By Peagie Woobay-Foday
Come October, when the heavy rains pour without stopping us, young and old, with all the fights at Model junction to get on the SU bus, which rarely came, or the overloaded taxis, we rush up Mount Aureol to achieve higher education.
A hill so promising and rewarding…
Down the “blocks”, the boys strive hard to make it….e nor easy don block, wata wata food nar di the canteen, blackout to name a few, but they burn their midnight candles well and the results are there…..
And for sure up & down the difficult winding numerous steps leading to Lati Hyde and Beethoven, the ladies courageously go to classes, cook in their rooms and study hard to make their grades…
An interesting place Mount Aureol, A world of its own with the best supermarket in the world “Third World” open 24hrs, 1st class library, though many important pages in the books for students reference work have been torn by their own very dear brothers and sisters before them (a miracle we still do our term papers and make our grades)
The Engineering students with their surveying materials at Mary Kinsley – binoculars etc giving us the hope that the roads leading to FBC will be enlarged or new constructions may spring up after their reports, but this never happens.
The Aureol Times - WOW! A newspaper that comes out once a year; a very scary one with all underground activities on campus revealed. But it is great and the last edition comes out during my time, and there is even “a peagie woobay trophy” now that’s funny.
The famous night club – SU Building – where we can dance everyday of the week and still go to classes the next day. That building must have been giving us the energy.
The “Bonfire” celebrating Bob Marley Night on 11 May. Only on this campus can we do that.
The march towards State House demanding student rights, famous “Bus Tick” where all the gossip is done. The sport season, morning jogging time with singing and dancing of various halls. Bai Bureh Hall (my hall), the best hall on campus “we de nar ya oh, we de kekte”. It is so much fun going up and down Court right.
The various social clubs on campus, fraternities, sororities with elegant dinners and speeches teaching us ethics in life after college. All done peacefully. We shall give back to the University, we say, to help improve in our little ways from funds raised through our clubs. Painting of “bus tick” building kiosk for students, putting dust bins on campus…
The various grants students can benefit from – Catholic scholarship, SLG as we call Sierra Leone Government Grant-in-aid, etc. I have a Catholic scholarship and my roomy has SLG. So we are sort of lucky and can survive the month. But not all are so lucky……
The debates at Mary Kinsley (great vocabularies/jargons we have that I can still recognize the writings of most FBC Alumni) and the drama concerts….
Plus, of course, the best-organized well-run SU governments. The SU presidential campaigns, debates, candidates giving their vibes, we bombarding them with questions….I long for the State of the Union addresses. We listen attentively as we are informed of how the Union is run, taking care of our affairs (accountability and all). It is so serious that I wonder what happens to these same people when they come down from Mount Aureol and do not keep to what they do up there. That hill must have something and I am wondering if the national government should not relocate its offices to Mount Aureol…
I must confess that I have a swell time at FBC, learn a lot. This great institution forms and shapes me for good and I owe most of my knowledge to Mount Aureol! Going through the hands of Professors like Dr Eustace Palmer, Dr Kadie Sesay (whose pure British English phonetics, I must admit, scared the hell out of me on the first day, so much so that I thought I would not survive in the English department), Mr Kenneth Osho, Dr Patrick Bernard, Mr Earnest Cole (now a Doctor) all of the English department. Then of course the French dept professors like Dr Bai-Sheka, Dr Lulu Wright, Dr Yillah, Dr Denis Bright, Mr Solomon Fofana and Mr Saidu Bangura. And in the linguistics dept, Mr Hasholu-Luke. RIP.
As the saying goes “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. We work hard and party hard so finishing with a Honors degree in French and a solid linguistics package is the best I can do……….
And in my dreams, I just hope that these memories I have, these good memories, maybe shared by the current students of this Great University. That the students will be united and work hard and live life on campus as it should be without violence but with fun.
That the campus will be enlarged and modernized. That I will be able to realize one dream, a dream of helping out at the library with good modern books.
God Bless Mama Salone.
(C) Politico 28/03/13
