Albany teacher returns to South Africa to renew memories of education and danger

When John Hayes, now a parishioner at St. Margaret Mary's Church in Albany, first went to South Africa in 1951, he had no idea what to expect.

"I knew absolutely nothing," he said of South Africa. "We were told nothing. Get your passports and go."

Recently, he got his passport again in order to revisit his past. In April, Mr. Hayes, his wife Mary and daughter Patty traveled to Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape province, to see the school and its graduates.

Founding a school

Mr. Hayes, a retired educator, lived in South Africa from 1951 until 1959. He went to establish a high school under the direction of the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

He and Brother Enda St. Martin, CFC, founded St. Boniface High School in Galeshewe Location, Kimberley, South Africa. The high school was part of St. Boniface Mission, which included an elementary school and a church.

When he arrived in Kimberley in 1951, there were no buildings to house the new all-male high school. "One of us taught in a garage storeroom and the other under the trees," Mr. Hayes explained.

Miraculous medal

He oversaw the building of six classrooms and eventually a residence for the brothers. The building project was one of the many challenges Mr. Hayes faced. When the location for the residence was chosen, he encountered problems with the local authorities and shared his troubles with Sister Appolonia, the kindergarten teacher at St. Boniface Elementary School.

"She said, 'If you want the house, give me a medal.' I gave her an Our Lady of Perpetual Help medal," he said. "She took the kids over to where we wanted the house and buried the medal. Within three weeks, we had permission to build. She said that the Lord always listens to little kids.

"When the builders came, they dug the foundation and found the medal and brought it to me. That was exactly the location where the chapel was to be."

Apartheid

Opening a high school for native boys was a dangerous undertaking in a time and place marked by apartheid. During Mr. Hayes' tenure as principal, the Bantu Syllabus went into effect; it prevented natives from gaining an education comparable to that provided to the white or "European" residents of South Africa. Riots followed the implementation of the policy.

Mr. Hayes explained that the policy was designed to prevent natives from advancing in the South African society.

"There was a place for natives as bearers of wood and drawers of water," he said. "The education was designed for them to take their place in their own homelands."

Mr. Hayes saw in his students great potential. "Every student could speak five languages," he said, counting off English, Afrikaans, Tswana, Xhusa and Zulu.

Offering knowledge

Mr. Hayes and the brothers had to find their way around many government regulations in order to provide their students with a quality education that would allow them to advance. The school was one of a handful where African boys could take the matriculation examination, which would allow them to attend college. Students could also attain a "junior certificate," which would allow them to become civil servants, policemen or teachers.

But even registering the school with the government required some fancy footwork. Mr. Hayes kept two sets of letterhead, one used for his correspondence with the brothers and contributors in America, which read "St. Boniface Native Mission School," and one used for all other correspondence, which said "St. Boniface High School."

Using the latter, the school was registered with the government before officials learned it was a school for natives.

Funding difficulties

The South African education policies prevented mission schools from charging tuition, and St. Boniface accepted no government funds. Instead, it was funded through tuition and the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

"If you charged tuition, you had to close," Mr. Hayes explained. "We charged one pound a year [for tuition] and five shillings for books. [The mission schools] had a big meeting in Pretoria to discuss how to get around tuition. I suggested we start charging one pound, five shilling for books." And that is what many of the schools did, he said.

Across the country, Africans began burning the schools in protest of the government regulations concerning education, and riots were common, reported Mr. Hayes. After a nearby riot, Mr. Hayes took on an additional job: "I road shotgun with the priest" when he visited native villages where whites were not permitted to go.

Sunday memories

"One Sunday, an elderly couple was dying," Mr. Hayes said of his experiences with the missionary. "The priest gave them every sacrament. I witnessed all of them. This was one of the highlights."

Sundays would also find him getting his students out of jail.

"In the '50s, the Pass Laws started," he explained. "Every kid had to carry a passbook. If they didn't, they would be taken to jail and sentenced for a year or more. I had a passbook, too. I had to report to the police station if I went anywhere for more than 72 hours. On Sundays, I'd go to the police station to get the kids out."

Children in danger

Some of the difficulties Mr. Hayes faced had nothing to do with laws. "The hardest time was November. Apricot fever would strike the babies," he said. "When a kid got that, they were dead in three days."

Other illnesses touched the principal's life. One of his students received a scholarship to medical school. When the student became ill, he was hospitalized but received no treatment and died of encephalitis. Mr. Hayes wrote letters until an investigation was started. That caused problems with local officials.

During Mass one day, "I was told by a woman to `watch your back,'" he said.

Back to Africa

While many educators can only wonder if they made a difference, Mr. Hayes had the unusual experience of seeing the fruits of his labors during his April visit to South Africa. One hundred former students joined 500 Kimberley residents at a Mass and picnic in honor of his visit to St. Boniface.

Among his former students are the chief of police and town clerk. Another runs the local Coca-Cola plant while others have good jobs with the DeBeers diamond mines.

"One man came to see me. He was married for 28 years. When his wife died, he became a priest," said Mr. Hayes.

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