A college built on a foundation of love

St. Pauls College
Jules Van de Port

Brother Hermenegildus Beris: headmaster, teacher, traveller, Samaritan, Brother and one of the founders of St Paul’s College. In 1962 the young Brother of the Roman Catholic Church left his country, the Netherlands, to Namibia in order to spread the teachings of his Church and assist in the setting up of a school, St Paul’s College. This year, after more than 50 years of working in Namibia, he left to return to his homeland. As the Reporters’ Club we would like to commemorate this great man and share some precious moments of St Paul’s history.

In 1962, when the school first opened with 42 boys, the principal was Brother Ernestus. He served for some time but tragically passed away in 1966. A successor was needed and the Dutch born Brother Hermenegildus rose to the occasion and was appointed headmaster. Little did he know he would become St Paul’s longest standing principal to date as well as the most significant founder of the standard for the school for years to come. The school at the time was an all-boys hostel and run by a closely knit group of Brothers and Sisters from the Catholic Church.

Although the school was small to begin with, it quickly established a reputation of hard work and excellence from academics through to its traditional marching band. The early years were not easy as the school faced various unfortunate circumstances such as almost being forced to close down in the early 70s due to financial issues. However, thanks to the persistence of Brother Hermenegildus and his fellow Brothers and Sisters, the school was able to survive and continued growing at a fast rate. Most of the buildings today that were overseen by Brother Hermenegildus are still used at the College on a daily basis. In 1975 the decision was taken to allow girls to attend the school, which marked an important milestone in the school’s history.

By 1985 the school had grown so much that it was forced to close the hostel as more teaching space was needed for the rise in student numbers. In 1987 huge celebrations were held to celebrate 25 years of existence. These were also partly in honour of Brother Hermenegildus’ service, as it became apparent that he would be leaving soon. 1989 marked the Brother’s last year at the College and he would be replaced by his successor, Mr Sexon. Upon his departure the staff room was named the “Brother Hermenegildus House.”

In the years after his departure from St Paul’s College, being a Brother of the Catholic Church, he travelled all over Namibia and the world on missions to train, study and to lend his expertise where he could. His country of focus, however, remained Namibia and he helped to establish many projects in the country.

Brother Hermenegildus had been head of St Paul’s College in a key time which saw Namibia’s struggle for independence from South Africa and the apartheid regime first hand. Perhaps because of his foreign perspective he was influenced by what he saw and decided to make St Paul’s College one of the first mixed race schools in the country. This denied the school from competing against other white schools in terms of sport, but did not change the decision that was made; everybody is welcome at St Paul’s College.

A mere article does not do justice to the accomplishments and achievements of this great man and he will always be remembered by the school and elsewhere. The new state of the art Higher Centre of 2017 was named in his honour, The Brother Hermenegildus Higher Centre.