Northern Rhodesians Worldwide
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Message Board
Anyone know anything about old NR SR and Southafrican stamps?
I found an envelope (spring cleaning, without much success), containing, amongst others, two l916 SouthAfrican 3D stamps. I also have quite a few Zambian first day covers from l964 - 1972. If anyone ha s any ideas of where on the internet I might find a buyer please email me. There are some really old Belgian Congo stamps as well as UK coronation in the 20's.
Thanks
Meg (I was attacked today by a manic dentist, who looked more like a surfer, with bloodshot eyes and an unhealthy zest for drilling. 4 injections and half an hour of terror, I emerged battered but not down, hence the terse posting of this evening.)
Meg Rybicki (formerly Margaret) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Mullanyduff, Co Leitrim, Ireland
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 22:47:26 (UTC)
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Hi campers I am back at last after suffering to much with the dreaded PC lurgy, this is a little test piece for me it may bring on a smile to some of you I hope. Johnny.
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car. Both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they just went on through. The
woman in the passenger seat thought to herself, "I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through red light." After a few more minutes they came to another intersection, the light was red, and again they went right through. This time, the passenger was almost sure that the light had been red, but was also concerned that she might be seeingthings. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention. At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they blew right through it. She turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know that you ran through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us!" Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh Shit! Am I driving?"
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Johnny [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Scarborough, United Kingdom
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 22:24:38 (UTC)
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Ronald Dobkins, Ken Jones
Best wishes on your birthday
New world record Golden Perch caught at Kasaba Bay, Lake Tanganyika in the Zambia National Fishing competition 2004 by Alan Mc Nab.
24.2 kg perch on 6 kg breaking strain line !
Not the biggest one ever caught, but the biggest one every caught on a line. The previous one was caught in a net
Arthur - you'd better include Lake Tanganyika on your next trip
Kevin Shone
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 14:52:01 (UTC)
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Dear Friends,
Now retired have moved to Spain temp. e mail address is churchjw@yahoo .com.
Other smile for to day
Englishman, Scotsman and a Irishman were discussing how far back they could remember. The Englishman said he could remember sitting in his pram, the Scotsman said he could remember the nurse hitting his backside when he was born, the Irishman said he could remember going to a dance with his father and goig home with his mother.
Jimmy
Jimmy Churchil [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 10:38:21 (UTC)
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A smile for the day. From a news incident:
A man and his wife found a bat in their bedroom one night after leaving the window open. The man went after it with a broom sending the poor thing into a frenzy surpassed only by that of his wife who ran round the room screaming. Ten minutes after the bat happily escaped out of the house a police car drew up and two officers got out.
Apparently neighbours had seen the bedroom window silhouettes of a man swinging a broom and shouting: "Get out you bat!" while a woman screamed and ran round the room. Someone had called in a domestic violence report and as a result the man spent an embarrassing ten minutes explaining before the officers accepted that his wife was not the bat in question.
Tina Magee (née Wallace) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Texas, United States
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 07:24:46 (UTC)
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For the CapeTonians going to the delayed Met this weekend, the bet is Yard Arm to win from Red Badge and/or Wolf Whistle. Take the trifecta a million times
Chris Swart [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Kitwe, Zambia
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 07:14:49 (UTC)
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Thanks Niel
Living in Sheffield obviously keeps you sharp. It was I who found that the escape button brought up the messages quicker. I used to use it with windows 98 but now I have xp pro and an ISDN connection I had forgotten about it. Alzhiemers no doubt!
I am going nowhere slowly for the Easter hols starting tomorrow or Friday along secondary roads, to see some of South Africa that I haven't seen before. I will head in the general direction of Capetown but if I get fed up along the way I will short circuit it.
Cheers - Doug
Doug Grewar [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vryheid, Natal, South Africa
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 18:26:33 (UTC)
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David Street.
If the pending registration is the same David Street as in Risk Management Services, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman then GNR had better watch out because the Oman contingency has just been increased by 25% to a total of four registered members.
Oak trees from little acorns grow.....
David Hoyle [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Muscat, Oman
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 16:31:35 (UTC)
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Craig,
Sorry - I forgot to tell you... check your lotto ticket here: http://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/results.cfm
Good luck! Hopefully, we'll see you very soon.
Sue Coughlan (née Forde) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 15:46:53 (UTC)
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My mother on behalf of the Swiss Embassy is looking for Peter Durr who lived in Pedro Flats in Dunlop Avenue in 1967 Ndola. The Durr has two little dots above, I dont know how to do that with my office computer.
