Through puberty and beyond

 

Baobab tree near Victoria Falls

Little progress has been made in planning our 2012 trip to southern Africa.  We learned that we need to book our camps and activities in the Victoria Falls area by this coming May.  Following the big annual "Indaba" (travel industry conference) in South Africa, it is quite possible that new rates will come into effect, so we can lock in current rates by confirming our reservations with a 20% deposit.  Airline bookings can't be confirmed until 300 days in advance of our departure, so that means we must make hard decisions and pay for airfares in cold hard cash by September this year. South African Airways are currently promoting return airfares from the U.S. east coast to Johannesburg of US$1,030.  These are similar to fares we paid in 1996!

Typical highway road sign in Zimbabwe

Jan and I will find it hard to wait.  We have been to the Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, region a number of times over the last 14 years and we feel a powerful compulsion to return. Adding the proposed visit to Makololo Camp in Hwange National Park just makes the anticipation greater.  We've just received our new issue of Travel Africa magazine.  That will whet our appetites even more. http://www.travelafricamag.com/

Through puberty and beyond.

From our first day at Muir College my brother and I were asked if we were going to play rugby.  My glib answer was “sure,” even though I had no idea how it was played.  All students were required to participate in extra-curricular activities and there was a generous selection from which to choose.  The big winter sport was rugby and over 90% of students played.  In our American Elementary School environment, sporting activities were not organized for youth in the 1950s.  At Muir College, as in most South African schools, sports and athletic games began at the age of eight years. These included rugby, cricket (summer), tennis, swimming, field hockey, and athletics (track and field). 

Competition was at the core of both academics and sports and the emphasis was always on the “team.”  There were basically four “teams” in our school. Every student at Muir was assigned membership in a “house.” A modern day analogy could be drawn by comparing Harry Potter’s induction at Hogwarts into the house of Gryffindor, instead of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.  Muir College is not a school of magic and wizardry but it is developed from old British academic traditions, in many ways similar to those fictionalized by J.K Rowling.  Our four houses were, Sutherland, Dugmore, MacDonald,    and Innes. 

I was assigned to Sutherland House, although the ritual did not include a talking hat.  Membership in this house bound me and my brother to all Sutherland House members throughout the entire school, no matter what grade or age they would be.  Points were awarded over the course of the academic year for both academic achievement and sporting achievements.  Points accumulated by Sutherland and other houses were tallied and counted toward winning the highest points at the end of the year. This system gave every single student the ability to contribute points in helping their house compete.  For example, at our annual track meet, relay teams were “house teams.” If the team I was on came second or third in a relay event, points were added to Sutherland House scores.  Even though I didn’t come first or win an individual event myself, there was a strong incentive for me to participate and contribute to my overall team.

The day always began with assembly.  Students lined up in single file according to their grade level and walked into the main hall or, during summer (weather permitting) assembly might be held outside in the “quadrangle.”  The principal and all teachers would stand in front of us and after leading us in a brief prayer Skilly would make announcements of important schedule changes, events of note, or students’ awards or achievements.  We could always tell when there was going to be bad news or some disciplinary issue to be brought up as Skilly’s eyebrows would seem to bristle more than usual.  Assembly only took a few minutes, after which we would be dismissed and walk to our first class in single file. As the quad was surrounded on three sides by classrooms, we usually only had a short way to go.

Students who required discipline for which a verbal scolding or extra homework was inadequate might be sent to the principal’s office for “cuts.” Skilly would administer several hard strikes across the buttocks with a cane as the guilty students would bend at right angles with hands gripping the edge of the headmaster’s desk. The most severe punishment was six cuts.  We found out pretty quickly what “getting six” meant. I was basically an obedient and well-conforming boy and over the course of my five and a half years at Muir I never  qualified for “six” although “four” was administered a couple of times.

As I had arrived at Muir in late July, the rugby season was almost at an end.  I would take part in practices only in the following February.  As I would turn 13 in early February I would be eligible to play for the Under 13 age group. With only about 400 students, Muir was not a big school and there would be three Under 13 teams, U13A, U13B, & C.  With 15 players on a team, that meant that about 45 to 50 boys would represent the school against other schools in the Eastern Province area.  We would compete against 11 other schools.  Many were similar in size but there were a few very big schools, such as Grey College in Port Elizabeth, who would field eight or ten teams in any one age group.  So when we would play against Grey College our U13A team might play against the Grey U13B or C teams and our U13B’s might go up against their U13E or F teams.  These competitions had been evolved over the years, so generally high school and primary schools teams would be fairly challenged at competitive levels.

Under 14 Rugby team  I am 3rd from left, back row.

I was a skinny 13 year old, about 5 ft. 9 inches tall and weighing in at about 120 pounds, with little or no sports experience, when I began to take part in the sport of rugby.  All of the other boys had been playing the game since from primary school at about eight years old.  It took me a month or so to learn the tactics of the game but I settled into the full contact part very quickly.  The most difficult adjustment for me was my complete lack of stamina and shortness of breath.  The game was played at a non-stop pace for a 30 minute half with a five minute rest period, followed by  another 30 minutes of continuous play.  The other boys willingly guided me and I caught on fairly quickly.  After the first few inter-school matches I found myself a permanent member of the U13B team.  Over the next few years at the high School level and on into the University level, I grew to love rugby and had many enjoyable experiences playing it.  I was never an outstanding athlete, but I wasn’t bad either.  As a 17 year old “senior” in my last year of High School I was a solid player on the High School 2^nd team, or “2^nd XV” and I loved every minute of it.

Academically I was never outstanding, but I wasn’t bad either.  Our teachers were good; some were very good. Fifty years later it is hard to single out one or two teachers but I know they would all have been more than satisfied with my performance if I had applied myself a little more.  In any event I was able to go on to University and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree.  So I say – good for my Muir College teaching staff – you did it! I was one of 35 students who graduated from the school in December 1961.  Most went into military service; some went to work in apprenticeships in local industry. A minority went on to further their educations in some of the fine universities in South Africa.

Now, writing this some fifty years after my high school graduation, I know that the disciplined, collegial and very structured environment of Muir College was important in my life for another reason which I did not realize for many, many years.  At home my mother’s alcoholism began to reveal itself when I was 13 years old. Home was often a very stressful and difficult place to be.  My many friends and their families, and varied interests in school activities provided a solid refuge for some troubling teenage years. 

But more about those things in my next chapter, wherein I will discuss friendships, camping, and some interesting travels.

Muir College Crest