ANOUNCEMENT-JSS REUNION

-Doesn’t it just blow your mind to know that for some its already almost twenty years that has passed since you frequented that quaint old building on Bree Street and negotiated for your toasted steak across the fence (and which was somehow interpreted by some astute or rather creative observer as students smuggling drugs across the fence!!!) or the ubiquitous ‘fego’ (JSS’s take on a fair go J) every other afternoon , which was par for the course for many a misguided J adolescent male (through no fault of themselves of course)- just growing up in the city in apartheid stricken South Africa didn’t allow for any healthy recreational activities right guys?! Geez the stories that we generated then, whether authentic or not, would certainly make Ricki Lake baulk! And yet we came out of that “cesspool” as some would like to refer to it (remember the digs we endured from the LenziesJ) not too shabby I reckon. I mean look at you all, techno savvy pundits, registering on databases as ex JSS’ers nogal J .

And I know I’ve spotted a couple of luminaries on prime time news so JSS has certainly produced some movers and shakers hey!! Seriously I think its time we celebrated those moments of the past albeit even if it is a self congratulatory pat on the back on having survived it all better for the wearJ. High –schools, after all, do serve as storehouses of our coming of age memories and what better way to pay homage to that era than to meet with former colleagues and teachers and share our experiences through life’s meander… also to remember those that have passed on… So…… after that long preamble ….how about a reunion of some sort say looking at the 1985-1995 period – the nascent decade of JSSdom ?? It’s been long overdue and I for one remember all my peers promising then to get together at some time in the near future, which after almost twenty years is slowly turning into the distant past.

So without further ado I invite folk who are keen to be part of a preparatory reunion committee to contact me so that we can start planning for this bash in the next couple of months . It’ll be great if we could at least have 3-4 representatives from each of the respective years during that period to serve on this committee. And for those cynics who would smugly dismiss this whole exercise as nostalgic drivel let me hasten to add that the whole reunion idea has been sparked by a desire to rid the school of the jaundiced view it has unfairly acquired and which has subsequently led to the loss of support from the local community. C’mon , giving a bit back ain’t such a bad idea no? This could be the start of a greater initiative such as a Friends of JSS Fund or something. And in terms of our present education crisis can we continue to just sit back and hope our shares rise in order to send our kids to ‘better schools’ when one is in the offing and just waiting to be nurtured??? Community engagement is so vital if we hope to make any progress!!

So in closing …yes, yes my rant is almost finished …what say we “celebrate the past to light the way ahead for other potential JSS’ers” ???? Remember that irritating chant we swore by … and won so many trophies with “Wherever we goooo, the people want to knoowo ….” Looking forward to hearing from you. My contact details

Email: Fatima.rahiman@gmail.com
Mobile : 0798737633
Home:0118377542
P.S Please feel free to pass this onto other ex JSSers you know.

- Thanx for the article Fatima, By the way I was a Lenzie...Good Luck with the reunion
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