Reconciliation lunch fails as key actors keep away

Following the staffroom brawl between Saphire and Kuya, our staffroom seems to have been split down the middle, with one group supporting Saphire and another behind Kuya. And you guessed it right: the lunch club team of Nzomo, Sella, Erick and Lena are in Kuya’s camp, and clearly held that Saphire had received the correct refund.

“We also expected more but we accepted what we received,” said Nzomo.

“Why don’t we give them firewood and salt that we had already bought if he finds Sh150 so little?” suggested Erick.

“I think firewood is good,” said Sella. “Saphire can make money by selling it to Hitler in exchange for drinks. He has been known to sell anything that can be sold at Hitler’s.”

And sitting in Saphire’s corner were the teachers that opposed the lunch club. Madam Mary ad Mrs Atika defended Saphire to the tilt. “How would you feel if it were you?” asked Mrs Atika, “You contribute money, you do not take lunch on any day and yet they refund you a third of what you gave.”

“Whose fault was it that Saphire did not eat?” asked Sella. “Lunch was here several days after he paid but he never appeared.”

“It is clearly unfair what you guys did to Saphire,” said Madam Mary. “No respect at all even if some of you think he is a useless fellow.”

“And who are you to start advising us,” Kuya asked Mary. “You were not even a member of the lunch club. Why are you so concerned about the refund?”

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

“Yenyewe pilipili usioila yakuwashiani?” posed Sella. How this matter reached Bensouda no one knows but by last Monday, she was aware and was, for the first time, playing in Saphire’s corner. Bensouda and Saphire had never been on the same side on anything but since Bensouda had a bone to pick with Kuya, she joined Team Saphire.

“I even never got my refund but I will not cry over it,” sources closer to the source heard her say. Only yours truly, the only true intellectual around, had the mental capacity to stay above such petty politics. I took no side.

How, by last Tuesday, Erick had been convinced to move to Saphire’s side still baffles us. Erick and Saphire share nothing in common – except only that they were teachers. Erick was a staunch saved Christian while Saphire had never seen the inside of a church for decades; Erick religiously comes to school every day including holidays while Saphire is a regular at Hitler’s, and rarely comes to school.

Due to these differences, having anything done become a problem. During the staff meeting last week, even the sitting arrangement was based on these differences. Sella, Nzomo, Lena and Kuya sat on one side while Madam Mary, Mrs. Atika and Erick sat on the other side. The Saphire they were fighting for was not even in school, as expected.

On the agenda that day was the suggestion that we ban the use of vernacular by teachers in the school. The suggestion had come from Sella.

“How do we get our students to speak good English or Kiswahili when we all shout in vernacular in the staffroom?” Sella wondered. “We need to be good role models to the children.”

“I have taught for many years and can tell you that banning speaking of vernacular by teachers has little or no impact on the students’ performance in languages. Let teachers speak their mother tongue.”

“Please remember not all of us here speak the same mother-tongue,” said Nzomo. “If I start speaking Kikamba here will anyone hear me? Can’t we just agree that speaking mother-tongue is a big no in the staffroom?”

“And who has stopped you from speaking Kikamba here?” said Saphire who had just arrived. “You do not have to speak with someone, you can speak it alone.”

“Saphire can you get serious for once,” said Kuya. “This is a school not Hitler’s den.” This incensed Saphire but I guess, remembering the experience the previous week, he did nothing.

“Kuya you can never stop me from speaking my own language. I am a history teacher and language is part of history,” he answered.

As the chair of the staffroom meeting, I could not take sides but I tried to steer the meeting correctly. Bensouda arrived as Saphire and Kuya were engaged in a bitter exchange.

Mrs Atika made her contributions. Bensouda sat next to Kuya and Erick and kept talking to them in low tones. “I know that students learn from us and a few years ago I would have supported a ban on mother tongue here,” she started. “But listening to the sheng you people speak here and call it Kiswahili, I would rather teachers speak fluent mother tongue instead of distorted Kiswahili.”

“You are right Mwalimu,” said Erick. “Let us just speak mother tongue if we cannot speak good Kiswahili. We never speak good English here anyway.”

I asked Bensouda for her comment although it was clear which side she was, having aligned herself with the mother tongue team.

TRUE RECONCILIATION

“I will go with what the majority of you think although on matter language, I believe everyone can speak the language they want.” The mother-tongue team won.

We also discussed two other items during which the divide was clear. The staffroom was split into two and arguments were heated. I invited Bensouda to close the meeting.

“This is the first time we are all here,” she said. Madam Ruth had arrived as the meeting almost came to an end. “I am happy Saphire is here to shame those who have been saying that he doesn’t come to school.”

She went on: “For that reason, I will be buying you lunch today,” she said amidst celebrations from Mrs Atika, Madam Mary and Erick.  “The lunch is basically to celebrate that we, today, all came and to reduce the tension that exists in the staffroom, particularly between Kuya and Saphire.”

“Thank you Madam HM but I must state that I have nothing against Kuya here,” said Saphire. “We have been friends for many years and will continue being so,” he added as he looked at Kuya in the eye.

Without looking at Saphire, Kuya also added that he had no issue with Saphire. “We, however, need to behave maturely and grow up from childish behaviour if we want to be respected.”

“Who is now behaving as a child here?” wondered Saphire. “You are clearly the immature one…”

“Stop it Saphire…” said Bensouda. “This is the tension I was saying needs to end in this school.  I would like the two of you to shake hands as a sign of reconciliation.”

Saphire stood quickly with Kuya reluctantly following. They greeted each other but it was clear there was no reconciliation. We all clapped as they shook hands.

“I am sorry I will not be around for lunch but I hope that the lunch will reduce the tension that exists here,” Bensouda said and closed the meeting. She left immediately after.

The aroma from the kitchen indicated that something delicious was cooking. Chicken. However, when it was served, Kuya’s group was conspicuously absent. Kuya and Nzomo had left immediately after Bensouda while Sella left just before lunch saying she had some assignment to deliver to her lecturer at Maseno University. Lena said that she had a stomach upset and did not eat.

Nzomo sent me an SMS asking me to join them at Kasuku Hotel where they were having lunch. For a moment I wanted to join them in snubbing the free lunch but although the heart was willing, the body was weak.  In any case, I was broke.

I joined Erick, Mary, Saphire, Mrs Atika and Madam Ruth in enjoying the meal. With many teachers absent, we had the rare privilege of picking several choice parts! Kuya and Saphire may not have fully reconciled but one thing is for sure, there was genuine reconciliation between my pocket and my stomach that day!