Chris Swart [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Kitwe, Zambia
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 14:18:51 (UTC)
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Sharing lessons learned....
E-Bay - for those bidding on E-Bay - send me a note with your email address. I can give you a few hints on sniping....
Those in Canada and travelling on Air Canada - I love sitting in business class but do not want to pay... I have a few ideas on how to upgrade to business class at no cost... Also on how to travel for example to Perth Australia from Fredericton here in Canada in Business Class with a stop over in NZ for $1,500 canadian....
Peter Dielissen [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 12:23:35 (UTC)
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Doug Grewar,
You don't have to wait for the whole page to download. If you press escape after, say, 5 seconds, just the first few posts appear, 10 seconds, and more etc. I'm not claiming to have invented this one by the way, I saw it in a post here a few months ago, and it really works.
Neil.
Neil Smith [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Sheffield, United Kingdom
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 08:28:06 (UTC)
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Arthur
I didn't get bitten by a mosquito whilst in Zambia either -as Snoopy would say "Just call me Joe Cool!"
Great idea of yours to use my 1964 NR telephone directory to source street names in Broken Hill/Kabwe. I will find it and do a bit of photostatting/scanning and pass it on to Charlie and yourself. Should be easy - don't know whether the petrol pump had a phone number! Hope the scanner is able to accept a slightly bigger size than A4.
Cheers
David Gray [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
South Africa
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 07:56:34 (UTC)
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HALT!
I will have NO nasty-ursians cast onto our Craig OR his indupitable pink thongs!
Don't you know that pink is the politically correct colour and the spaces where rubber no longer clings are badges (although unseen) of many miles travelled - many hands shaken, also a free passage to many odours which might otherwise not have an outlet?
The moral of this story is; where ere you be let your wind blow free... or in this case, have pink thongs, will travel many lands leaving no bad odours in your wake.
All hail the non-tee totalling, pink holed (feet) Cupid otherwise known as Guru Craig!
Sue Coughlan (née Forde) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 01:27:18 (UTC)
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Arthur,
I resemble those remarks! As someone who shall remain nameless said to me recently in reference to something else, I guess I just carry a strong alpha male scent. :) My friends in Perth will surely come to my defence... any minute now... guys? Hello?
Doug G.,
I have often thought about archiving the message board weekly, but for people who might only check it on the weekend they might miss something if they skip a weekend and don't go looking in the archives. We have a better message board planned with the oft-touted "new" GNR, but the trick is integrating it with our existing membership database so that everyone doesn't have to register all over again.
If it's any consolation, I do develop ulcers wishing certain parts of the GNR worked better. I know nobody wishes that, but I'm just trying to say that by no means am I sitting in a little dream world where I think that the GNR is perfect and doesn't need any changes to make it better. Nobody is suggesting that either, of course.
Heather,
Yes, too chicken. :) Congratulations on your achievements in Cape Town.
Jill,
Depending on how much one has had to drink, a thong or thongs can be worn anywhere... on one's head for instance ;)
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 23:11:53 (UTC)
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ARTHUR
many apologies for not replying earlier to your email unfortunately I dont check that address as often as I should - the wifes address is a better proposition!!
by the way the Kabul Wienands say you are lying!
FRASER MATHIESON
likewise with the apologies, sorry that it has taken over a fortnight to find you message! but as we haven't spoken for 27 years whats a few days! Gatooma 1977(probably shouldn't say it on this site but I still miss that dorp) you have obviously been lurking, now is the time to come forward and help with street names on the BH map. Will reply to your message direct.
CHARLES
sorry that I haven't replied to some of your previous to me but im back for a few days, at least between us we got my Sister to post! going back over old ground I always thought the word foefie (often spelt fufee on a lot of SA sites) was derived from the sound of the galvanised water pipe passing over the 8 guage fence wire. Ada tells me she thinks it is derived from the state of ones underwear after a going on a scary one!
Sean married Mr cruikshanks daughter who was the owner of Proctors Garage- Sean sold me my first car a Renault 750, this replaced a Vanguard pickup. I'm finding it very difficult to put names to streets, but I only lived in the town for a year.
Chris Cantrell [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 22:06:53 (UTC)
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Heather
Well done - I knew you'd do well, as always, all the hard work has paid you back. Fantastic.
