Social Intelligence - Part Four: Managing the Dining at PBGS With Change

Making My Own Rules and Managing Risks in the Face of Disappearing Opportunities: How I Single-handedly Changed and Improved the Quality of our Meals as Acting Dining Hall Prefect in my Grammar School days.

INTRODUCTION: 

When I became a boarding student in Form Four or Class Four, I never for once thought of being saddled with the responsibility of managing students' feeding in less than two months. So, when my friend Alfred, then the Dining Hall/Food Prefect invited me over to the Dining one afternoon and told me of his intention to put me in charge of Food and Dining, I was in a state of shock, knowing full well that students riot on school campuses are most often, food and feeding-related. He was a very smart student and was about to travel to Lagos to sit for the General Certificate of Education examination, popularly referred to then as the GCE. Then, I was quite younger than he was. I had a lean frame. Besides, I was new to the boarding system, and the last time I was in a leadership position was when my Headmaster in my Primary School, made me the Mail Boy - going to the Post Office to drop up and pick up mail, that's it. This time, the DP assured me that he gave me the position because managing Dining Hall and Food is not about size, but being intelligent and at the same time, being able to command the respect and trust of the student body. By the way, the instant DP succeeded a gentleman, who is presently a Barrister and Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

For me, starting was not easy. The Deputy Dining Hall Prefect was a Form Five student, in the same class as Alfred who handed his responsibility over to me. As expected, the gentleman was very uncomfortable with the power that I wield. I was acting in the position of the Dining Hall Prefect, and he couldn't do anything to eject me or override my decisions, even though he was my senior. Besides, I was doing a great job that he and the Dining Hall Prefect couldn't have attempted or imagined as you would see later. There was also the Stall Prefect, who was a Form Four student like me - the one who manages and takes inventory of the foodstuffs in stock. He is the one who contacts the Bursar about what we need. He has about three junior students assisting him in the Stall. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the Dining Hall Prefect to ensure that the Kitchen staff (Kitchen women as we called them) prepare our meals. Also, he supervises the sharing and the organization of the Dining Hall during meals. And now, I am in charge of all that. Unexpectedly, my friendship ballooned. Some of my Day-Student friends would always come over to my "corner" (that's my room) every morning to have their breakfast. It was fun. And I was doing a great job.

At the end of the First Term, there were still plenty of foodstuffs left in the stall - food pantry - unused. So, on the last evening of that First Term, the Food Prefect and I went to the Stall to take inventory of the unused foodstuffs. As I watched, he divided the leftover into many portions for the top Prefects in his class, all Form Five Students. I received a bag loaded with rice, milk, a can of tomatoes, Sun Light Soap, and Margarine. It was huge. I took it to my room and shoved it underneath my bed. The next day, I took the foodstuffs home with me for the Christmas break. When I opened the bag or discharged the contents, my Mom wasn't amused. She told me to take them back to where I brought them. Initially, she was very adamant about her demand. I assured her that it was part of the leftover in the storage - I didn't steal the food items, I assured her. (Saying it as if it is the tradition). I sat down and explained to her how I got my share. But she wasn't really comfortable with the whole story. It was that experience of the leftover that prompted me to make some drastic changes in the quality and quantity of food or meals that we serve our students the following Second and Third terms that I was at the Dining Hall.  When we returned for the Second Term after the Christmas holiday, it was business as usual, but this time, my involvement took a dramatic, but more commanding and assertive tone. 

THE MAIN STORY

Initiating Drastic Changes, without Ceremony

The Watery Stew

One evening after a meal of rich, I went to Mama, the Head Cook, and asked her a very naive,  but never before asked question. I was simply curious about the watery nature of our rice stew, and why it wasn't as thick and juicy as that of my Mom at home. So, I put the question her, why the stew is always watery and not as thick as my Mom's own. As I was about to complete my statement or question, all the Kitchen women stop what they were doing and stood up to stare at me, not able to make meaning out of what they just heard. Mama beckoned to them to calm down. She asked me politely: My "Pikin" (for my child), how many of you does your Mom cook for at home? Just me and my immediate elder Sister, I responded. Then, she threw a bombshell; "your Mom’s stew is thick because she has plenty of tomatoes and onions to prepare her stew for just you and your sister. I cook for about 450 of you here every day, and I have to ensure that all of you have enough stew to eat your rice." At that juncture, I interjected and asked her politely, yet naively, if it is the shortage of tomatoes and onions that make her stew watery. She said yes. Then, I asked "if I give you more tomatoes and onions, your stew will be better and thicker? Mama stood up and said, "yes my Pikin". And she walked away to the inner room. (By the way, Mama has been with the Grammar School since the very first day in 1959, and more than twenty years later, she is being told that her rice stew is not thick enough).  

After my encounter with  Mama and her Kitchen colleagues, I went straight to the Food Stall. Luckily for me, the three junior students assisting the Stall Prefect were still there. I asked them how many cans of tomatoes they provide for stew each day. They gave me the exact number. Right there, I told them, starting from tomorrow afternoon, you guys must start adding half of that quantity of tomatoes and onions for every stew - a 50% increase in content. They all said okay, senior. That became the standard until I left that School two years later. The best is yet to come.

Separating Stones From Rice

One evening after a meal of rice, I did not find a single stone in the rice (To my Nigerian audience, they know what I am talking about). So I went to the Kitchen to thank Mama and her staff for doing a good job removing every stone from our rice. When I got there they were doing some cleaning. I stood there, but Mama was not there. One of them called out, and when Mama responded, the lady that called out said, "he is here again." Mama came out and said, "how are you doing my Pikin?" I told her everything is okay, but that I come to thank her for the good job she did this afternoon separating every stone from the rice she prepared for us.

