NFOR SUSUNGI AS A TRAIL BLAZER AT SACRED HEART

NFOR SUSUNGI AS A TRAIL BLAZER AT SACRED HEART

CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH A SENIOR MISHE

Recently, I ran into a senior SHESAN (Sacred Heart College Mankon Ex-Student Association) in Kumba: Mr. Francis Njende of the third batch. I am of the tenth batch, which means that before we even entered Sacred Heart College, they had left.

I recalled to him that he was a Veterinary officer at the Agric Farm (today, IRAD Bambui) where my father was a Night watchman. I also reminded him that as I walked to Primary school in Bambili, we used to bypass each other. Incidentally, while in Primary 6, I was taught by Mr. Njende Francis` elder brother, Mr. John Njende, a wonderful and knowledgeable teacher, indeed.

THE DOG WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD

Years later, I was at the ENS in Bambili and lived near to my aunt, Mama Helen Neh Mbaku who owned a dog called `Bullet`. One day while I went to school Bullet was bleeding at his penis. I told him I was sorry and would find a Vet Doctor for him. The following day Mr. Njende Francis arrived, injected him, opened his mouth, dropped  a tablet in it and eased it down by running his hand down the exterior of the dog`s throat.

A few days later, Bullet was so well that he literally “packed his things” out of Mama`s house and moved into mine permanently. He was there until I left Bambili at the end of the year for a year of French studies in France as was the routine with Bilingual Series students at the ENS.

“So, animals too could be as sensitive as human beings?” I asked Mr. Njende.

“Of course!” he replied.

WHERE DR. NFOR SUSUNGI COMES IN

When I remarked to Mr. Njende that at Sacred Heart College, I heard that he scored one of the best results at the GCE by passing in nine subjects? He told me his results were not bad but it was ten papers, not nine.

 I screamed in incredulity: “So it was even much better than I thought!”

He explained that they of the third batch were those who started passing in ten out of ten papers. He even said there were three of them who passed in ten in that batch, one of whom was Nfor Susungi. I have forgotten the third name he gave.

Hearing that, I was not surprised becausd him when he was the African Development Bank (ADB) European representative in London, and I was a teacher of French and Spanish in a London High School. So we k new each other back then.  I told Mr. Njende that they must have been very good in all subjects. He agreed. I recalled that Dr. Susungi (if my memory is right) started by doing a bachelor`s and a Master`s in petroleum engineering but later on changed his mind and did an MBA. On the strength of the MBA, the ADB recruited him.

A MUKETE COMES IN TO CONFIRM

This conversation took place with Mr. Njende took place during a meeting he had travelled to Kumba to attend.  After he went in, another member of the meeting group came into the hotel lobby. He was the Hon. Abel Mukete, former Parliamentarian for Meme and son of HRH Chief Nfon Mukete. We knew each other. I told him I was just speaking to a senior Mishe from Sacred Heart but that I felt he himself might have gone to a school like Sasse, not Sacred Heart. He surprised me by saying he too attended Sacred Heart. He said he went there but had to leave because he could not stand the cold.

“Who were some of your classmates?” I enquired.

“Oh, I can remember Njende, Susungi (again!)…”

“Then that was the third batch, then?” I asked

“Yes, it was,” he told me.

“If that is so, them some other classmates of yours were Tah Asongwed (my brother), John Barah, Babila Njingu, Luke Ananga, Gabriel Fuh Ngwambe, Tunde Agbabiaka, Raphael Ngenge…”

That`s right!” he said as he went off to his meeting.

As I returned to my seat in the hotel lobby, I exclaimed to myself: “My God, is this how inter-connected this world can be?”.