My mother

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

She was my teacher at home and in school. You see, I am a son of teachers. In my formative years, my mother was the lower primary school class teacher. Taught me to read. Write. Arithmetic. And I can’t recall what else. She was again my home science teacher in std 7 and 8. Introduced us to a survival skills like cooking, washing, ironing, and baking. My first time to bake was in school, not at home and then we would often bake at home.

We owned no oven. The national grid didn’t come as far as where we lived and schooled. Gas must have been in homes of just a few people. So, to get to a constant temperature for baking, we used silica. We would put sand in a container and heat it for a time, then reduce the fire. The silica would retain this heat until whatever you were baking was done and for some time after. But I digress.

Having mentioned my mother, I should mention my father, the other teacher in the house. Unlike mother whose lessons were on the practical side of things, the lessons from my old man have been subtle.

Other people have influenced me along the way, some very powerfully from chance interactions. I remember the mama who trained us as peer counsellors in high school. Or the government official/ preacher. Or our high school principal. My ceo has, in my adult life, been one of the best teachers I have got. And our late friend, that bird/ dino- had quite an influence.

I miss my first teacher, my mother.

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