Returning home after a decade and half abroad, our geography teacher remained incurably addicted to foreign ways and ideas for years after landing here. He would forever stick to his theory of Africans suffering from a curse inflicted on them by the Almighty God for some heinous sins committed centuries ago. He would, in support of this theory as listeners.
Why would our mosquito inflict deadly malaria on us whereas the British mosquito does not bite? Why aren’t there poisonous snakes in Britain whereas here most snakes are deadly? Why should the deadly sickle cell disease be peculiar to the black race?
Of course, he hardly waits for answers to these and similar questions before jumping to the same inevitable conclusion. However, he met his match one day when a new student joined the class and heard the litany we were used to. The new boy calmly said’ Sir, I happened to know a few white men who suffer from the sickle cell disease: some are Italians and some are Spanish. The mosquito is equally deadly in India, South east Asian countries and South America. The United States and some other South American countries have their deadly snakes. And, sir, I know many white men, some of them British, who would prefer our brilliant sunshine to their horrible cold weather”. And he sat down.
I had never, before that day, seen our teacher so consumed with anger. He directed a burning look at the poor boy, who had no answer to this new battle. Without as much as saying a single word, the master stalked out of the classroom. Needless to say, our anger was turned on the new boy, who had decided to rock the boat without taking the time to sound the water. A delegation was sent to the master to apologise to him. He was appeased. But we all noticed something rather unusual thereafter, never again did he dwell on the issue of Africans being the accursed people.