Mama came closer to me and said, my Pikin, "we did not remove any stone from your rice today." I was in a state of shock. Then, who did? I asked. "Nobody", she replied. I was still looking perturbed, then she said, "the type of rice you gave us to cook today, does not come with stones." "It is a different brand of rice, different from the type we cooked for you the day before yesterday." Still, in a state of shock, she told me to follow her to the Food Stall. (Normally, Kitchen Women do not go to the Food Stall, but this time, Mama and I broke the rule and we went inside). She said "this bag and this bag have stones in them", pointing at two bags of rice. Then she said, holding the side of a different bag, "this is the one we cooked for you today. It has no stone in it, and the same with that over there." Pointing at another bag of rice not yet opened.  And she walked out of the Stall, leaving me in my adolescence world. I grabbed a red pen or marker and marked the two bags of rice with stones.

I went to the Dining Hall to fetch the Stall Boys. Inside the Stall, I instructed them never to take rice from the two bags with red marks. And they replied, yes, senior. And that, my friends, became the rule - the beginning of rice meal without stones at the prestigious Pilgrim Baptist Grammar School, Ewohimi, founded in 1959. The year was 1980.

There was no ceremony, no consultation, no deliberation, and no permission from anyone. It was an opportunity I didn't want to fly by. Also, there was no objection from anyone, not even the Food Master when he was told weeks later. (I will come to that later). 

In hindsight, I was unknowingly using my privileged upbringing to measure the quality of meals my fellow students deserve. And I did that while in an acting capacity as the Food/Dining Hall Prefect. By the way, the Boarding System started when the Grammar School was opened in 1959, with Mr. George Washington - an African American - as the founding Principal. Then, I was not born. Years later, I was to change history effortlessly, and unannounced. The best is yet to come. And I was in Form Four, and in an acting capacity.

Changing and Improving the Quality of our Meals and Preempting Riot and Protests in the process. 

Before I accepted the post, I already knew that most of the disturbances in Grammar School are feeding-related. I also knew that once a rumor of student protests started to circulate in my School, the Food Master do not always spend the Night in his Official residence at the Staff Quarters. I made up my mind to preempt, by every means possible, any form of student protest or riot. To achieve that, I have to change and improve the quality of our meals, without adding to the feeding budget. Because of the leftover that I experienced at the end of the First Term.

After spending just a month in the Boarding system, I knew that students do not like APC/Tablet, which stands for Yam and Stew. I also knew that their favorite meal is Rice and Beans, otherwise known as AROBELE, followed by Rice and Stew, and Beans and Pap (cornmeal), as well as Bread/Egg/Tea in the morning.   

What I did was simple: APC was reduced to twice a week, and rice and stew were increased to five times a week. And Arobele - students’ favorite - was increased from twice a week to four times a week, leading to a drastic reduction in Yam and stew, as well as Eba and Egusi soup. I did something else. I realized that each time we serve Bread, Egg, and Tea in the morning; we always have tons of bread left over. What I did was to have two extra loaves of bread on each table. Given that we have four students at a table, each student would then have a loaf and a half in the morning, instead of one loaf as it was in the past. 

Again, there was no deliberation or consultation about the decision. No question and no objection from anyone. The Stall boys loved it. And the Kitchen women loved it. And the Deputy Dining Hall Prefect didn't really know what I was doing or how I was running the kitchen and the Dining Hall.

Once, I was reliably informed that students were planning to riot over some inarticulate grievances, and I made up my mind to take feeding out of it, if at all. The very night the riot was to take place, students were fed with Eba in the afternoon, instead of just APC. And in the evening, instead of just Rice, they were served AROBELE. So, on that particular evening, they were caught unaware. Rice and Beans, aka, AROBELE, did the magic. That was it. No ground to grieve. After the meal, students just went to class and later on went to bed, without a sign of grief or resentment of the Food Master/Bursar or the Principal.

Most of the students just assumed that the Principal and the Food Master have decided to improve the quality of our meals. Not knowing that one of them is engineering the drastic changes. (My diligent collaborator was not even the Stall Prefect, but his unofficial assistant who was then in Form Three. (A fine Custom Officer at the time I left the country years later).  But something unusual happened the following morning.

A disgruntled student, disappointed that no riot took place, went and dropped the School Bell inside the School Well (underground water storage). And without the Bell, you cannot organize students or the School. There was complete paralysis of activities the following morning. It was around about 9 a.m. that one of our students sighted the Bell inside the Well, located by the Dining Hall. With the School Bell found and retrieved, the order was restored and the Principal was able to organize the morning Assembly meeting as usual. 

That afternoon, I came to the Dining Hall a little bit late. As I walked in, I was met at the entrance by the Food Master. He came to me and asked: you must be Alex, and I replied yes, sir. Then, he said, "they told me much about you." He shook my hand and said, "thank you so much for all that you have been doing here in the Kitchen and Dining Hall." Then, he took me to the stall and told me that he has removed the bags of rice that came with stones and assured me that he will not supply that type of rice again. The feeding patterns and the quality of the meal stayed that way until I graduated from school.

I was a Form Four student when it all happened. I was as old as the regular or average class four student then, so you should be able to rightly figure out my age.

Success in leadership is this: you must first have the ability (insight)  to know and understand that something isn't right. As a guide, do not start by asking yourself if you can change it or make the situation better. Start by finding ways to make the situation better, be willing to ask a question, and confront rejection. 

On the other hand, if you are not in a position to implement the changes, look for others who are better situated than you to implement the changes. And if you are right, as I have always been, you do not need to do much convincing. It is about moral judgment, believing that your conscience is pure and the truth is in your favor. It started by never failing to ask a question. Above all, be willing to learn, be gracious about accepting corrections, and be prepared to stand your ground, if doing so is the best approach. It is about common sense and taking action.