Name: Mrs. Catherine S.T. Bainda
Profession: Classroom Teacher
Position: Vice Principal at Great Kings Academy
Teachers are people who make millionaires, Doctors, presidents, lawyers and many other great people, but they are underpaid, they teach and build the foundations of great men and women around the world, but their foundations financially are often very weak.
These kinds of people in any society can be compared with a blacksmith who shapes any iron into whatever they want it look like at the end, they are forgotten in many instances.
They encounter stubborn kids who wouldn’t want to grasp what they are being thoughts, so it is in the case of a blacksmith who sometimes comes across irons that are hard to shape, but they manage and later done.
Let us quickly look at the work of a blacksmith and compare it with that of a teacher.
If you are not familiar with the term ‘blacksmith’, this is what he or she does- Works to shape any iron into any shape and forms of how he or she wants to see it.
So is the work of a teacher who builds the foundation of a child from elementary to Jr. High and senior High schools as well as universities.
Some teachers baby sit or parent their students so is the case with our Personality of the Week, Mrs. Catherine S. Tomah Bainda.
She has been married to Mr. Joseph B. Bainda for the past 24 years and is a mother of six living children-all boys or men if you may say.
I have known her for the rest of my life. She has been in the classroom when I was 6 years old.
I remembered many times been reprimanded when I failed to do my homework or class work when she was my first teacher in the beginner classes.
Oh, I am sorry for using too many of I, I and I when talking about our Personality of the Week. But it is because she played and continually playing a pivotal role in shaping me into a better person who writes for you to read today.
Back to our Personality of the Week, she is currently serving as the Vice Principle at Great Kings Academy, an institution located in Johnsonville Township, Montserrado County, Liberia.
Mrs. Bainda has been a classroom teacher since 1993 (28 years), long of a times if it was an office job with good pay, by now she should be living a relaxed life.
When she was asked how teaching has been during those 28 years, she said, “It has been a joyful thing teaching just that I want to rest now.”
She said she does not regret being a teacher on grounds that she gets the benefits every day of her life.
“I taught refugee kids in Ivory Coast for ten years. Since I came back from Ivory Coast, I have taught many other schools in Liberia. Some of the kids have grown up now and I cannot remember some of them” she added.
According to her, many at times while in taxis, attending Church Services or in public places, some of the students she has impacted often walk over to her in recognition of what she did for them during their days in school; something she said makes her proud as a teacher.
She indicated that, “Sometimes I can receive gifts and help from my students along the way.”
The long time female teacher used the interview to discourage teachers who take kickbacks from kids to discontinue such habit she described as “bad habit.”
“Teachers as a whole, what we get are the popularities and recognitions from students you teacher.”
Mrs. Bainda said whatever funding they need to get should not come from their kids themselves are suffering to make ends meet, but what their thoughts are should be, is for government to invest into education and other important sectors which are the pillars of any society.
She named the Ministries of Defense, Health and Education as the three priority sectors of the Liberian society that need to be looked at by the government of Liberia.
“The Ministry of Defense protects the nation and its people, the doctors or health workers make sure that the citizens are well taken care of when they are sick and the teachers impart knowledge into people and make them new tomorrow. So they need to be taken care of,” the teacher said.
Prior to the outbreak of the war which caused setback to the lives of every Liberian, our Personality of the week was involved with business which helped her provide for her home and she dreamt of working in office with a well paid job, but her dream did not come though as she wanted.
She landed into teacher in refugee camps leaving from one village to the other teaching refugee children including hers.
Although, she did not work in office with a well paid job or did she voyage like others, our Personality of the Week said she was happy that she impacted the lives of thousands of children in the world.
“It is a joyful thing to impart the lives of many children” Mrs. Bainda said with smiles across her face. Read this next week and know who our next personality will be.
Alphonso Toweh
Has been in the profession for over twenty years. He has worked for many international media outlets including: West Africa Magazine, Africa Week Magazine, African Observer and did occasional reporting for CNN, BBC World Service, Sunday Times, NPR, Radio Deutchewells, Radio Netherlands. He is the current correspondent for Reuters
He holds first MA with honors in International Relations and a candidate for second master in International Peace studies and Conflict Resolution from the University of Liberia.