Mr Adult Educator takes a bow

Hugh Wyllie de lickle black boy from de rural village of Troumaca, who made it to Grammar School in de early 1960’s, breezed thru school, took up teaching in de Primary Schools, went to College and University twice, on Wednesday spent his last day on the job as Director of de Adult Education Program. One may argue dat Adult Education did not begin wid Hugh, dat Mike Browne in de Teachers Union, Clayton Burgin, Andrew Simmons, Francis Palmer and others over de years, have all made ah contribution to de Adult Education Movement.{{more}} And ah will not want to be-lickle dey efforts, because like Shake’s-peer say, every man in his time plays his part. But it was not until 2005 when de real Education Crusade, de real Rev-all-yuh-shun headed by none other dan Hugh Wyllie was launched, dat de soon-ah-me in education, foh want of ah better word, spread like bush fire in every nook and cranny, from Fancy in de North to Shatto in de South oops, (one ah dem fellars in de NDP did say dat). Dey was evening and night classes all over de country including de Grenadines, over six thousand people benefited. Is all kind ah success story, one fellar was able to vote in 2005 foh de first time, couldn’t mek dat “X” before, full ah mouth, he was shame to go to de polling station mek every body see. And how bout de house wife who, foh de first time was able to write her first love letter to her husband at sea. Right now she is corresponding by e-mail. De program gone beyond de 3R’s, Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic, dey into life skills, Home Ec and so on.

My first encounter wid dis great Educator was many years ago coming from Bequia. Dey was dis young head-teacher, quite frankly very young foh ah headmaster. But he, along wid his teachers had taken de Rose Hall Primary school students foh a field trip, it looked to me like it was de whole school on board. De sea got rough and most ah de kids started to get sick, vomit coming from all quarters, it was fiasco, children screaming, it was sheer pandemonium on deck; but Hugh kept ah cool head, calming dem down, running back and forth wid a bucket in one hand collecting vomit, and ah bottle ah limacol in de other. when de sea calm down, it was ah relief, like nothing had happened and de kids were happy again. Ah told me-self back den dat dis guy was going to mek it in de field ah Education, and ah was right.

Outside ah de field ah education, de name Hugh Wyllie was always in de pull-it-tek-all lime-lights, every time elections came round, his name would come up, and de comments would be, “Hugh Wyllie don’t have to calm-pain, dat North Leeward seat belongs to him”! And nobody would dare bet me dat come next elections, any party dat manages to get Hugh to run foh dem, has ah sure seat; even de Green Party. Ah tell yuh dat will be de best ting dat could happen to Education.

Hugh is Ma Wyllie’s own child, we at Searchlight have held de late Ma Wyllie or Ms Dina in great esteem and uses to look forward to her hot and spicy letters to de Editor. One time ah did heckle her son, Frank Da Silva in my article, man she did not hesitate to straighten me out de following week. And dat is Hugh, forthright and outspoken; licks nobody boots, and of course he had his share ah Victim-I-say-shun!

His co-workers in de Education Crusade say dat he is Mr Roots-is-him, he not one ah den Captain who stands on de bridge and dish out orders to de crew, not Mr Wyllie, he is committed, wuks wid his team, side by side, foot by foot on de decks, ears and hands to de ground thru-out every zone. That’s why de Adult Education Movement, in four quick years, has been ah success. And while teachers will grumble, but careful dat nobody hear, dat de Education Rev-all-yuh-shun is full ah short-comings, children in secondary school who still cannot read; is de Adult Crusade dat dey teking up de slack. Some will go dat far and say, dat now dat more mothers can read, children are getting help wid home work, and Common Entrance results have improved since 2005. But of all de success stories, de one dat got me is de 75 year ole ole fellar who stop me and say he uses to hear people talk bout de set ah sh….t ah does write, and he would ah like to read it foh he-self but couldn’t. “ So what?” ah asked, he looked at me straight in de eyes and said, “ One Love, as ole as I am, I went to Mr Wyllie Adult classes, ah could read and help me-self ah lickle bit now, and way de people dem say is true, everyting yuh does write is Sh….t in truth!” Thank yuh Hugh, N-Joy yuh retirement till next elections.

AH WHITE ZULU

Lie-Za asking me if ah ever heard bout de Zulu tribe and what colour people are dey. Ah tell she is nearly seven million ah dem and all ah dem is Black. She tell me she got news foh me, is seven million and one, seven million blacks and one white. So ah ask she way de white one come from, she say Sin Vin Sin, how de Prime Minister is hoping to go to South Africa because de next President, Jacob Zuma did promise to induct him into de Zulu Blood Brother-hood. Ah not saying much, but yuh notice how de PM fighting up he-self to be de blackest PM and head black people Reparation Movement, his greatest joy is to wake up one morning and find he skin turn black. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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