A strict teacher and passionate political activist
By Alwyn Visagie
The teacher we’re featuring today is George Louis Abrahams - or GL as he was known to many - a teacher with a remarkable background. Born and schooled in Griqualand East district, he moved to Cape Town and received his teacher’s diploma at Battswood College. His teaching career spanned schools in the Free State and in Queenstown before he started teaching at St Augustine’s Primary. In 1959, he joined the Livingstone staff as a junior mathematics teacher. Because of his musical background (he was a pianist and singer), for a time he also taught singing at Livingstone.
What makes his story truly remarkable, is that GL had no mathematics qualifications. He taught himself to teach mathematics and, in doing so, could relate to areas in mathematics which presented learning difficulties and probably resulted in him adapting his teaching style and methods accordingly. Sandra Engel Johannes describes GL as a “maths genius and [one who] worked incredibly hard”, while Lynn Bosch says: “I really appreciated him. Maths became a whole lot clearer [and I] had great respect for him.”
GL aroused conflicting emotions among his students. He was very strict and expected total compliance and respect from them. Desiree Reisenberg recalls how scared she was of him and laughingly remembers the time when: “Dorothy Summers had dyed her hair such a reddish color and he was not impressed. He looked around the classroom and his eyes rested on me. ‘You, come to the front and get on the table!’ Wow, legs shaking, I did it. He said, ‘This is what a school girl should look like.’ My mom had still made me two plaits, I had my school dress on and white panama hat …. precious memories.”
However, Basil Leverman credits GL with being the “one who changed the course of [his] life” by motivating him. Trevor G Rossouw recalls: “Mr. G.L. Abrahams (my class teacher '76-77) and R. O. Dudley played a significant role in my life when I lost my dad through a tragic train accident in 1976. I contemplated having to leave school and join the 'work force of the employed', [but] they encouraged me to finish my matric, which I did in 1977 and I'm eternally thankful for their advice and counsel.”
GL Abrahams was a political activist and went to areas such as Genadendal and Caledon to address rural workers on their rights and the need for education. He was vocal in his opposition to the Apartheid government which resulted in him, along with Victor Wessels, R. O. Dudley and Allie Fataar, being placed under house arrest in 1961. Carol Corneilse and Akeela Kumandan remember him telling them: “Where there is no vision, the people perish. You must provide the vision” and “only the rich can afford silence.” His daughter, Ellen, recalls her father’s words: “You can play with a ball for 20 minutes, but you must learn and read for 40 minutes. The government can take away the ball, but never take away the knowledge you have gained.” GL left Livingstone at the end of 1988 to concentrate on his farm in Elim. He passed away on 20 January 2002 and, in accordance with his wishes, was buried in his birthplace of Cedarville (originally in Griqualand East, now in KZN). George Louis Abrahams, a remarkable man and one who made such an impact on the lives of those he taught.
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