It reminded me of a defining incident when I was a geeky kid in Standard 3, getting picked on by a boy called Ray Ochieng.
My father, when I finally moaned to him about Ray, simply packed a small spanner in my cartoon lunch box. ‘Hit Ochieng on the head with it when he disturbs you.’ Which is exactly what I did.
Ray bled. I got into a whole load of trouble at Catholic Parochial School, with headmistress Sister Sinead saying: ‘You’ve been such a good boy, Anthony, how could you?’
‘Raymond was bullying me every time,’ I said. But I never gave my Dad up – not even to my Mum, who was called to school, and said my behaviour was both ‘inexcusable and inexplicable.’ (My mom was a big fan of English words, and I had my Learner’s Oxford Dictionary, John Mwazemba will be happy to know, where I always looked up her words).