Up Close … with Marilyn Joseph, Director of Young Citizens movement |25 July 2017

‘I knew I wanted to be a teacher right from the get go’

Marilyn Efna Joseph (born Celina) has devoted her entire career to the development and education of Seychelles young people. She relishes that precious moment when a child's face lights up with excitement, that instant of understanding signaling the passage of knowledge. It’s for moments like these that Marilyn first decided to become an educator. As she turns 63 and contemplates her retirement, Marilyn reflects on her life so far.

Humble beginnings…

Born on June 18, 1954, Marilyn grew up at Roch Lane in what she describes as “a loving surrounding” consisting of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Miss Celina, as she is more commonly known, did not have the best start in life. In fact she describes her upbringing as a very humble one.

“We had a particularly hard life when I was growing up. My mother had to hustle, as the youngsters nowadays like to say.”

In order to provide for her family her mother took on several odd jobs, one in particular was picking up coconuts and such on Desroches Island.

“The only thing I recollect about moving to Desroches is being extremely sea-sick during the voyage. To this day I have an aversion to boats.”

At the age of six, Miss Celina moved back to Mahé to begin her schooling at Ste Thérèse, an all-girls Catholic school. There she found herself excelling in various subjects such as Mathematics, English and French. “Of course, back then we had to go to church every Sunday. On the following day the teachers would interrogate each one of us on what was said in the sermon, what hymn was sung and so forth. I was particularly active in religious groupings such as Coeur Vaillant.”

She speaks of these times with nostalgia; a time when children were more respectful and discipline was not just a word in a dictionary but actually practiced. Her hard work and discipline paid off as she moved on to Ste Agnes, which was a step away from Ste Thérèse, to receive her secondary education.

A career, a profession, a vocation

“I knew I wanted to be a teacher right from the get go. I never thought of any other career path apart from teaching. Some of my teachers at Ste Agnes prompted me to become a secretary but I was having none of that ‒ I could not possibly imagine myself sitting endlessly in an office. Helping children gain knowledge was an idea that thrilled me.”

Hence Miss Celina, without a twinge of regret, opted for Pre-Teaching school after she had completed her secondary studies. This was followed by a one-year teaching experience at her old school, Ste Thérèse. Convinced that this was indeed her vocation, she trudged on, passed her exams and was legible to attend the Teacher Training College at Mont Fleuri where she passed with flying colours.

A fully fledged teacher at last she had but one demand: to teach P1-P2 students. But alas, she received a P5 class.

“I was not thrilled at first; I had had my heart set on teaching the little ones. But I was pleasantly surprised with my P5 students and we had a grand time.”

Miss Celina later moved up to teach Form 1 (S1).

She joined the National Youth Service (NYS) in 1980 where she taught “a little bit of everything”.

Miss Celina was opportune enough to have taught in all four NYS camps: Cap Ternay, Ste. Anne 1, Ste. Anne 2 and Port Launay. After NYS she also taught at the School for Education and Polytechnic at Anse Royale.

Young Citizens

It's 2003 (or thereabout). Schools are abuzz with a new movement called ‘Young Citizens’, and Miss Celina was right in the centre of it all. ‘Young Citizens’ was a project on which she and Mrs Choppy worked diligently on in order for it to materialise.

“Young Citizens' objective was ‒ and still is ‒ to mould responsible youths. Youths that are aware of their responsibilities, of their roles in society and grow up to become role models,” she explains.

Young Citizens, which was an entity of the Ministry of Education, now falls under the responsibility of the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) with Miss Celina as director.

Family life

“I had my first daughter Christelle when I was 30. It was considered quite old back then to have your first child at that age. In 1993 I had my second daughter, Stephanie.”

Miss Celina instilled in them both an unyielding passion for learning. Christelle, now 33 years old, moved to Adelaide in Australia to pursue a university degree more than 10 years ago. She remains there to this day and has built a family of her own. Meanwhile, the youngest is currently in her fourth year in medical school in Cuba. It is evident from the manner Miss Celina talks about her daughters that they are her greatest pride and joy.

Retirement

For every retiree who is out and about smelling roses there is surely another grieving for the loss of an identity and a purpose. When asked which one she will be Miss Celina chuckled and replied: “Well, I’m not quite sure. I know I’ll be reading a lot, because I like to do so during my leisure moments, and watching my favourite TV programmes. If I get tired then I’ll go roam around and try to keep myself busy.”

She also has plans to visit her daughter and grandchild in Australia.

“I think it is time for me to retire, relax and let the youth take up the mantle, don’t you?”

Seychelles NATION wishes Miss Celina a pleasant and restful retirement.

By Elsie Pointe