David Gray
I never got bitten once by a mozzie when I was over in Zambia, perhaps this was because one of my two travelling companions had large quantities of the odorant 4-methylphenol?
I wonder if anyone at the Perth Crackerjack party noticed the sudden decline in bluebottles and blow flies flying around them as they usually would have in a place like Australia? All those pesky birds too seemed to have an unhealthy attraction to something in the air or in the vicinity. I could not help but notice that a certain person was the only one getting dive bombed by tseste flies and putsi's in the car on the way back from Mvuu. Could this be put down to a pair of far travelled and highly dosed 4-methylphenol impregnated pink slops?
The boffins have also just noticed methane on Mars. I know where that came from, he's been travelling everywhere.
There seems to be a spate of articles recently on the BBCi website regarding hopeful new research on a cure/prevention of malaria.
Here are a few:
Mosquito immunity clue to malaria
West stands accused over malaria
Chemical key to mosquito biting
Drug cocktail 'may beat malaria'
I'm going with the Indian answer, and will now carry round a fish as well as fly spray when I go to visit one of the fly ridden metric outposts of this planet.
CJ
I have had no response other than what has been posted on the message board. But, I have remembered something, Dave Gray told me a long while back that he had an old telephone directory of Lusaka, which by coincidence also had a directory of Broken Hill numbers I think he said, along with addresses. You two need to get your heads together and go through the directory taking down the names of all the different street names in Broken Hill, send me the list and I will put it up on the board with the draft map again. Memories may be jolted when people see the names, hopefully you wont have to get "Chuckky" to post again.
Ada
My new address is Kabul. Afganistan.
I will send you a postcard, someday.
Please hit the contact below and send me a message, I wrote to you recently and it wasn't spam this time, but have not had a reply. Let me know when you are both up this way.
Marg de Lange
Please also hit the contact button below and send me a message, I sent you an e-mail a few days ago and it bounced right back, but I suppose that's Canadians for you.
Arthur
Arthur Steevens [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Stockport, United Kingdom
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 18:45:07 (UTC)
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Heather
Congratulations on the awards. The Get-Away exhibition seems to have been badly advertised in the Durbanville area so I'm afraid I missed it. Why didn't you give the Capetonians a hint that you were going to be in our fair city???
Malaria Breakthrough?
The following appeared in the Sure Travel "Times" for Autumn 2004:
'After AIDS, probably the biggest killer in Africa is malaria. But there is good news - researchers have finally identified what it is that makes you so attractive to the Anopheles mosquito, the little beastie that is the carrier of the deadly disease. Yale University's John Carlson recently announced that he and his team have identified how the little critter finds its way to you. Rather than your body heat (which was previously widely believed to be the attractant), it turns out that the culprit is actually your sweat, or more precisely an odorant in it called 4-methylphenol. It is this odorant that the mosquito homes in on. "So whats so important about this?" I can hear you asking.
The answer is that rather than preventing or curing the disease through various drugs, or by trying to eradicate the mosquito through widespread use of insecticides, we now have the potential to solve the problem by avoiding getting bitten in the first place. Now that we know what attracts the mosquito in the first place, scientists can start working on screens that ensure that the mozzie doesn't pick up that you are even there. Another possibility is that we can start making decoy traps using 4-methylphenol to attract mosquitos and eradicate them far more efficiently. Seems a bit unfair I guess, but all's fair in the war against malaria I suppose!
Hope it works!
Cheers
David Gray [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
South Africa
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 15:13:06 (UTC)
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Molly
I saw Jeremy Taylor perform live at a pub close to where I live about 7 or 8 months ago and I purchased his CD with Ag Pleez Deddy on it. It is produced by Gallo Record Company, and is also marketed and distributed by them. The only reference on it is 'CD Red 608'. It also has The Ballad of the Southern Suburbs,
Lift Girls Lament and many others you may recognise. It was a wonderful evening and we even managed to speak to him after the performance. It was an excellent evening.
I hope that this helps you in some way.
Arthur
My matches are dry waiting for the right moment!!!
Hope you are well. We will be up your way in the summer, maybe we could meet up somewhere. I know you won't tell me your address just in case!!!
Ada Cantrell (née Wienand) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Hastings, East Sussex, England
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 09:13:38 (UTC)
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Yesterday, I popped over to the new Cape Town Convention Centre to say hello to Heather, where she was exhibiting at the Getaway Show. Impressive stands, with a lot of public interest! In all, a worthwhile endeavour and Zambia was well represented – they deserv their awards.
