PALM WINE ADVENTURE

I was born on May 6, 1959 and lost my sight at age five to what at the time was diagnosed as malnutrition conjunctivitis. For several months after I turned five, I attended a public primary school in my part of Ibadan, Kobomoje to be specific. It was in 1966 that I was admitted into the Pacelli Primary School in Lagos, one of the premier schools in the country at the time for education of visually impaired youngsters. This was a boarding school run at the time by the Irish Catholic Sisters of Charity. Mine was a fortuitous childhood. I say this because I am from rather humble beginnings but I got the best education that Nigeria had to offer at that time and may I say even now.
From Pacelli School, I took the Common Entrance Examinations and I must have done exceedingly well that when I appeared for the interview to GCI, our principal Chief J. B. O. Ojo told the sisters who brought me for the interview that I did so well in the exams and he didn’t think it necessary for me to stay for the interview and that he had full confidence that I would no doubt hold my own in school. So that was how I wound up in GCI, coming from a boarding school with all blind students to being the only blind student in GCI. But I was ready for it, our primary education was so rigorous because the sisters set out to prove to everyone else that we were just as capable as anyone else, if not better.
Highlights
I remember well my first day in GCI in January of 1972. Being the first of my father’s children to go to college, my elder brother was constantly reminding my father on that first day that I would be fine, and would make friends fast. How right he was. They had scarcely left me in the first room in Swanston House when I started talking to another student. I think his name was and still is Olubanji Abodunde aka CHICKO, as he would later be known. It is really amazing how resilient the youth can be; we have been lifelong friends ever since. Somehow, the principal felt that Swanston House was too far from the dining and school premises and had me relocated to Field House; Abodunde would soon be moved as well. I thoroughly enjoyed my GCI years. Coming from a regimented primary boarding school, I was no stranger to it in secondary school and in this you could say that I had a leg up on many of my peers. The school was expansive but I became familiar with the nooks and crannies of it and could walk around without assistance through most of it. In Form One, I was taunted by some of my mates as boys of that age are wont to do with someone different in their midst, but I gave them as good as I got.

One harrowing experience was getting punished by Yerokun, who was in Form Five at the time and went by the nickname ‘CATO’. I don’t really remember what Folarin Olubowale and I did, but he had us on our knees for five hours and no one could convince him to release us. At the end, he summoned Olubowale to go and fetch him some water from the black tank. Olubs as he was called had hinted me that he would pee in the water to punish him back but on getting back from the trip, Yerokun made Olubowale drink the water. We were so traumatized by this and it warned me to run the other direction anytime I heard Cato’s voice in the vicinity.
I have always had my share of troubles both before and upon entering GCI. One of the most notable was again with my friend, Abodunde. In one episode, some of our mates, including Omoruan had returned one evening with some “Palmi”, Palmwine to be exact and to be fair to them, offered Chicko and myself some. Abodunde, however, felt that what we were being given was a spittle and that we could do better going to get some ourselves. So, off we went into the school farm and the bush. On our way in, we actually ran into the staff member who farmed that portion and he greeted us warmly and disappeared into the bush. Thinking he had gone far into the bush, Abodunde proceeded to pry the gourd of “palmi” for the palms while I waited for him some distance away. Suddenly the man yelled “Tani yen”? Abodunde responded by calling my name and imploring me to come and see this big insect. The man replied that isn’t an insect and ran towards Abodunde. Well, he caught him in the act and unleashed the venom of someone who had just seen other boys coming and stealing his Palmwine from him. Fortunately, Abodunde pried himself from him, took off like lightning to where I was and we started to skip farms ridges back into school. Well, my friend was one of the 1500 meter runners for the house and was able to outlast the farmer. I, on the other hand, gave up after the first few ridges and told him he would have to abandon me to him and let me face the consequences. Luckily, the guy had given up on us minutes earlier when he discovered that we were just too quick for him. Of course Abodunde advised me not to mention the incident to the others so as not to incur their laughter which we were sure would sting.
Discipline was so enforced at GCI that no one wanted to be caught flouting rules. I remember a senior boy, a school prefect in fact, stripped of his prefect-ship for smoking in the lavatory. Or my bolting out of school with Abodunde to visit my uncle. On our return, we had spotted one of the teachers, I believe it was Aco Miler at Dugbe, but avoided him. Well, we forgot about the incident and, on getting to the school gate, started chatting with another classmate. Whilst we were entranced in this, the teacher drove up and remembering he had spotted us earlier, invited us to see him the next morning in the staffroom. I must have dodged him for days but one day he simply grabbed my hand from behind and hurled me to the staffroom for due punishment. Contrast that to what ails today where some students have been known to take guns and more lethal weapons to school. It really says a lot about the times we live in and the glory days of our alma mater which, sadly, are no more. What wouldn’t I give to send my children to Government College or Queen’s School? I had to contend with sending my eldest daughter back home to private school in Ibadan. Just to give her the flavour of what I was telling her about my childhood days.
I am divorced but have four lovely children. I give God the glory for my accomplishment, gratitude to those people too numerous to mention who have made me who I am.


Culled from: Our story (1972 Set Anniversary book)
Submitted By: NURUDEEN O. AMUSA (SN 2436, Field House)