Their voice · 1971
Reverend Mensah came to speak at her school. She was twelve.
Grace recalls being twelve when Reverend Mensah said that most cruelty comes from a failure of imagination, not kindness, and thinking about it the whole bus ride home.
Hearing someone's voice across time is something no photograph can do.
Their life, as remembered
4 memories
Reverend Mensah came to speak at her school. She was twelve. He said most cruelty in the world came from a failure of imagination, not a failure of kindness. She thought about it the whole bus ride home. She is not sure she has stopped thinking about it.
There was a boy in her class who could not read and was hiding it. She noticed because she was paying attention. She sat with him quietly after school three days a week for the rest of the term. By Christmas he could read a page on his own. He did not thank her. Children that age do not. That was fine.
Stockwell Primary School, 1988
Outside Stockwell Primary School
Shared by family & friends
“She stayed late after school so many times that the caretaker just gave her a key. She said it was for marking. It was for the children who had nowhere else to be at four o''clock. She knew which ones they were. She always knew.”
Nana Asante· Sister
The church was full. She had not realised how many people her mother knew. Reverend Mensah gave the address even though he was very old by then and it was a long way for him. He remembered her mother's name, her children's names, a story about her mother bringing soup to a neighbour. Grace had never heard that story. It turned out her mother had been paying attention too.
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“She gave the second reading at her mother''s funeral. Her voice did not waver once. Afterwards she stood at the door and thanked every person individually for coming. She was still standing there an hour after the service ended. That is just what she does. She finishes things properly.”
Samuel Osei Jr.· Congregation member
Thirty-one years. She mostly remembers the difficult ones. The ones who acted out because something was wrong at home. The ones who were very quiet in a way that was not natural for a child. You spent the time on those. The easy ones mostly looked after themselves. She does not think she was a great teacher. She thinks she was an attentive one. That felt like enough.
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“She taught me in Year Four. I could not read properly and I thought no one could tell. She could tell. She never once made it feel like a problem. She just sat with me after school and we read. I am a secondary school English teacher now. I have not told her yet. I keep meaning to.”
Daniel Okafor· Former student
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