Lower Bay School was where my children began their formal education on Bequia. It was a private school started by a lovely American woman named Reny Hill, who was dismayed by the standard of education on the Island. Mac became one of the school’s trustees, and with the help of foreign and local aid the school flourished for many years.
Non-locals wishing to enroll their children paid double tuition, the second half going towards the enrolment of a local child. The school had a non-beating policy, something Mac and I heartily endorsed, and we knew our children would be happy there.
When Vanessa was old enough to attend pre-school (I think she was four years old) we dressed her in the school’s burgundy uniform and packed her lunch. Vanessa loved egg salad sandwiches and I made sure that’s what she would eat on her first day at school.
Vanessa cried and clung to me when we arrived at the school, she was scared and wanted to go back home. She knew some of the children at the school but seemed terrified to be left there on her own. Mac and I lingered for a while, reassuring her that all would be fine, then left her in the care of the pre-school teacher.
Vanessa arrived home after school in tears. When I asked her why she was crying she said, “those other children laugh after me! Dey say me lunch does smell like a fart!” Mac and I couldn’t help laughing, egg salad DOES smell like a fart, the other children were right! Nessie had also been teased because her sandwich was made with brown bread, something the other students had never seen before. Note to self: no egg salad or brown bread for school lunch!
The next day I sent Vanessa to school with another favorite of hers, Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. Once again she didn’t want to stay, clinging to Mac so hard that she had to be pried loose. After school she ran up the hill crying her heart out, and I asked her what was wrong. She blurted, “those other children laugh after me! Dey say me lunch does look like vomit!” Mac and I again had to laugh, when we poured the uneaten soup out of the thermos it DID resemble vomit. The other children were right! Note to self: no more mushroom soup for school lunch!
Poor little Nessie, it took a week before she settled down and began to have fun at school. She was teased a lot because she was didn’t really fit in; she wasn’t one of the foreign students but had a foreign mother, and her fair skin and blond hair made her a bit of a target.
The last time she came home in tears it was because the other children had said she had “Coolie hair”. This time Mac and I (after howling with laughter) were able to assure Vanessa that the other children were wrong!