Sipho

Things hadn’t gone as planned for Sipho. Only a few months ago he and his mother were celebrating his scholarship with Agnes and her children. Now he felt like he had nothing to celebrate anymore. Yes, he was doing well academically at his new school, but in every other way he was failing. He hadn’t made friends; the only person he hung out with was Gloria. Plus, he was being bullied by older boys in his class, those who had stayed down a year and were intent on making his life miserable. And it was.

Today was the first morning of the second term. Sipho looked over at the clock on the chair next to his bed. He had overslept. It was 7 o’clock. He was going to be late again.

When he started at the new school, he wouldn’t have dreamed of ever being late. “You must be early for school, my child,” was what his mother said to him on that first morning when he had put on his new uniform and shined up his shoes before catching the bus. “Being late tells people you are lazy and don’t care.”

But being late had soon proved to be one of Sipho’s defences against the bullies; a way of surviving. At least if he was late, he would not see them when arriving, and be safely in detention at the end of the day. That way he avoided the worst of the bullying, which happened after school on their way to the bus stop.

But this term Sipho wanted things to change. He wanted to be on time. He told himself that he needed to forget the bad memories of the first term – lock them all away, somewhere. He needed to start arriving on time, and not be frightened any more of running into the bullies.

But now, when he got off the bus it was already 8.30. He sprinted down the road towards the school’s main gate that was flanked by towering trees. A driveway led up from the gate to the old church-like buildings of the school and past the huge sports field. As he ran through the gates his worst fear came true: Sipho was apprehended by Mr van der Merwe himself. The Principal. There was no way he could escape.

“What time do you call this?” the Principal demanded. Sipho’s heart sank and when the Principal ordered him to his office, he started to panic. He had never been summoned by the Principal before. He followed closely behind Mr van der Merwe as he strode down the driveway, across the quad, and in through the main doors to the building. His office was on the right, off the foyer. After fiddling with his keys for moment, he unlocked the door and let Sipho in.

“You know, I don’t like doing this to one of my brightest students, but your late-coming has become a really bad habit now. Your teachers tell me you were consistently late last term. This is the first day of a new term and you are starting late again. The other students will think I’m showing favouritism if I let you off.”

Sipho had heard stories about what happened to students who went to the Principal’s office. But he had to be brave. He had to try and explain his way out of this mess.

“But there’s an explanation, Sir.”

“The time for explanations is over Sipho. I’m not interested. You could have come to explain your situation to me last term, but you didn’t.”

Sipho remained silent. Maybe he should have long ago told Mr van de Merwe about the bullying. But the guys had threatened him with worse victimisation if he ever told. Maybe the Principal would have believed him if he’d been honest about what was really going on. But it had also felt somehow shameful, to admit to being bullied. Whatever – too late now!

Mr van der Merwe walked over to his cupboard, pulled the door open and reached into it. Sipho stood there, frozen. Mr van der Merwe found what he was looking for, swung round. In his hands he held what the other boys had called the school’s ‘go-home-you’re-suspended’ letter.

“I assume you know what this is?” Mr van der Merwe said, holding the page up.

Sipho nodded. He knew it was the suspension letter that the Principal used to keep students away until they brought their parents to school. That was how this school handled punishment.

“Keeping quiet is not going to help you, Sipho. You must sign this and take it to your mother. I want her to come to see me. I want you to promise that you’ll stop coming late, because if your behaviour continues I’ll be forced to expel you from the school.”

Sipho was horrified. If he didn’t find a way to stop the bullying, he’d be forced to come late again and the Principal would kick him out.

Things needed to change. Fast.

***

Tell us: Have you ever witnessed bullies having so much destructive power over a school mate? What happened?