At one of the stands, I spoke to a young man raising money for the restocking of Sable and Roan Antelope in Kruger National Park. I was shaken to hear that predation, and a form of ‘Equine Flu’, have reduced numbers to 200 and 55 respectively. During my Nimrod days, in the mid-70’s, K120 bought a Roan or Sable Antelope hunting license at Chilanga. Quite a sobering thought.
Chris Cantrell,
I recall Sean Hayden well. If I’m not mistaken, he lived at the end of Jasmine Street for many years when he was with ZBHD Co.; and a stalwart member of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Zambia. Another BH stalwart of that august body was John Rutledge, who taught at King George V1, and was awarded Honorary Life Member in the early ‘70s alongside such prominent names as WFH Ansell (wrote “Mammals of Northern Rhodesia”), Norman Carr and David Shepherd (who need no introduction).
Arthur,
Sir Roy lived at 24 Central Avenue, in BH, for some 30 years. Has anyone pinpointed its location yet? Other streets that come to mind are Wallace and Marshall Avenues, and Luapula Street. How many street names do you have now?
Regards
Charles Cartmill [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Stellenridge, Cape Town, South Africa
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 08:14:33 (UTC)
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Molly
Try this...
AG PLEEZ DEDDY
(The Ballad Of The Southern Suburbs)
Jeremy Taylor
Ag pleez deddy won't you take us to the drive-in
All six, seven of us, eight, nine, ten
We wanna see a flick about
Tarzan and the Ape-men
And when the show is over you can bring us back again
Chorus:
Popcorn, chewing gum, peanuts and bubble gum
Ice cream, candy floss and Eskimo Pie
Ag deddy how we miss
Nigger balls and liquorice
Pepsi Cola, ginger beer
and Canada Dry
Ag pleez deddy won't you take us to the fun-fair
We wanna have a ride on the bumper-cars
We'll buy a stick of candy floss
And eat it on the Octopus
Then we'll take the rocket ship that goes to Mars
Chorus
Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling
We wanna see an ou called Sky Hi Lee
When he fights Willie Liebenberg
There's gonna be a murder
'Cos Willie's gonna donner that blerrie yankee
Chorus
Ag pleez deddy won't you take us off to Durban
It's only eight hours in the Chevrolet
There's spans of sea and sand and sun
And fish in the aquarium
That's a lekker place for a holiday
Chorus
Ag Pleeeeeez Deddy - VOETSEK!
Ag sies deddy if we can't kraak to bioscope
Or go off to Durban, life's a henguva bore
If you won't take us to the zoo
Then what the heck else can we do
But go on out and moer all the outjies next door
Rob
Robin Stevens [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Southport, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 07:49:09 (UTC)
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Words to "Ag Pleeze Daddy" follow:-
Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the drive-in
All six, seven of us, eight, nine, ten
We wanna see a flick about
Tarzan an' the Ape-men
An' when the show is over you can bring us back again
Chorus:
Popcorn, chewing gum, peanuts an' bubble gum
Ice cream, candy floss an' Eskimo Pie
Ag Deddy how we miss
Nigger balls an' licorice
Pepsi Cola, ginger beer
and Canada Dry
Ag Pleez Deddy won't you take us to the fun-fair
We wanna have a ride on the bumper-cars
We'll buy a stick of candy floss
And eat it on the Octopus
Then we'll take the rocket ship that goes to Mars
Chorus
Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us to the wrestling
We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee
When he fights Willie Liebenberg
There's gonna be a murder
'Cos Willie's gonna donner that blerrie yankee
Chorus
Ag pleez Deddy won't you take us off to Durban
It's only eight hours in the Chevro-lay
There's spans of sea an' sand an' sun
And fish in the aquari-yum
That's a lekker place for a holi-day
Chorus
Ag Pleez Deddy - VOETSEK!
Ag sis Deddy if we can't kraak to bioscope
Or go off to Durban, life's a heng of a bore
If you won't take us to the zoo
Then what the heck else can we do
But go on out and moere all the oukies next door
Chorus
This certainly brings back memories!!!
June
June Dobson (née Jocks) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 07:43:21 (UTC)
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Molly
Note your reference to a song from the 'dark' distant past. All that comes to mind other than the tune is: -
Ah plez Daddy won't you take us to the movies or was it bioscope.... All six seven of us eight nine ten.
We're gonna see..............
