Our History, Our pride..

''I enjoyed school a great deal and was a hardworking pupil. I remember looking forward excitedly to new lessons and information from our teachers. Occasionally we received instruction from individuals who were not on the staff of St. Philip's. One particular, humorous event stands out: On a hot and humid day during the wet season our geography teacher decided to move our entire class outside to the cool shade of a large mango tree. After setting up the blackboard he proceeded to give the class a lesson on the geography of Great Britain. The village ''mad-man'' came by, and after standing and listening to the teacher's lesson for a short while, walked up to him, snatched the chalk from his hand, wiped the blackboard, and proceeded to give us an extended lesson on Ogidi, my hometown.

Amazingly, let all this take place without incident. Looking back, it is instructive, that it was a so-called mad-man whose ''clarity of perspective'' first identified the incongruity of our situation: that the pupils would benefit not only from a colonial education but also by instruction about their own history and civilization.''

Culled from the book, 'There was a country' by Chinua Achebe.

Note: the above incident shows how important the history of our immediate locality is to us and to the world of even the insane population. Judge it from any point but be wise to listen to the words of Bob Marley in his song Buffalo soldier where he said ''if you know your history, you will know where you are coming from'' ......

Thank You..