I remember vividly, as though it was yesterday, sitting at my school desk wrestling with some awful algorithm only to be distracted by a group of ‘old officious’ looking people walking past the class window. I wondered who they were, and just as Mrs Yeo started shouting out what Power the sum was, I quickly came to the conclusion that they must be members of the Board or something.
A few hours later at our assembly, this group reappeared and we were informed that they were past pupils, back for a visit. Many not to be repeated under the breath comments were made by our class such as “Is SAHETI really that old? looks like that guy is still wearing his 70’s wardrobe! could you ever imagine them being young?”
On 20 January 2017, much to my amusement, I walked around SAHETI School for the first time in 31 years, and imagined what was going through the minds of the students peering through the windows. Feeling absolute disbelief as I strolled around with many of my fellow classmates, we reminisced about the times we had together. All of us were now older, balder, fatter, thinner, definitely more good looking (that’s our story and we are sticking to it) and hopefully wiser.
As we stood in front of the old tuckshop - which I have to say we all remembered to be much bigger - we grinned at each other gibbering away with the people we grew up with and realising that apart from 31 years and many life changing experiences, all the same characters and quirks were still there. This all started ten months before, where a group of us who still live in the area got together with the horrific realisation that it had been 30 years since we finished matric in 1986. Let’s just say that after much debate over copious glasses of wine, the seemingly overwhelming task of organising a reunion seemed possible.
We decided to give it a go, even if the reunion ended up being the same group sharing Rossa’s specials on a Wednesday night. Whilst some of the class still kept in close contact, many had moved abroad, changed their names or spread across South Africa. It was fascinating to find out that approximately 50% of our matric class now live overseas, ranging from London, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Australia and America. Detective work and supreme networking was going to be needed in order to pull this together.
Thank goodness that technology has evolved in 30 years, allowing us to troll facebook and linkedin for some of our long lost connections. A date was eventually decided upon, true ‘Greek time’ (a few months late), but still, a date was set and then the marketing started. No doubt, it was quite a sacrifice asking for airfares; families and holidays to be rearranged, and for many to face some potential old wounds stemming from childhood experiences, or doubts at the possible judgements that are associated with high school reunions.
Luckily, quite a few of the class of ’86 have served on the SAHETI PTA and are parents of current SAHETI students, so we contacted the head of the Alumni, Fotoula Avagliano to warn her of our upcoming thoughts. We were thrilled to have Fotoula Avagliano (nee Kyprianou) and Mr Taylor enthusiastically volunteer to support our challenge, by offering us a morning that we would never forget. The numbers started to grow, expanding from one 8-seater at Rossa’s, to eventually 35 oldies from the Class of ’86 committing to join the celebrations. Up until two days before, last minute bookings were still being made.
The morning of Friday 20 January started off at SAHETI with a delicious breakfast and much chatter and yelps of happiness from the newly formed ‘oldies’ group, surrounded by some of the teachers that had had the privilege of putting up with our mischief. This was followed with speeches by Mr Taylor and Dr Stephanou as well as Reverend Ellis and Kyria Soula, (both of whom recovered quickly from shock at seeing all of us and fell into the flow that we knew so well from 31 years before). Abusing the tech savvy of the schools’ IT boffins, we then setup a skype chat for the group with those that could unfortunately not be with us, and we spent a while connecting and sharing with London and Australia.
There were many gasps of appreciation during a tour with Mr Taylor and Dr Stephanou of the school that we hardly recognised. A SAHETI which has evolved beyond all expectations into a truly magnificent place of learning. And then, the ‘old officious’ people joined the school assembly. Pano Stamatiadis delivered some words of encouragement and advice on behalf of our class to the current students.
Within the class of ’86 we have so many varied professions, from bankers to political strategists, home executives to accountants, cinematographers, lawyers, writers, doctors, teachers, sales consultants, project managers, stock traders, entrepreneurs, to name but a few. This hopefuly highlighted to the students that the world is yours for the taking and that with hard work, dedication and passion, you can achieve your dreams.
The morning ended off with some lovely personalised gifts from SAHETI to each of the class, and we expressed heartfelt thanks to Mr Taylor, Dr Stephanou, Fotoula and all at SAHETI who made the memorable morning possible, one that will stay with us for the next 30 years.
I have to admit that this reunion did not end there. If you’ve waited so long, you’ve got to do it in style. The rest of the weekend saw many events, from a full on 80’s style party (of course), to lunches, dinners, more lunches, more dinners - moving around Johannesburg from one location to the next. At each stop, we gained more and more classmates joining in the festivities, until almost 85% of the class had been involved in the celebrations in one way or another. All the initial fears, dissolved. All the years of being apart seemed to shrink away. A weekend truly filled with the love of old friends, laughter, connection and memories. To sum it up, there’s a saying that meeting up with friends is like the delight of rain after a long drought. And so it was for our group. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. And if you’ve been invited to your reunion - take it from us - just do it. You won’t be sorry.
SAHETI Class of 1986
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