Chorus went something
Pop corn, chewing gum...........
Now you've started something, the tune is in my mind but the words do not come forth.
Well done, hopefully other members will recall parts and in time the whole will be achieved?
Bob Eglinton [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lincoln, United Kingdom
Monday, March 29, 2004 at 06:32:40 (UTC)
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Thanks Peter
I am bidding on it!
Cheers - Doug
Doug Grewar [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vryheid, Natal, South Africa
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 15:28:01 (UTC)
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Take a peek.... Book on NR to Zambia
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3597561264&category=1123
Peter Dielissen [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 10:06:53 (UTC)
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Greetings GNR. A little fun!
LETTER FROM A FREE STATE FARM KID, NOW DOING BASIC TRAINING AS A COMMANDO
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell my boetie Wouter and my other boetie Koos that being in the Kommandos beats working for Oom Piet by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 am, but am now starting to enjoying sleeping late.
Tell Wouter and Koos all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some thing. No varke to feed, no cows to milk, no mampoer to mix or braai wood to split. Practically nothing. Manne get to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on fruit juice, pap, eggs, bacon, etc, but short on steaks, boerewors, chops, potatoes and other regular food like vetkoek. But tell my boeties you can always sit between two dorpies that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed again.
These city boys can't walk much. We go on "route" marches, which the Sergant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our postbox at home. Then the dorpies from the city get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.
The country is nice, but awful flat.
This next will kill my boeties with laughter. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a dassie's head and doesn't move at all. And it isn't shooting back at you like those bliksemse Venter boys from the next door plaas. All you have to do is lie there all rustig like and hit it. You don't even have to make your own cartridges. They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with the dorpies from the city. I have to be really careful though, they break real easy. It's not like fighting with Swart Duivel, our old bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this platoon except for that Groot Jan Jordaan from somewhere in the Noord Transvaal. He joined the same time as me. But I am, only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he is 6'8'and weighs over 300 pounds, dry.
Be sure to tell my boeties to hurry and join before other okes find out about this Kommando setup and come stampeding in! Your loving daughter, Ester.
John Milton [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth Western Australia, Australia
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 08:40:00 (UTC)
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Heather - congratulations to the Zambian Tourist Board and you selling The Real Africa! And getting some awards. Will you be exhibiting at the Joburg Getaway Show?
Craig, we call them slops here - thongs are definitely NOT worn on the feet!
Jilly
Jill Aplin [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
South Africa
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 08:16:29 (UTC)
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I would love to hear from anyone who might have the words to Jeremy Taylor's :
Ah plez Daddy will you take us to the movies....popcorn, chewing gum, peanuts and bubblegum...etc and
The lift girls lament......which goes something like...We are the lift girls going up form floor to floor....don't lean on the buttons please, don't lean on the doors...Hey, take your hands off me..Who do you think you are..I might go a thousand feet a day, but I'm not going to go that far! ...Going up.
They were a lot of fun, and I often think of the words, from the 50's. - particularly when I travel in a lift.
It has been so exciting linking up with this wonderful web site, I have met up with many old buddies, and I've only been a member for a week....
My thanks to all concerned.
Molly Bence (formerly Angus and Hawksley) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
NSW, Australia
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 05:52:31 (UTC)
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Heather
Very well done. There's a feather in your cap, Heather, if you'll excuse the pun. Great to see that the promotional effort is paying off.
Perhaps when you have time you could outline how the event is organised and who and what is involved in Zambia's participation as I'm sure many members would be interested.
Having mentioned time, I can't for the life of me think where you find enough of it anyway, what with your business interests to look after, magazine deadlines to meet, and the extent of your involvement with the GNR.
I hope you are able to enjoy interludes of calm, some R and R, in the midst of what appears to be a pretty hectic schedule.
Again, congratulations.
Ray Wright [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 04:47:09 (UTC)
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Heather,
Congratulations on the awards. We have just got back from S.A. and we are busy scheming on how we can get back to visit Zambia. See you soon!
Cheers!
Ron Sayer [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 01:54:03 (UTC)
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Heather,
CONGRATULATIONS!
Very well done! Safe journey home.
Sue & Paudie Coughlan
Sue Coughlan (née Forde) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 00:30:01 (UTC)
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Craig - you were just too chicken to try out the rough riders!
Serious now.
