Dubai College Caretaker Calls it a Day

Gulf News

Full Article here: See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos  As head caretaker of the British curriculum secondary school, where he has been working for 36 of its 40 years of existence, Sousa is the go-to man for anything anyone needs: from setting up classroom tables and getting the lights fixed to providing logistical support for an event or just finding something that’s missing. So when the 67-year-old Indian retired from service on Thursday (June 13), the warm farewell that the school staff and his 15-member team gave him was expectedly nostalgic.

Transcript

00:00You're not a man of words, you're a man of action.

00:04On the first day that I joined Dubai College,

00:07probably Deborah said that I should put Contessaire's number in my phone

00:11because it's the only number I will need when I work here

00:14and that has proved to be very true, hasn't it?

00:17So at least once, if not a few times a day,

00:21I will call Contessaire in some panic

00:24and he will instantly get to work, won't you, and fix it for me?

00:30Yeah, I think a lot of the staff have Contessaire on speed dial on their phone

00:35because if anything needs fixing in school, he's definitely the man.

00:42You have a memory like no one else for events,

00:47so lots of events at school are repeated.

00:49So we can call Contessaire and say we need 200 desks for an exam

00:53or we need tea and coffee for 100 people.

00:57And Contessaire has grown with the school,

01:00so you joined the school back in... when did you join?

01:03I came in 1983 from Goa and I joined Dubai College.

01:09And you worked for the first bursar?

01:11I worked for the first bursar. I worked there for about 12 years

01:16and then I worked in the second bursar for 23 years.

01:20Now I'm continuing with the new bursar.

01:25I've only been here eight years.

01:27I've been here nearly 17 years.

01:30And a lot of the students who've been through the school

01:34and their parents all know Contessaire.

01:38And each year we have a reunion for our former staff and students

01:45and that's held in London in November every year.

01:48And because Contessaire is so well known,

01:52we've invited him this year to come to London to the reunion

01:58to be our guest of honour.

02:00And so hopefully he'll be there

02:03and I imagine that lots of staff and lots of students will be there

02:07so this year I might even have to find a bigger venue to star a guest.

02:12And you're hoping to meet one of the...

02:15Who is it you're hoping to meet?

02:17I'm hoping to meet one of my favourite men, the first bursar, Tony Folger

02:22and the students, 1983.

02:26And quite a few students are now parents themselves

02:29and have children at Dubai College

02:31so they often come to see you, don't they?

02:33They often come to see me.

02:35They are telling their kids that this man is working here when I was a student.

02:42So 40 years ago we were given this plot of land

02:46and at the time it was just in the middle of nowhere.

02:51So I think the people at that time that started the school were very brave

02:55to imagine a school could be built and be successful on such a remote site.

03:00But of course the city has grown up around it.

03:03So now we're in the city.

03:06It was surrounded by desert, yeah?

03:09Yeah, it was surrounded by desert.

03:11There was no buildings, nothing around here.

03:14I think it's 19 acres, the site, altogether, isn't it?

03:17Yes, it is, yeah.

03:18So it's grown over the years.

03:20So we've added new buildings, haven't we?

03:22Yeah, we're pretty excited.

03:24At many of the events we do, year on year,

03:27we know that we're going to have to ring Constanceo now,

03:29not me and Goa.

03:30They're going to telephone you and say,

03:32where did you keep...

03:35Yeah, because Constanceo knows from previous experience

03:39how to set up all these different events

03:42and we're going to have to teach somebody new to do them all.

03:47So we're going to miss him.

03:49You've got an understudy, haven't you, a trainee?

03:51Yeah, we used to have two big events every year.

03:55This is seventh and this is tenth, rugby.

03:58So in 2017, Education Arabia had some awards,

04:04an award ceremony for teaching staff in Dubai

04:07and it was Deborah that suggested that we nominate Constanceo

04:10because there was an award called Unsung Hero.

04:13So we collected statements from lots of teachers

04:17and long-serving staff to add weight to Constanceo's case, really.

04:22And I'm delighted to say that he won the Unsung Hero award in 2017

04:27and we attended the dinner, didn't we?

04:29Yeah, we did.

04:30And Constanceo's got a very proud plaque

04:32and he went up on stage to receive his award.

04:34He was delighted with that.

04:35Constanceo is someone who you can always rely on

04:39and as I say, a lot of staff have him on speed dial on their phones.

04:44We can phone him at any time

04:46and we'll ask him for something on the phone

04:52and before we've even finished asking him, he's already doing it.

04:57So the call ends and we sometimes wonder,

05:01did he understand that? Is he doing it?

05:05But it's already done.

05:08But I think a lot of former staff and students

05:12have very, very fond memories of Constanceo.

05:17He's a very, very well-liked person in the school

05:20and we're really, really going to miss him.

05:22I would say Constanceo's a true gentleman.

05:25He never gets fazed by whatever we throw at him.

05:28Whatever time of the day or night we telephone him,

05:32he never shows any sign of crossness,

05:35even when he must be feeling it sometimes.

05:38He's a true leader.

05:40He has about a team of about 15 people that work for him

05:44and they all have as much respect for him as we do.

05:47So I know that his presence will be missed very much.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended