A fulfilling life of teaching for retired Umhlali Prep teacher, Rose Ferguson

How does one fully recount more than four decades of teaching at a single school?

And now, entering a new phase of life as a retiree, how does one begin the process of rediscovering yourself when teaching is all you’ve ever known?

This is the dilemma Rose Ferguson of Maidstone finds herself in after her retirement in December, bringing to a close 44 years of teaching at Umhlali Preparatory School.

While teaching was not the career path Ferguson had initially planned for herself, she fell in love with the profession when circumstances pointed her in that direction.

“I never wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps, becoming a teacher and school principal,” said Ferguson, who had first dreamed of studying marine biology.

But, she said, that quickly fell by the wayside when she had to dissect a frog.

“The frog actually did a little dance for me, but it could have been a reflex to getting poked.”

Ferguson confesses to suffering from a severe case of “bleeding heart syndrome,” and she realised her love for animals was better served outside of a lab.

Back to the drawing board, she decided to give a career aptitude test a go. The outcome indicated a path of either working with animals, or becoming a teacher.

“I remember my mother saying ‘teaching it is then, what do you think?’. Well, four years of studying later I found myself at Umhlali doing just that.”

Ferguson relocated from Westville to a farm near Glendale in 1974 and said she wanted to cry when she arrived in the tiny village.

“There was nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Placed at the school on a government posting, Ferguson said she simply had to make the most of her circumstances.

While the ‘bright lights of Umhlali’ had disappointed her at first, she now philosophically said “you cry when you get there, and you cry when you leave”.

Since that day she has taught every subject under the sun to Grade 4 and 5 pupils, who would at first be wary of Ferguson’s disciplinarian approach before growing to love her.

Two years after joining the school Ferguson found romance and married Duncan, with whom she shares two children.

From school life, she recounts one highlight vividly, saving a child from drowning.

“There was this one boy who was new and really could not swim. Before I knew it he had jumped into the pool and soon enough was gasping for air while frantically trying to doggie paddle his way to safety.”

Ferguson had to jump in to rescue the poor chap – fully dressed, bejewelled and with perfect makeup.

While she already misses her classroom, Ferguson is full of enthusiasm for this next chapter in her life.

“I’m thinking of taking up oil painting and really would love to travel a bit,” she said, adding that she loved teaching too much to not at least offer tutoring in her retirement.

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