Am in Cape Town at the moment where Zambia has, for the first time, exhibited at the Cape Getaway Show. We have had an enormous response but most important of all is that we have won two of the eight (I think) awards - the Getaway Heading Out and the Best Southern African Country. All the hard work of the last few weeks has been worth it.
Charlie Cartmill
Please phone me on 082 5004929 - I don't seem to have your phone number
Mo
Sorry I didn't post on your birthday - was travelling and varius other things, but I did remember. Hope it was happy
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 19:50:49 (UTC)
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Bridget, Craig and others... RE the Thongs.......in New Zealand they are known as "Jandles" true......cross my heart........oh and I have a dear 17 year old daughter who loves pink thongs/flipflops etc so Craig don't worry about the detractors, someone else loves them...giggles
Ali
Ali Key [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 16:22:37 (UTC)
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Doug
Really sorry to hear about your dad. Please pass on my condolences to Len and the rest of the family.
Bridget
Bridget Billany [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 13:31:32 (UTC)
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Hi Doug,
Sorry to hear about your Dad. If you want Rolfs email I have it.
Regards Bill
Billy Laing [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Stevenage, United Kingdom
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 11:40:02 (UTC)
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Craig
With the increased membership and amount of postings the board takes a long time to load down later in the month. Maybe it could be broken down into 52 weeks instead of 12 months so we don't have to waste time downloading a lot of stuff we have already read?
Regards - Doug
Doug Grewar [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vryheid, Natal, South Africa
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 08:10:01 (UTC)
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Doug and Peta Hall and family,
I am very sorry to hear of the untimely passing of your Dad Ken who was my neighbour in Murundu. Ken was a tough guy and proved this when he went on a fishing trip in his last days. That's the way to go.
I often thought if I was going anywhere near Pietermaritzburg I should look him up. Now it is too late. Another link with the old days gone. Hamba Gashle Ken!
Doug Grewar [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vryheid, Natal, South Africa
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 08:03:24 (UTC)
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Doug Hall:
My very sincere condolences on the death of your father.
June.
June Dobson (née Jocks) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 07:01:55 (UTC)
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Didn't we call slip slops, or flip flops "Bata Tropicals" in Zambia?
Don't get me started on terminologies. I have to be very careful what I call things over here in the States as some names have a totally different meaning.
I remember when I went for my driving test, it was hilarious. I was saying things like, "Is it okay to toot my hooter in traffic?" and the driving inspector gave me such a quizzical look. They honk their horns over here, and tooting a hooter is something different and naughty. Bonnets and boots are hoods and trunks.
Even the bleddy dogs don't understand "voetsek!"
Linda Hayes (née Dore) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Austin, Texas, United States
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 05:54:29 (UTC)
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Doug Hall and the Family
Deepest condolences on the sad loss of your father.
Paudie and Sue Coughlan
Paudie Coughlan [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 03:06:17 (UTC)
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Doug,
My condolences on the loss of your father. I admire the trip he took after his chemo.
Bridget,
Yes, they call what I have always called simply slops "thongs" here, and in Canada actually. The reason they became an issue was because of a posting Sarky Arthur made here a few days ago about my slops/thongs. At least one can buy a decent pair of slops here; my attempts in Zambia were unsuccessful, as I had a choice between something that could be seen a mile away and studded ones that would make my feet feel funny.
Moira,
Happy belated birthday. Sorry I won't make it up there on this trip, but stay tuned -- something interesting is in the works.
Arthur,
You're welcome. :)
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 01:03:42 (UTC)
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Doug Hall & Family.
Our sincere condolences on the recent sad loss of your father. Our thoughts are with you and all the family.
Gary (Brasso), Natasha & Scott.
Mo Stevens.
How about "Mosi" or Chubuku (after the beers) as a name for your elpant! Delighted U had a great birthday.
Gary.
Gary Brassington [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Banbury Oxon, United Kingdom
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 22:44:51 (UTC)
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GNR,
I would appreciate you posting these two photos of my dad who passed away today.
My message: - "Dad - my fishing buddy, rest in peace in the big fishing spot in the sky.
Ken Hall - Ngwezi Houseboat with mad Joe and Doug Hall - Okavango River 2003
Ken Hall - the last Tiger - Okavango 2003
Love, Doug, Len, Peta, Jackie and Lee."
Doug,
My sincere condolences to you and your family on your sad loss.
