Our apartment building sits right next to the Accra High School.
This somewhat prestigious school was founded by the late Rev. James Thomas Roberts on 17 August 1923. He arrived from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 2 August 1923, and within 2 weeks set his sights forward to accomplish what he felt called to do.
The co-educational school today has more than 1500 students. From the beginning, Accra High School has been a leader and trailblazer. It was the first secondary school in the Eastern Province, the first to have a school magazine, and the first to have a motto:
Redimentes Opportunitatem - "Make hay while the sun shines, Strike while the iron is hot."
If you make hay while the sun shines, it means that you take advantage of the chance to do something while conditions are good. In other words, you make good use of your time or make the most of an opportunity while you have the chance. The saying has been around for hundreds of years.
If you strike while the iron is hot, it means you take advantage of favorable circumstances while they last. The image is from a blacksmith's shop; the smith can shape iron only by striking it with his hammer when it is red hot.
Some of the students live on-site, and others show up daily. For those fortunate enough to attend this school, some of them must sacrifice by living far away from home and residing in the dorms on campus.
Just below us are the girl's dorms. There is always a flurry of activities going on from washing, sweeping, and gathering fallen leaves and debris to laughing and playing together as schoolmates.
Last year the school celebrated its 100th anniversary. There was lots of loud music and what we now assume were celebration activities. Should have investigated what was right under our noses a year ago.
Of recent, the school must have acquired or been gifted a new LOUDspeaker system. There are regular loud announcements from 4:30 am to 10 pm for wake-up time, class time, lunchtime, end of day for supper time, and of course bedtime. There is always a bit of chime or musical sound associated with each announcement. We aren't too fond of the EARLY morning wake-up call that sounds like an ice cream truck. The first, second, and third time the evening bedtime announcement played, I could not quite catch all the words and had never heard the song. Every night I ran out promptly as I heard the music begin and finally caught enough words that an extensive Google search helped me find the song! I was so excited and then launched a new investigation into the life of Jim Reeves, an American singer-songwriter and "the gentleman of country music."
He was born on 20 August 1923 in Texas. His musical style was said to be a smooth and sophisticated Nashville sound. He had a few big hits that established him as an international star (including Africa). His life and career were tragically cut short on 31 July 1964, when he died in a plane crash near Nashville. But, his legacy lives on! Here is the song:
No comments:
Post a Comment