Andrew Gray's travel tales

10th October

Here are some extracts...

From Year 9: "This year was tough and challenging to us Year 9 students,
because there was no light in our classroom since the beginning of Term 2.
... Some teachers say that we Year 9 boys are the best night hunters of
birds, this is to do with the problem of no light."

From Year 11A: "To begin with, the 11A students were considered to be the
best of all pupils at the college, due to their personal characteristics.
The pupils are very humble, kind, friendly and respectable, due to the fact
that, when teachers are explaining things on the board, the classroom is
almost always silent for them to grasp new ideas and concentrate in a deeper
sense, so as to have a clear understanding on what the topic is all about.
Moreover, the pupils are so full of kindness and friendliness, you can tell
when they make a brilliant smile at you or greet you around the school
compound. Furthermore, it is occasionally flexible for them to adopt some
ways of humbling themselves according to the College disciplines, such as to
keep our hair combed everyday, attending all meals, being part of morning
and evening devotions, and being submissive to all corresponding college
activities."

From one English teacher praising another: "Her expertise in the language
and literature strands has been a multiplication for Year 11A."

From Year 11B: "I think that the students' behaviour in class isn't good
enough. Most of them aren't faithful to class. This makes them go to
detention and some were later moved to two weeks' hard labour. Some never
obey the school rules. Such include combing their hair, tucking in shirts,
etc."

From Year 10B: ".We would like to give our special thanks to our mothers
(teachers' wives) for helping us in so many things, giving us food or fruits
to eat when we are hungry, giving us water to drink when we are thirsty or
even helping us when we are sick. Sometimes they also encourage us to study
hard."

From Year 12A: "Miss Rachel our Maths Teacher many times was annoyed and got
a red face because of our poor attendance in class and because we were noisy
during class period."

From the Deputy Principal: "Special thank you to all the hard working
Ranwadi boys for digging and levelling the water tank site up the hill. The
boys dug the area every afternoon from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm for three months.
The hard work will remain a memory of all of us who have helped ... Ranwadi
now has everlasting running water which flows from the top of the hill three
kilometres away. What a blessing from the almighty!"

From Year 12B: "Beginning the year 2007, 12B consisted of thirty-one
students. Since then the number decreased gradually due to various careless
actions some students took against the school rules."

From the French teacher: "Français la langue est matière qui est peut-être
difficile dans l'école."

From the Head Girl: "When things go wrong with students, we prefects get all
the blame from some students, teachers, and even the boarding master, like
when students don't attend prep times, dining hall, classes, chapel, etc.
Getting girls up in the morning to do morning territories and mealing in the
dining hall is sometimes disturbing, but it's all part of our duties. When
prefects are on duty on a particular day, they say, 'GIRLS! WAKE UP AND
CLEAN AROUND YOUR DORMITORIES,' the girls would always say, 'Eh! I'm tired,
stop disturbing.' But whatever happens they have to get up and work around
the dormitories. ... Words of thanks are extended to the college Boarding
Master for the tough warnings and encouragement that he always tackled us
with, that sometimes makes us scared."

From a boy in Year 12, asked to provide a quote: "Strenuous is like a
stratosphere that has learned and not excusable."

From an Agriculture teacher: "Even though there are not many textbooks and
other resources available, teachers try their best to find information from
textbook A to textbook Z; time consuming. All we need at the moment is
cartons and cartons of A4 paper to do a lot of photocopying as handouts. Any
teacher thinking of coming to Ranwadi... come with all your textbooks,
handouts, etc, to enable you to find easy access to what you don't expect to
find."

From the Head Boy: "According to my observation, Ranwadi is a college that
has been blessed a lot. Ranwadi is a college that bases its function on
Bible and God as the first priority. I would like to encourage teachers,
students and the whole community of Ranwadi to maintain that behaviour and
pray hard, study hard, and maintain the spirit of sports. Remember that God
comes first before yourself or any purpose of Ranwadi's activities."

From the Principal: "We have been reminded time and time again of that well
known text in the Book of Isaiah: 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and
not be weary, they shall walk and not faint'."