A month ago, I woke up to the bad news of the passing of Mr. Bernardin Rutazibwa. It happened on Saturday 27th February 2021 in Kigali. I received a short message that said: "I have bad news for you, Mr. Bernardin Rutazibwa passed away”.  I immediately put the phone away and closed my eyes.

Later in the day, I noticed many other messages about his death from different sources. I quietly thought of him and meditated about the reasons why that French teacher meant a lot to me.

As I remember my time at the Lycée Clarté Notre Dame (LCND) in Burundi many memories came to my mind. LCND was Christian secondary school that started in the mid-fifties. Later it was renamed Lycée Vugizo following the deterioration of the relations between the Government of that time and the Church.

So, its name lost the religious connotation to be merely named after Mont Vugizo, the hill where the huge whitish buildings stand, overlooking the capital of Burundi. I will continue referring to it Lycée Clarté Notre Dame as it was called when I joined the high school in September 1979.

Back to Bernardin, as we affectionately called him, he started teaching there the following year. He taught there until 1994 when he returned to his native Rwanda.

Bernardin was tall. There was something smooth about the way he walked. For many of us who lived in the boarding section, observing the activities in the central court of the school was interesting.

We were very excited whenever we saw Bernardin coming to our class because we knew the following hour was not going to be boring! He took his teaching very seriously.

Our understanding of poems and other literary genres seemed to be a matter of life and death! When he taught us Lamartine’s famous poem "Le Lac”, he explained it with passion that I still remember clearly those moments and the poem. The theme of indifferent time that flies and of lost love marked the young teenager I was.

The week Bernardin died, I realized many of his students quoted that same poem as they remember him.

In addition to being passionate; Bernardin was a demanding teacher. His class was not synonymous with fun. He gave a hard time to some students to have them pronounce words correctly. He would have them repeat and repeat again until he was satisfied with what he heard.

He demanded a lot to himself too. Once, the education ministry decided to remove Greek mythology from school programme. That day he came to our classroom so angry as if that decision was a personal attack on his life. I remember him telling us that he preferred losing his job instead of letting us finish high school without what he considered a must on our curriculum.

He went ahead and taught us Andromache! He took serious risks to share knowledge and prepare us to excel.

Rutazibwa didn’t limit his work to the classroom. He gave us his time answering our questions and coaching us. My siblings and I grew up surrounded by books. I had an almost unquenchable thirst to learn and he was a generous teacher.

I remember following him after his class to seek advice on a poem or an essay I was writing. We also worked together as he prepared me for the national eloquence competition in which I represented the Lycée Clarté Notre Dame’s Arts Section. Our work paid off and Lambert Rangira from the Science Section and I were nominated the national laureates. Among other things, Lambert Rangira said this:

Bernardin’s physical appearance was impressive. His powerful voice commended admiration. When he greeted you, he also made a joke and conveyed a message…that was so important for the few of us who were Rwandese refugees. The special message to us was to work hard since we were foreigners. We are sad that he is no longer with us but we are proud and thankful for his life. May God grant him eternal peace.

I would like to highlight the immeasurable contribution of Mr. Bernardin Rutazibwa to my education and that of thousands of students. I thank him together with all our other Rwandese refugee teachers.

Bernardin influenced my studies and my love for Art and Literature. We are many LCND alumni who mourn the passionate and professional teacher he was. I dedicated him my Bachelor’s Degree in English language and Literature’s essay. His passing away on 27th February 2021 moved me and inspired me these words of gratitude.

The writer currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland

The views expressed in this article are of the writer.