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[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Uill dh’fhàg sibh ...

[Murchadh Peutan] Dh’fhàg.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] ... agus rud nach robh sibh a’ dol a dhèanamh a’ chor sam bith – teagasg – sin an rud dhan deach sibh.

[Murchadh Peutan] Sin an rud dìreach. Bha mi a’ faicinn, tha mi cinnteach, gur e seo an rud a bha freagarrach air na sgilean a bh’ agam agus ged nach robh mi, nuair a bha mi anns an oilthigh, ged nach robh mi ag iarraidh a bhith a’ teagasg, bha mi a’ faicinn nan rachainn a-steach a theagasg gum biodh cothrom agam ’s dòcha gluasad a-mach à Glaschu agus gluasad gu sgìrean eile ’s àiteachan eile.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Agus abair gun do ghluais! A dh’Afraga. Ciamar a-nis a chaidh sibh a theagasg ann an Afraga?

[Murchadh Peutan] Chunnaic mi sanas ann am pàipear. Bha iad a’ coimhead airson luchd-teagaisg. Aig an àm ud Am Ministry of Overseas Development, bha iad a’ coimhead airson luchd-teagaisg a dhol a-mach gu dùthchannan mar Ceinia, Sàimbia, Na Bathamas ’s chan eil cuimhne a’m dè na dùthchannan eile agus bhruidhinn sinn mu dheidhinn seo ’s rinn sinn suas ar n-inntinn - “uill chan eil Dòmhnall anns an sgoil fhathast agus ma tha sinn a’ dol a dhèanamh rud mar seo, seo an t-àm a dhèanamh” - agus chuir sinn, chuir mise a-staigh airson an obair ’s fhuair mi e.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Ann an Ceinia.

[Murchadh Peutan] Ann an Ceinia.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Teagasg àrd-sgoile.

[Murchadh Peutan] Teagasg àrd-sgoile. Bha mi a’ teagasg fiosaigs ann am baile beag mu dhà fhichead mìle a-mach à Nairobi.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Cò ris a bha sin coltach, a Mhurchaidh? Gu math eadar-dhealaichte, tha fhios, ri foghlam ann am Breatainn aig an àm sin.

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha e gu tur eadar-dhealaichte. Bha. Cha robh ach glè, glè bheag de na daoine òga ann an Ceinia a’ faicinn taobh a-staigh sgoile idir, idir, idir. Bha bochdainn uabhasach anns an dùthaich mar a tha air feadh Afraga air fad, agus bha iad a’ faicinn foghlam cho cudromach. ’S e an aon shlighe a bhiodh aca beatha a dhèanamh dhaibh fhèin a-mach às a’ bhochdainn, iad fhèin a thogail a-mach às a’ bhochdainn a bha seo. Cha robh a’ chòrr dòigh ann.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] So bha miann air foghlam.

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha miann eagalach aca air foghlam agus, fhios agad, nan tòisicheadh tu air sgeulachd innse dhaibh anns a’ chlas cha robh e a’ còrdadh ribh idir mur an robh e anns a’ chlàr-teagaisg. Dh’fheumadh iad dìreach faighinn tro na deuchainnean ’s cha robh a’ chòrr a’ cunntais ach sin.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Cuiridh mi geall gun robh Àrd-Sgoil Phort Rìgh beagan eadar-dhealaichte.

[Murchadh Peutan] Beagan eadar-dhealaichte.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Thig sinn gun sin a-rithist. Dè seòrsa beatha a bh’ agaibh ann an Ceinia? Taobh a-muigh na sgoile, tha mi a’ ciallachadh. Dè seòrsa caitheamh-beatha a bh’ ann?

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha e dìreach sònraichte. Bha e math dha-rìribh. Bha seòrsa beatha nach b’ urrainn a bhith againn ann am Breatainn. Bha, mar eisimpleir, bha còcaire a’ dèanamh a’ bhiadh againn. Bha fear eile a’ tighinn a-staigh uair anns an t-seachdain ag obair anns a’ ghàrradh ’s a’ dèanamh sin.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Bha sibh mar uaislean colonial.

