Homecoming in Opoku Ware School (OWASS) is a bittersweet experience both for the current students and the old students who are coming “home”. The presence of the old boys’ undoubtedly inspires their junior colleagues who are still in school to learn hard in order to follow the glorious footsteps of their seniors most of whom have swiftly entered the university immediately after the successful completion of their laborious but thrilling secondary school education in OWASS.
During Homecomings, most of the old boys would want to take the rare opportunity to quickly remind the owareans who are still in school that they entered OWASS long before them. To establish their adored status and decidedly drive home their point, they capitalize on their much-cherished position of seniority to visit all sorts of punishment on the juniors.
Normally, this is not done to hurt or injure the current students. This is to remind them of the strong bond that still exists between the old boys and the current crop of students. Astonishingly, the juniors do understand the significance and essence of this long-held tradition. However the part of the visiting old boys’ onslaught that their dear juniors find it rather difficult to pardon them for is when they animatedly storm the Dining Hall and “capture” the ladles, especially when the meal for that moment is a delicacy like the Wednesday Afternoon special “waakye” or the Friday evening Jollof and chicken.(oops, I still remember the Dining Hall menu schedule after years of completion).
It would only be a matter of time for the junior Owareans to graduate and come back to visit the same nature and degree of punishment they once endured from their already-completed seniors on the current students.
For cowards like us, the visit of old boys to the school was not a sight to behold. Their sheer numbers, false intimidation, and brandishing of leather belts are enough to drive the faint-hearted to hide uncomfortably under their beds.
It is no doubt that the old boys really leave something for the current students to talk about during homecomings, for these students cannot help talking about the humiliating ordeals they themselves or their friends were subjected to in the hands of their senior brothers. One memorable event that is still fresh in my mind happened in 2003 when the visiting old boys asked the then senior prefects to go down on their knees. It was a scene that delighted most of the students, especially their colleague form threes since the school prefects invariably enjoyed first class treatment – were exempted from school work, slept in comfortable cubicles and were served special meals at the Dining Hall to the envy of many a student.
For the old boys who come to OWASS after many years of completion, the occasion serves as a time for somber reflection. Within seconds, thoughts of their days in OWASS, from form one to form three (or four) rush into their minds. The reality and the truthfulness of the truism “Time flies” dawn on them. They are amazed and confounded by how much time has passed since their three or four years in OWASS when they were mere boys. Now, they are men.
At Homecomings, they see their long-time friends. They have become men too. They begin to reminisce and share memorable events punctuated by occasional, hearty and sometimes hysterical laughter. They shake hands, they hug. They shout about nothing out of sheer excitement and the good feeling associated with seeing both good and bad friends after a long period of time. They sing some of the “jamma” songs they can remember about their school. They are indeed happy to see how far life has brought their beloved friends after they finally parted sadly on the day of completion. They cheerfully discuss their dreams and the concrete plans they are putting in place to achieve them with their good old friends.
Individually, most of the old boys’ would take an excursion through the school as if it is their first time of entering it. They cannot leave without taking a quick glance at the classrooms in which they sat and studied when they were boys. They also want to look at the state of their houses and the chambers in which they slept. And oh the Dining Hall, how can they forget! It brings to the old students sweet memories – from the various dishes that were served through the quality of the food to the meager quantity of food they were sometimes served by their own friends who would greedily reserve a large share for themselves even if they cannot consume all. “Capturing” experiences in the Dining Hall fill their eyes with tears as those boyish attitudes they found very entertaining now appears no less ludicrous to them.
As a matter of fact, there is no opportunity for personal reflection than homecoming. It is a wonderful time for people to make a very quick assessment of their lives, aspirations, goals at the very place they set them. They commend themselves by heaving a sign of relief when they have achieved or on their way to achieving their aims in life. For those who for one reason or another deviated from their course, this is the time they reassure themselves that all is not lost. When they see how far some of their friends have come, it suddenly inspires and gingers them to go back to the drawing board, strengthen their enfeebled hands, and put in more effort to gain control of their lives once again.
I have seen most old boys pay solo visits to their alma mater during my time as a student in OWASS and after my completion. It is indeed a time of sober reflection as they take brief walks around the school compound and occasionally pause, hold their waist and take a long gaze at some of the buildings, turning their head slowly to the right and to the left. They are sometimes amazed at some of the dramatic changes in their alma mater. And in unison, they all conclude that the school has become “smaller”. That is an unequivocal sign that they are no longer the boys they used to be. The telling expression on their faces initially alternate between surprise and disbelief, and gradually switch to contentment and inner joy. As they gradually walk back out of the school compound, they cannot help turning back their heads every five steps or so to take a peek at their “home” as if that would be their last visit.
At the time I was a student, I didn’t understand such individuals who occasionally came to the school alone to see their alma mater. I thought then that it was during the general homecoming that past students should bother themselves to visit their alma mater. After six years of graduating from OWASS, I now understand. I understand the sense of attachment we unconsciously develop for the school during our formative years there and the feeling of nostalgia that constantly torments us after years of completion.
It is about a year ago that I purposely paid a visit to the school. It was a solemn reflection for me. To crown my joy, I met one of my “school numbers” and I was happy to learn that I have “numbers” from form one to form four – my number was far back that I did not have any seniors who shared my numbers when I entered in form one.
Have you paid a visit to your school after completion as an individual? If not, I humbly encourage you to try it and you will be glad you did.
