Fire at St. Anthony's

As I was walking to school this morning the only fire truck in town was going towards St. Anthony’s. When I got to school I knew something was wrong as there were many motorcycles and no kids in class.

As I passed the academic block I could see the fire truck near one of the

dormitories plus students and some adults standing around. One of the dorms had caught fire between 5:00 and 5:30. The fire department was putting out what was left of the fire. Luckily the boys were at morning preps in their classrooms. Thank God no one was injured. About 120 boys lost all their belongings.

While an emergency Board of Governors meeting was being held I went to all the form 1 and 2 classrooms and told them how sorry I was about the fire but my prayers

were answered that no one was hurt. We can replace clothes, books, etc. but not human life. Other teachers were busy consoling and helping boys who had lost things. Parents and people from town started coming to see the damage.

We had a school assembly after the BOG meeting. We had speeches of encouragement from the principal, acting head of school board, head of PTA, plus some other officials who were around. After parade we had tea break. After I "took" my tea, I headed back to the dorm area. Some parents and more town people were coming to see the damage. Some of the boys were able to go in and try to get their locker (trunk) out of the dorm. Finally I decided I might as well go into my math classes and do some review at least that might keep them busy.

After lunch I went back to the dorm area. The dorm had finally cooled down enough that all the boys could get their trunks out. Most the boys only found ashes in their trunk or things were so badly burned that they were not salvageable. One boy was really upset so I let him use my phone to call his parents. You could see the relief on his face as he was able to visit with his mother. I even received a call from a parent who was concerned about her son so I had Moses call his mother. The media here is not real reliable and likes to sensationalize. She had heard that some boys were killed in the fire.

After lunch I had learned the following. The boys whose dorm caught fire would double up or use bunks of boys who have not returned to school yet because of the

teacher's strike. One of the counselors told me that a few of the boys were depressed because they knew their parents had used all they had to put the them in school and did not have any money to replace what they had lost. PTA will set up a fund to buy some of the things the boys lost. And finally, we will start exams tomorrow morning.

One thing that really struck me was a comment I heard. "Yes, it was a bad loss for the boys, but they need to learn to move on with life." Another one told me that there is much tragedy and one might as well learn at an early age to keep moving forward with their life. Not quite what I would hear in the States in the same circumstances.

I really feel for the counselors, the teacher who is head of boarding, the principal and teachers who stepped up to help. They really had a load on their shoulders today. My heart also goes out to the boys who lost things in the fire and all the boys. I am sure many will not sleep well tonight. But God did bless us in that no one was injured.