[Murchadh Peutan] Dìreach agus bha sinn ag ràdh mus deach sinn a-mach an sin nach robh dad dhen sin gu bhith againn, ach nuair a thig thu a-mach an sin tha thu a’ tuigsinn gu bheil thu a’ toirt obair dha na daoine a tha sin ’s gu bheil iad ag iarraidh na h-obrach sin.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] ’S an do chord sin ribh a bhith, daoine a’ frithealadh oirbh mar sin?

[Murchadh Peutan] Chòrd! Feumaidh mi a ràdh gun do chord ’s thòisich mi a’ cluich goilf a-muigh an sin ’s cha robh fiù ’s agam na clubs agam fhìn a ghiùlan. Bha càdaidh agam a’ giùlan nan clubs fad na h-ùine ’s bha sin math.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Ach ’s e dìreach an dà bhliadhna a thug sibh ann.

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha cùmhnant dà bhliadhna againn agus rinn sinn sin agus mun àm sin bha Dòmhnall, mo mhac, bha e a’ tighinn suas gu aois sgoile ’s b’ fheudar dhuinn tilleadh air ais dhan dùthaich seo.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2011.

[Donald Morrison] Well you left ...

[Murdo Beaton] I did.

[Donald Morrison] ... and the thing that you weren’t going to do - teaching - that it what you went to.

[Murdo Beaton] That is the very thing. I saw, I am sure, that this was what suited my skills and although I didn’t, when I was in university, although I didn’t want to teach, I saw that if I went into teaching that there would perhaps be an opportunity to move out of Glasgow and move to other areas and other places.

[Donald Morrison] And you certainly moved! To Africa. Now how did you go to teach in Africa?

[Murdo Beaton] I saw an advert in a paper. They were looking for teachers. At that time The Ministry of Overseas Development, they were looking for teachers to go out to countries like Kenya, Zambia, The Bahamas and I don’t remember what other countries and we spoke about this and we made up our minds - “well Donald isn’t in school yet and if we are going to do something like this, this is the time to do it” - and we applied, I applied for the job and I got it.

[Donald Morrison] In Kenya.

[Murdo Beaton] In Kenya.

[Donald Morrison] High school teaching.

[Murdo Beaton] High school teaching. I taught physics in a village about 40 miles out of Nairobi.

[Donald Morrison] What was that like, Murdo? Very different, surely, to education in Britain at that time.

[Murdo Beaton] It was completely different. It was. Only very, very few young people in Kenya saw the inside of a school at all, at all, at all. There was terrible poverty in the country as there was throughout the whole of Africa, and they saw education as [being] so important. It was their only route to making a life for themselves out of the poverty, to lift themselves out of this poverty. There was no other way.

[Donald Morrison] So there was a desire for education.

[Murdo Beaton] They had a frightful desire for education and, you know, if you began telling them a story in the class they didn’t enjoy it at all unless it was in the curriculum. They just had to get through the exams and nothing else counted but that.

[Donald Morrison] I will bet that Portree High School was a little different.

[Murdo Beaton] A little different.

[Donald Morrison] We will come to that again. What sort of life did you have in Kenya? Outwith the school, I mean. What was the lifestyle?

[Murdo Beaton] It was just exceptional. It was excellent. The sort of life that we couldn’t have had in Britain. For example, a cook made our food. There was another man who came in once a week to work in the garden and do that.

[Donald Morrison] You were like colonial nobility.

[Murdo Beaton] Exactly and we said before we went out there that we weren’t going to have any of that, but when you go out there you understand that you’re giving work to those people and that they want that work.

[Donald Morrison] And did you enjoy that, people serving you like that?

[Murdo Beaton] I did! I must say that I did and I started playing golf out there and I didn’t even have to carry my own clubs. I had a caddy carrying the clubs all the time and that was good.

[Donald Morrison] But you spent just the two years there.

[Murdo Beaton] We had a two year contract and we did that and around that time Donald, my son, was, he was coming up to school age and we had to return to this country.

This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2011.