A JAMAICAN CHILDHOOD - FEARS, PUNISHMENT AND HAPPY TIMES. PT.6
G
|
rowing up in his native Jamaica, Shaka recalls that, although his life included a lot of adventurous exploits, joy and happiness, it had more than its fair share of feelings of insecurity and worry. He recalls that his feelings of insecurity, fears and unhappiness would relate to most, if not all areas of his life, including home life, school, leisure activities, and his emotional and psychological life.
S
|
haka spent his childhood in an age when it was normal or accepted for children to be beaten by their parents, older siblings and other adult relatives, and their teachers. That being so, Shaka was always aware that if he misbehaved at home, he was liable to be beaten by his parent or his older brothers, depending on the seriousness and persistence of the misdemeanour, and there were times when his parent did beat him. Shaka can recall times when he used to be very angry with his parent and would swear and throw stones at his parent; which was not the wise thing to do, as he would be beaten again for it.
S
|
haka can also remember the times when he would turn his anger in on himself, believing that, by doing so, he would hurt his parent. On those occasions, Shaka would cut himself and would repeatedly banged his head hard against the wooden walls of the house, which would invariably result in his parent chasing after him to get him to stop it.
S
|
haka can also recall that his secondary school was another place which he associated with a feeling of fear and trepidation, as all the teachers used physical punishment against the children. This was done by using a leather strap, which was about 2 inches wide by 24 or 30 inches long by 1/16th of an inch thick, or with the flexible branch of a conifer tree, which an older teenager would be asked to find.
N
|
ormally Shaka, like the other pupils who were being beaten, would be asked to hold out his hands, with the teacher giving him anything upto 6 or more lashes in the palm of each hand. ~There were times when the lash would sting so much that Shaka would delay in putting forward the other hand, or refused to do so, whereupon the teacher, especially some of the male headteachers, would hold him by grasping the front of his short trousers, by putting the non-striking hand over the top and grasping it, and beat him over each shoulder.
T
|
his being so, Shaka, again like other pupils, would endeavour to be on the right side of their teachers, which could mean bringing mangoes and other fruits for them, and volunteering to do errands for them, such taking and collecting the post to and from Seaforth Post Office. Something which Shaka did and looked forward to doing; especially when it would mean him not being present for subjects which he found more difficult to do.
Comments