Nothing could have prepared me, a 14-year-old Ilona native, for the modern world that welcomed me when I arrived at Mkwawa High School in Iringa in 1968.
I had grown up in the Southern Highlands, where water came from village wells and mountain streams and homes depended on kitchen fires, ‘karohola’, kerosene lanterns and pressure lamps for light. At Tandala Upper Boys Boarding Middle School, pressure lamps lit evening prep and our dormitories.
Mkwawa was different. Its history dated back to 1951, when a primary school was opened in Kongwa for white settlers’ children. After the Groundnut Scheme collapsed, the school moved to Iringa as St Michael’s and St George’s Secondary School. Following Tanganyika’s independence in 1961, it was nationalised and renamed Mkwawa High School.
By the time I joined, the school had facilities I had never imagined: Eight dormitories, its own laundry plant, an industrial bakery, common rooms with table tennis and darts and tea, coffee and biscuits.
The campus had street and pavement lights, well-lit tunnels and a cafeteria famous for three-course meals. Students were special attire for meals – khaki trousers, a red woollen jacket, white shirt and black-and-red striped tie.
What fascinated me most were the sports and extra-mural activities. There were football and rugby pitches, tennis and volleyball courts, cricket, basketball, hockey, gymnastics and badminton facilities. The school also had musical equipment, including a grand piano, guitars, drums, amplifiers and microphones.
I became so absorbed in these luxuries that I neglected my studies and finished second-last in my first semester examinations.
One afternoon, my Lumumba East Housemaster, Mr Manning, summoned me and warned that with such poor grades, my dream of becoming an insurance clerk was unrealistic. “Your only guaranteed future is further education,” he told me.
His words hit me hard. The following semester, I rose to second place in my class and received a ballpoint pen prize for the most dramatic academic improvement.
That moment marked the beginning of my rise as a student.
