Dear Editor,
A salute to Mr. Camille Baly, better known as Meneer Baly, my 5th and 6th grade teacher. I am Agnes Aventurin a former primary student of Lionel Connor School. Permit me to share some wonderful memories about my favorite teacher Camille Baly during this Black History Month 2022, a man who was blessed with insight, knowledge and wisdom.
Meneer Baly lived right next door to the Cole Bay Methodist Church with his immediate and extended family. He was the principal for many years at Lionel Connor School on Union Road, Cole Bay (presently located in Cay Bay).
He was one of the first black school teachers I knew of on the Dutch side of our island. I say this because most of my other teachers were Europeans and Surinamers. I am not certain if there were any other teachers of the black race teaching on our island before him.
Meneer Baly had a great stature, with full eyes. He spoke with authority and walked with confidence and people listened to him. As a matter of fact, even the elderly listened to him. I think the Cole Bay people were very proud that they had a man of the soil who went abroad studied and returned to his native island to educate our people. He gained much respect from the people of St. Maarten and especially in the village of Cole Bay.
I can remember him teaching 2 classes, the 5th and 6th grades, in one room, and we all did very well. Meneer Baly was a teacher who knew the ability of each of his individual scholars. He always encouraged me in particular to write and he nurtured other talents he discovered in me, which I had no clue of.
He was a father figure to many of us. My brother Carl was very intelligent, but he had many challenges so he skylarked a lot. Meneer Baly got on his case and did everything in his power to assist him and he eventually made it to 7th or 8th grade (which was then MULO) and then dropped out of school. There were many others he showed interest in; some listened and some did not.
I have finally been doing lots of writing of which one in particular is about Cole Bay and its people, one of which will soon be on the stands in bookstores for purchase.
A team of persons, in particular youths and young adults, and I are presently doing oral dramatization of daily Bible readings and circulating them on social media. While doing one of the recordings a few weeks ago it crossed my mind that I did something like this with my school teacher Meneer Baly. He had Eddy Lloyd and myself record the play “Ebenezer Scrooge”. We met at Lionel Connor School certain afternoons for recordings and he would have them aired on PJD2 radio around Christmas time. At the time the radio station used to be on Little Bay Hill. Here I am now doing the same thing with young people from our community of Cole Bay just as he did with me when I was a little girl.
He encouraged us to read, read and read. He could not emphasize enough on that. In those days we were taught in the Dutch language and English was a subject. He got the children to subscribe to Okkie, Taptoe, Kuifje (Dutch books). This was to help us improve in the Dutch language. I still possess one of those books in my home today.
He encouraged the class to write journals at least 3 times weekly. Mine never had an ending. I believe he saw my writing skills through my writing in class. When I got older I realized how important it is to write journals. As children we never asked questions. We did what was told to us.
Meneer Baly believed in educating his black people and exposed us to many things so we would be knowledgeable not only academically, but in different aspects of our surroundings.
He did a project in our school and brought in the police authorities to show us the different types of drugs/narcotics that were popular in those days and to also explain the danger of using them.
He loved nature. He took our class to Billy Folly Hill into the caves where the Caribs inhabited. I did not attend, and I was upset with myself after my classmates returned and shared their experience.
We visited many of the beaches on the island. He believed in beach picnics. He educated us even while we were on the beaches. It is because of him we know many beaches, their names and the little history of what he knew about the areas we visited.
Meneer Baly was very interested in herbs. So, he had an extra class whereby people could join him on Saturdays in the hills to learn about the different trees and their remedies.
He was such a marvelous storyteller and could recite poetry. He made us feel like we were actually in the story. There too, I see his influence on me, as I have followed storytelling workshops so that I could properly present and engage my listeners.
Zwarte Piet!
There weren't many outings during my school days. Hence, we looked forward to the few excursions. One of the trips we looked forward to was “Sinterklaas dag”. This event took place once yearly on December 5th, Sinterklaas dag. A bus took us to Cyrus Wathey Square in Philipsburg and we would sing our hearts out when the boat was nearing the pier. We sang “Zie ginds komt de stoomboot uit Spanje weer aan, Hij brengt ons Sint Nicolaas ik zie hem al staan, Hoe huppelt zijn paardje het dek op en neer” and “Sinterklaas kapoentje, gooi wat in mijn schoentje gooi wat in mijn laarsje, dank U Sinterklaasje”. As they were about to leave we sang “Dag Sinterklaasje, dag, dag, dag, dag … .”
We used to enjoy that event because when Sinterklaas came off the boat he brought sweets for those who behaved good. There were 2 or 3 persons whose faces were painted black with him. They carried a whip with them and also carried the bags of sweets and a few little toys over their shoulders. Chances were if we behaved good all year through we will be treated candies and if we misbehaved Zwarte Piet would punish those children. When they started coming towards the children they would make space for Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet to pass. Santa Claus and his helpers threw the sweets into the air or in between the school children and the children scrambled to pick them up from the streets. Sinterklaas and his companions would get into an open-top car and drive through the town throwing candies to the onlookers on the side of the streets.
One day this event suddenly came to a halt. What happened? The Cole Bay school children are not going to attend that event anymore. Why? It was not a positive event, and although the children looked forward to it we could not attend. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet demonstrated a negative message. Zwarte Piet was the one punishing the children who were bad that year and Sinterklaas was always white with a long beard – he represented a God. He treated the children who were “good” with candies.
Who stopped it? Meneer Baly. I never knew his decision had such a big effect on the entire Dutch side of the island until I met some other scholars who went to school in Philipsburg and while discussing this issue they too mentioned how unhappy they were that Camille Baly had managed to stop all the schools going to that event. I expressed how unhappy I was too. Only when I grew up did I truly grasp what he meant.
As an adult I had many encounters with Meneer Baly and we discussed so many things about life. He used those opportunities to continue encouraging me to write. I am fulfilling this gift through this short story with a walk through memory lane.
I am happy to have been taught by a man of his character and felt like sharing some of my memories of him.
I cannot and will not compare him with God. I, however, must mention that there are so many more things that I admired Meneer Baly for, but then my story will fill up this entire newspaper or other medium; which brings me to think on the Gospel writer John who remarked that there were so many other things that Jesus did; and if every one of them were written down, he supposed that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written on Him.
Camille Baly was an educator and cultural legend and a true powerful black man who believed in the advancement of his people, which I believe was formed under the flamboyant tree at the entrance of his gate in Cole Bay.
In memory of my school teacher and mentor Mr. Camille Baly, affectionately known as Meneer Baly: Happy Black History Month everyone!
Agnes Aventurin
