Mountain View steal everybody thunder

Wow! Big Up Mountain View Adventist Academy! And ah Bigger Up-full foh de Youth Man, Eric Febuary foh passing Twenty CXC subjects: Seventeen Grade 1’s and three Grade 2’s. Dah is no mean achievement, de man got Subjects to sell, exchange, rent, lend or even give away. Lie-Za reminds me dat Eric is de same Youth Man dat won de Public Speaking Competition in 2014. And we can’t forget his parents, de Principal and Staff at de School, including former Principal Ollivierre and dat one-dah-full Organ-I-say-shun, de Seven Day Adventist Church!{{more}} Is ah lot ah prominent citizens and nation builders dat Organ-I-say-shun has produced, ah will not men-shun any name in particular, because ah might forget friends like Hon. Glen Stewart and Hon. Sir Louis Straker, dey will tek it personal, but one is Seven Day and de other is Add-vent-dis! Lie-Za say dey are friends only pon ah Sat-dey. Alright fellars ah only kicks-in.

De healthy rivalry between GHS and BGS now SVGGS continues. Dat 100 percent Pass mark still eluding GHS who remains gloriously placed in de high nineties; closely followed by my All-me Matter, de SVGS by only three per cent. Last year, ah GHS Student, Abigail Scott chalked up 14 CXC Passes and dat sent Mr King at SVGBS back to de Drawing Board. But while dey were planning to celebrate big time wid 14 CXC Passes, Mountain View, like de Tortoise in Aesop Fable “De Hare and de Tortoise” slowly edged pass de finishing line wid ah whopping 20 CXC Passes wid 17 Grade 1’s. and steal every thunder.

Ah think dis CXC subjectmania started wid Kamal Woods, he is probably ah Doctor some part ah de woods, but subject to correction he was de first student in SVG to top de list wid Eleven Grade One’s. Dah was ah big thing. When his Mom, Nurse Woods was interviewed, she gave ah lot ah credit to Breastfeeding, which has been linked to higher IQ scores in later childhood in some students. “Kamal got ah lot ah Breast Milk,” she said. Dat was not only great promo foh de Breastfeeding Calm-Pain but made ah lot ah cents foh me. Ah was de first child foh my Mom, she was still ah teenager and de milk was slow in coming, obviously whatever lickle colostrum (milk) dat was in de breasts did not satisfy me. So to stop me from bawling all night foh hunger, Nanny Mascoll, my great Aunt boiled ah pot ah Our Root Pop sorry Gomry, dat should be Arrow Root Pap! Arrowroot Pap is dark and thick, and like dey gave me too much ah dat stuff. Up to today, my brain has remained thick and dense!

So unlike Kamal and others, it was no surprise dat when ah left Grammar School, ah had No Cambridge (CXC) Subjects. However, ah managed to pick up ah few other things, nothing to do wid books, life surviving skills thanks to de Met-dis Scout. Ah camped and learned First Aid and cooking skills; my step-father, Charles Medford was ah part-time fisherman who taught me how to bait-ah-hook (bottom line wid several hooks) and catch-ah-fish! He also taught me how to mek and fly ah kite. Early o-clock ah was given Meggy, ah kiddy, how ah hated getting up early to tie her out. Ah was not allowed to see de action when ah took her to de Ram, but five months after, ah woke up early one morning to de crying of two small kiddies, and ah month after ah learned how to pull Meggy breast nipples and get fresh goat milk. Later in life ah was energized when Dr Gun Munro told me dat Goat Milk was de best, (linked to higher IQ scores in adulthood). Luckily ah did drink ah few cups ah Meggy’s milk as ah youth.

Looking back dey was so much activities to do, school work took ah back seat. Was like “to everything dey was ah time and ah season.” Ah time to play, pitch marbles and spin top! And ah season foh everything like fruits, Mango, plums and so on. Yuh would think dat when night crept in, we went to bed early, never! Dey was ah street light at Joyette’s gate so moon or no moon, as long as it did not rain, we played moonlight games. Wid ah day-night schedule like dat only de very discipline kids wid brains and focus like Eric Febuary and Kamal Woods could ah find time foh books.

I am all foh CXC Passes by de scores, ah know what it’s like not to have Passes, so ah share parents’ and children’s joy when dey Pass and encourage those who didn’t pass to try and try again. But if ah had to live my life all over again, nobody neither father, mother, teacher nor peer pressure was going to bun me out wid more dan Nine CXC Subjects, but yuh know something, ah would ah still end up wid No CXC Passes! Congrats to all and wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.