to us. whether by way of appreciation or crucification. Please do it well and teach them well.
Sumayah, a young girl in her early teens and the last of 5 children, attended an elementary school in a metropolitan city of West Africa in the year 1927. She was in year three in a missionary school. Education at this time was a privilege, and very few children had this luxury. Thank God for the early missionaries that gave so many children the great hope of learning how to read and write. Most children just went to farms and helped their mothers with their petty trade and house chores. Sumayah was one of the lucky few. She had started school late because, during this period, your arm needed to be long enough to stretch over your head to reach your opposite ear before you could start. Her older siblings did not have any formal education, but instead local apprenticeship training. She went to school on a beautiful and bright day with the intention of participating in all the numerous learning activities. One of her daily activities was to stand up for a few minutes and exercise the body. Sumayah’s desk was right by the door and so she had the advantage of being the first to step out of the class at the end of each day once all of the pupils had finished singing the following song:
“Now the day is over
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening
Still across the sky”
On this very day just before lunch, the teacher asked the pupils in Sumayah’s class to stand up and close their eyes for a while, just to get them to concentrate and focus better. It was a regular practice anytime the pupils were not paying attention. After about ten minutes, the teacher asked them to sit, but Sumayah who remained standing was far asleep. When the teacher noticed that Sumayah was still standing and asleep, he went straight for his cane. Fai! Fai! Fai! The cane landed on Sumayah’s head. Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Cried Sumayah, who immediately ran out of the class and headed straight home. She cried till she got to her parents’ house, which was about a ten minute walk from school.
“Good day dad”, Sumayah greeted, with tears flowing down her cheeks.
What is the matter with you Sumayah, asked her father.
I was beaten by my teacher because…. Sumayah narrated the whole story.
Who gave your stupid teacher the audacity to flog my daughter, asked Sumayah’s dad, who raved and ranted for a while. He rained a lot of curses and abuses on the teacher, from miles away.
Don’t worry my daughter, He continued. I have prepared some food for you. Go and bring the pot of food, so I could dish it for you.
OK daddy, responded Sumayah.
She quickly munched the plate of food and laid down on the bed, covered herself with a duvet and fell asleep. This was her father’s instructions that was carried out by Sumayah.
What a nice loving father, Sumayah had thought, but that was the very end of a great opportunity to learn.
Many years passed and Sumayah felt a great need to be educated. She was married with 4 boys. It was too late. She always wanted to speak some grammar, but all she could do was to make people laugh hard as a result of her “bad” English. Every time this happened, Sumayah told the story of how her father stopped her from going to school because the teacher scolded her. She told her children and grandchildren of how her father truncated her ambition. She cursed the dad who passed away many years before.
Sumayah lived a very good life but ever regretted how she was not able to complete her education. She passed away in the late 1980s at the age of 73.
Lesson learnt
1. Teach your child the right things, so she will not curse you later
2. Scold your child hard if need be, they will appreciate and pray for you later in life
3. A child will always be a child, but a parent should always be firm because they know better.
Dear Lord! We are Shepherd for our children. Please help us to guide our flocks and make them guidance for others. Please let them remember us with a lot of appreciation and prayers amen.
Dear Lord. Please grant those that are desirous of them a generation of true believers amen
Have a happy school year as we do our duties of raising our children and directing them to the right path.
