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Topic: 84 year old Kenyan starts school
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 25 May 2004 03:13 PM
I love this: quote: He said one of his main aims for starting school was to learn to count the money he expects to receive in compensation from the authorities for fighting against the British. He says he also hopes to learn to read the Bible - because he does not trust the version he hears each week in church.
Right on, dude! Nice to see his rebelliousness hasn't mellowed any more than his quest for learning.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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Sharon
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4090
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posted 25 May 2004 06:14 PM
We have an almost-10 year old son and I get teary-eyed when I talk to him about the importance of education as a part of enjoying life. Several years ago, I had an old friend (now deceased) who had quit school at the age of seven to go (commercial) fishing with his father. When I knew him, he was close to 70.I used to go over every afternoon and spend an hour, teaching him how to read. He wanted to read the newspaper. Whenever there was an election, I would draw him a ballot and show him what it would look like so he'd recognize the names and know he was voting for the candidate of his choice. (He was very sly. He would laugh when he'd tell me that people from both parties -- Liberal and Tory, of course -- had been by and offered him a bottle of rum if he would promise them his vote. He was happy to tell both of them that he'd vote for them, and accept their rum.) He never told me who he voted for -- and I never asked. The main point of this post though is to say that I still remember with such joy the way he felt when he was able to recognize a new word, read a headline, a paragraph, the TV screen on election night. It was such a thrill.
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003
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