Disciplinarian Clare Juma of St Joseph’s Convent High School passes away at 70

The Matric section headmistress retired in 2010

KARACHI: No detail was too small for Clare Juma, whether it was an unpinned school uniform sash or a leave of absence application handed in without an envelope. This is the stern stuff teachers are made of. And with Mrs Juma’s passing on Thursday, St Joseph’s Convent High School’s matric section mourned one of its best disciplinarians.

Mamma Clare, as she was referred to fondly by close colleagues, worked at the school in Saddar for more than 15 years. She died of chest congestion which developed into pneumonia after she was hospitalized for about a week. “She had a very serous case of Alzheimer’s which got to her very fast,” said her eldest son Khayam Juma. “It was so bad that she could not recognise anyone and could not do anything on her own.”

Clare, a Goan Christian, was born on August 12, 1942, the third of five children, who all went on to careers in teaching. Indeed, her husband and children followed in the same line. Mrs Juma had a rich career before arriving in Karachi as she had taught in places such as Morogoro, Tanzania and Dar-es-Salam.

When Mrs Juma left school in 2010 to go on medical leave, headmistress Sr Julie Pacheco sorely missed her support.”She worked on the academic side on each and every child and would apprise me of each one’s issues and problems,” she said. The school had section for struggling students, and Mrs Juma chose to work with them the most.

Ex-student Tehmina Waleed recalled how she once wrote that she was absent from school over a domestic problem but instead of ignoring it, Mrs Juma and Sr Julie took an interest and actually called her in to the office to find out exactly what had happened.

“Miss Juma was an important part of SJC,” added student Sahar Khalid. “She was a magnificent teacher who cared and understood the girls so well. We were fortunate to have her as our mentor and her strict principles undoubtedly have a positive impact on our lives.”

Indeed, Mrs Juma was just an encouraging at home. “She was unlike other mothers-in-law,” said Audrey Juma, the wife of her youngest son who was the closest to her. “She supported me a lot after my marriage, looked after my children and pushed me to do my PhD.”

Clare’s sisters Rose Correa and Margaret Correa remember her as a loving and devoted sister. “She was full of life and her students liked her a lot for that,” said Rose who also worked with her at SJC. Her son Khayam pointed out how she wielded such authority at home that she never needed to shout; all she had to do was say it and it would be done.

Colleague Mrs Azra Kamal, who was her best friend since college, will miss her cooking. “She would cook innovative dishes like daal with potato,” she remembered. “We used to go together to university and never lost contact after that even when we married and moved to other countries.”

Mrs Juma leaves behind three sisters, Rose, Margaret and Joyce, and brother Leo, her husband, two sons and a daughter. Her funeral, which is scheduled to take place at St Lawrence Church, is on hold till her sister, Sr Joyce Correa, arrives from the Philippines and her daughter Sahifah Indrias flies in from Ireland.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012.