A former employee of Hanga Abbey Mwalimu Abel Zenda died this December after suffering from heart attack aftereffects and numbness for about two years. Several monks of Hanga Abbey including former superior Gregory Mwageni, OSB, Frater Lucius Matembo (former student of Mwalimu Zenda) attended the furneral. Mwalimu Abel Zenda was a headmaster at Hanga Seminary when the seminary was an elementary school back in the seventies. He was a tireless formator and never extradited a student for disciplinary matter. He knew how to shape troublesome students for which reason he was nicknamed by students "brashi ya chuma" meaning "iron brush!!" May he rest in peace!
In the pictures; left Mwalimu Abel Zenda. Right: Frater Lucius (our reporter) with two daughters of the late Mwalimu Zenda and Fr. Gregoru Mwageni, OSB, in cassock, the former superior of Hanga Abbey who employed Mr. Zenda.
we loves you but good loves you the most. RIP.
ReplyDeletePole zangu ziwafikie wafiwa, marafiki na jamaa wote Marehemu apumzike kwa amani peponi AMINA.
I have just come across this story, and I am shocked to learn that Mwalimu Zenda passed away. He was my teacher at Hanga Seminary, where I studied from 1963 to 1966. I met him again in subsequent years, maybe twice, in Songea.
ReplyDeleteMwalimu Zenda really cared for his students. There was one student who suffered from some kind of mental problem, for he was found one day almost a mile away from the school, lying on a branch very high up a tree. I still remember the general area, it was near where the gardens were, in the valley beyond the water tank.
We all gathered near that tree, looking up, terribly afraid that that boy was going to kill himself by jumping from the tree.
Mwalimu Zenda slowly climbed up the tree, all the way to that branch. We all held our breath, because it was such a precarious perch up there. Finally, Mwalimu Zenda reached out and grabbed that boy's limb firmly, and he brought him down safely. We could not believe our eyes.
Mwalimu Zenda wa athletic, and he always seemed physically fit. No wonder he acted the way he did and rescued that boy. He was a serious man, and his signature facial expression was exactly as appears in the photo.
Every time I think about Mwalimu Zenda, that episode comes back to my mind, and I still tremble with fear, all over again.
I send my condolences to his family and friends, even as I myself feel the loss of this wonderful teacher of mine. May God rest his soul in Eternal Peace. Amen.