36 Fairlady/September 2019
osing a parent is never
easy, but to experience
it at the age of 15 while
you’re still facing the ups
anddownsof your teen years was
a colossalknock to Fiona Obeng.
‘I wasvery shy at school; I
nevertalked about my home life,’
saysFiona.‘I’d put up a front and
alwaysbesmiling at school, but
I knewthat when I went back
homethere would be no lunch or
foodforthat night.’
Fortunately, Fiona’s Grade 4
teacher,Mary Peters, sensed that
somethingwas amiss.
‘Sheknew that I came from
a verypoorbackground and that
mymomwas a single mother who
wasoftenill.’ Mary took Fiona
under her wing and began inviting
her to her home after school.
‘She’d make sure I did
my homework, and gave me
something to eat before taking
me back home.’ In class, Mary
also encouraged Fiona to reach her
academic potential.
‘She helped me realise that I was
intelligent.’ By giving Fiona some
special attention, Mary helped her
get through Grade 4 with a sense
of empowerment.
‘Even when I moved on to
Grade 5, she still made sure I was
eating lunch and participating
in extramural activities.’ The
confidence that Fiona had built
up, however, came tumbling
down in 1995, the year her mom
passed away. Ms Audrey Simpson,
Fiona’s English teacher, knew of
her mother’s passing and made
a point of reaching out to her.with high ceilings and tall, wooden
windows that let in the beauty of
the forest and the mountains that
tower over Newlands.
‘MsInneswasfirmandlovely,
andquitenutty,’saysCaryn.‘She
openeddoorsforme;sheopened
upmybrain.I’vealwaysbeen
artistic,butfroma Historyof
Artpointof viewherclasseswere
magnificent.Sheliterallytookus
aroundtheworldthroughart.’
WhenCarynfinallygotherreal
escapeafterfinishinghighschool
andstartingtotraveltheworld,
sheendedupinthevariousplaces
MsInneshadtaughtheraboutfrom
thosedusty
arthistory
books.
‘When
I wentto
Athens,
I toldmy
daughter,
“We’regettingupat sixo’clockin
the morning and I’m hauling you
up that mountain so we can look
at the Parthenon for Ms Innes!”’
Caryn laughs. ‘When I visited the
Musée d’Orsay in Paris, I stood in
front of the Renoir paintings and
just wept. I couldn’t control my
tears; they just poured down my
face. So much so that the other
tourists were taking photos of me,
and not the Renoirs.’
When Caryn met with
Ms Innes (who she now calls
‘Barbara’) 35 years later and told
her the stories of her travels,
Barbara was thrilled.
‘If you do something for a living
where you try and impart wisdom
to young people and you get this
kind of feedback all these years
later, it all makes sense because you
made a difference in someone’s life- and she certainly made a
difference in mine,’ Caryn says.
‘Ms Simpson became my
second mother,’ says Fiona.
‘I remember sitting in her
classroom and talking about
anything and everything. She
just allowed me to be; she never
made me feel that I didn’t belong.’
At one point, Fiona was feeling
particularly overwhelmed by her
circumstances.
‘I was blaming everything and
everyone, thinking life was so
tough and wondering why I had
to go through this. Ms Simpson
was the one who told me: “LifeMY SECOND
MOTHER
Fiona Obeng & Mary
Peters & Audrey Simpson‘When I visited
Musée d’Orsay
in Paris, I stood
in front of the
Renoir paintings
and just wept.’L
Fiona with her high school
teacher, Audrey (left), and her
primary school teacher, Mary
(right), in Audrey’s (and Fiona's
former) classroom at Glendale
Secondary School.