Apart from that, it was just another usual Friday afternoon. Everyone was looking forward to the weekend after the hassles of work and study.

A sudden commotion developed outside the school gate when a man, who appeared to be drunk, came marching in heading straight to the administration building.

“Yupla no nap kisim Mawe lo wok ken!” he bellowed. “Em blari ting em wanem kain man! Mi wod memba…mi em papa graun!…em ba noken kam wok ken!

“Mi tok em bai no nap kam wok ken lo skul!” he continued with his rant, “yupla kisim em ken, yupla tingting gut!”

All said with expletives thrown at no one in particular.

Confused teachers, students and passers-by looked on with no clue as to what was going on.

The raging, intoxicated, foul-mouthed man was none other than the local ward councillor, elected democratically by free and fair ballot. A pillar of the community who had presented himself in the most embarrassing way that was most unbecoming of a leader.

Such people of status are supposed to be keepers of the peace. They are not supposed to promote hostility.

I wondered what the constituency saw in him when they elected him. We tend to ask the same question about our national leaders.

The councillor, in his temporary madness, had already broken a number of laws of the land. Laws meant to maintain peace and good order.

It surfaced later that the drunken councillor had earlier passed by Mawe’s house and, without any provocation, verbally abused Mawe’s family. Apparently this was because of a previous unsettled local court case.

During this verbal assault, one of Mawe’s adult sons ran out and kicked and punched the councillor resulting in a few facial bruises.

Because the councillor, who had been a part of an all-night drinking spree, was drunk and could not reason how the events of the court had unfolded, he decided to come to the school where Mawe was employed as a night-time security guard and vent his drunken frustration.

After the ruckus the place returned once more to peace and tranquillity. The soothing melody and lyrics of Heal Our Nation flowed softly across of the school boundary.

And there it hung in the air.

“There’s a hunger
Deep within our heart
To see healing in our nation.”