Life was not all fun, of course. The staff and boys worked hard. We attained Cambridge School Certificate Status. Standards improved and exams were passed. We were able to offer mathematics at School Certificate level for the first time because the wife of the local Church Missioner had studied the subject at Cambridge University. I employed her the moment I heard about his and earned a strong rebuke from the Education Department for appointing someone without the Director's permission. The chance was too good to miss. However, and after all, we were over 200 miles from Kampala and letters took over a week or so to get to and from.
Government Departments are wedded to forms and these have to be routinely filled in monthly, annually, whatever. One of these contained inquiries about needs for future staff. I automatically asked for one more member each year, as the school gradually rose to full School Certificate status. We certainly needed him or her and the chances of getting some one from the U.K. were remote and in any case would take a long time. One Saturday morning I was locking the office door, when, to my surprise, A huge Italian lorry slowly headed in to view. It was a prize from the Second World War in Ethiopia. A man jumped out flourishing a bunch of forms. "Your furniture," he said, "for your three new bungalows." "We have no new bungalows," I protested. "Never mind," he said, "this furniture is all the way from Entebbe. Sign please." In the end I took one lot and returned the rest. Some one in "the office" had seen the accumulated indent for three new members of staff and assumed that it meant three new bungalows. So he reasoned that furniture for them should be sent.
As remembered and written by Mr. E.C. Cooper, M.A., Headmaster, Between 1948 - 1954. Stay tuned for more Anecdotes of Life at Nyakasura!!
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