Dulai a young boy of ten lived with his parents and siblings in a coastal town in west Africa. He had two elder sisters and a younger brother Ali. Pa ken Dulai's father was a farmer while his mother was a trader who often went to their town market to buy and sell her goods while tying little Ali at her back. Dulai would often watch how skillfully she tied his little brother with her faded and old green wrapper.
Dulai was a young and bright boy ,handsome and charming. He was famous in their little village Dasoke because of his outstanding brilliance and body features . He was charming and different from everybody else . He was blessed with the beauty of a black. What amazed people was his skin color, which was likened to gold , refined and bright. A tan of its kind. His hair color was jet black and most especially his eyes were brownish in color . A warm and earthly brown color that comforts you just by looking into them.
He attended the only school house in their village as he was the only grown male in their home. His sisters Elizabeth and Sarah stayed at home with their mom as female education was not random or important then. Moreover only a small population received schooling as school houses were rare and also the method of management was very poor . It was hard to imagine, a single teacher taught grade one through to eight in the same room. The rural areas were just too sparsely populated to support multiple classrooms, so town towns built one room schools about 20 by 30 feet large.
Abecedarians sat in the front and older students in the back. They learned reading, writing,mathematics,geography and history. Teachers would call a group of students to the front of the classroom for their lessons, while the other grades worked at their seats. Sometimes older kids helped in teaching the younger pupils . Dulai was a major help in the school he helped organizing little gatherings for the smaller pupils and teaching them as he was very brilliant.
Paper was expensive in the 1880s , so students wrote on thin slabs of slate. They took notes with slate pencils made of clay. Paper was only used for permanent lessons when kids dipped their quills in ink bottles and practiced their cursive.
Students were often publicly shamed. The teacher sat the naughty child at the front of the class and had him wear a cone shaped hat branded with the letter 'D' for dunce meaning idiot . Dunce cap made of old newspapers and decorated with glaring wafers of the largest size. Hold heavy books , stand against the wall for extended periods of time, or receive lashes with whips. School days typically started at 9 am and wrapped up at 2 pm or 4am . One hour for recess and lunch, which was called nooning.
Homesteader's children carried sandwiches, cornbread and lard , maybe with a little sugar , or bread and bacon.
One situation that was bad about the school was that they were taught in poor buildings .Schools were rarely held in nice buildings. Most especially they were poorly kept and never cleaned. They were messy and had no organization regarding where things were placed. A huge reason children didn't or couldn't attend school mainly was that they had to work. In plantations or farms of their teachers. And also, kids were more likely to be sick since medicine was less advanced. Parents also kept them home to work on the farm especially during harvests.
A further circumstance that was controversial about the school was that they were never open and only available to certain people. And also, the teachers themselves were not properly educated themselves .
Despite all these challenges Dulai never stopped learning. He enjoyed going to school and could not wait when it started up again. However when schools could not stay open for long , that made him mad. Since he enjoyed school so much , he took matters into his own hands when school was not in season by reading often . While reading books, he learned plenty of new information which kept him educated . On the other hand children did not have access to the plethora of books dulai had and could not keep up on education. He took turns in collecting books raging from older pupils or students. At this course he also learnt about the 'white' even though there was not enough information.