Arthur
Arthur Steevens [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Stockport, United Kingdom
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 21:51:33 (UTC)
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R.I.P Ken Hall 5/5/1926 - 26/3/2004
Hi all,
I seem only to post bad news, but then I've had a bad year with 6 family deaths already in the last 12 months!! I guess this is what being in your 50's is all about, but I am optimisitic enough to have as my motto something that I heard from a hunter Rolf Rouwer in Lusake in 1973 "Remember, next year this will just be a memory". With that thought uppermost in my mind I announce that my dearly beloved father Ken Hall, passed away in Hilton this afternoon at 4:30. He was first diagnosed with lung cancer (probably from Muf. Mine) last year in March, and still managed to drive himself for a fishing trip to Okavango - Botswana after 5 months of Chemo in September 2003. Those such as Doug Grewar will know he lived in Murundu plots, outside Mufulira from 1956 to 1976, some of the happiest times of my young life.
May he rest in peace.
Doug Hall.
Douglas Hall [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 19:31:13 (UTC)
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Hi
Must have missed something important about the pink thongs as I knew nothing about them before opening up the Perth photos - WOW!!
Where does "thong" come from? I thought it was a piece of underwear my 16 old daughter wears. We always had "slip slops" until coming to the UK when they suddenly turned into "flip flops"! It's funny how somethings just set you apart and "banner" you as Zambian - slip slops, short shorts, a certain way to hold a beer whilst listening to a conversation, (Paudie had that in one of the Perth photos), and dancing......... nobody dances quite like a Zambian!
Hope you are all well. Loved the Perth photos. My son is going over to Australia for a year later this year but will only be on the East coast. He spent 10 weeks there a couple of years ago and loved it - was determined to go back after finishing university. Funnily enough he spent that summer in Australia, the following summer in Mexico and the year in between in America, (at uni), and he did asked what possessed me to settle in the UK after leaving Africa!! God only knows! Looking at the photos of Perth whilst a bloody gale was blowing outside really made me wonder.
Bridget
Bridget Billany [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 15:40:57 (UTC)
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Chandru
Thanks for the tip on the new Alexandra Fuller book. I enoyed the "Dogs" so much I can't wait for May 1 and its arrival. By that time I'll have the hammock slung between a couple of trees, a cooler filled, and ready for a visit to the old haunts in my mind.
Thanks again, and I see it got a good review. BobS.
Robert Summers [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Dayton, Ohio, United States
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 14:28:41 (UTC)
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Paudie and Sue,
Thank-you very much for everything over the last week. I enjoyed myself immensely and I am quite sure I will be back soon.
Peter,
I should be in Vancouver at that time. Will contact you via e-mail when I get a chance sometime before Wednesday next week.
All members and pending members,
I may not get much of a chance to answer e-mail or activate new memberships between now and the middle of next week. Thanks for your patience.
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 04:31:07 (UTC)
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Alexandra Fuller (author of "Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight") will be coming out with a book in May, 2004 titled "Scribbling the Cat: Travels With an African Soldier" published by Penguin Books. Here is a link to a review:
http://www.aaabooksearch.com/Book/1594200165
Chandru Krishna [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Rockville, Maryland, United States
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 03:50:01 (UTC)
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G'day
Well... sadly, we put our Craig onto the flight last night after he'd treated Paudie and I to a delicious Indian dinner. The week flew by. It was great to have him here and show him our home city - Perth.
Thanks everyone who managed to make the gathering at such short notice and thanks again Marilyn for all your help. It was very nice to meet and greet all of you.
Craig's Crackerjack Party involved lots of beer and chats, some snacks, more beer and chats, a fabulous pig-out dinner, then dancing to the pub band 24-Seven.
A very civilized and happy way to conclude the evening especially since Perth was in the middle of a heatwave. The day we took Craig to Rotto it was 42 degrees! Hence the red faces.
So the sunshine made us proud, the Koalas behaved and didn't urinate on him, the wild Pink & Grey Galah in the park also behaved, however the Green 28 parrot got him square in the crown. We think the reason he couldn't get close to the wild kangaroos at ECU was those pink thongs!
Yesterday, he got to feed some Roos at Caversham Wildlife Park, became intimately (?) aquainted with a cheeky Cockatoo called Charlie. We couldn't tear him away!
Craig even recorded his conversation which went something like this; ''Hello - Hello - How Ya Goin? - Hello - Polly want a cracker? (Silence) G'day Mate! - Hello - Dance Cocky - (mots of up and down movement) Hello...'' etc. Riviting stuff!
Craig also just missed being christened by the smelly end of a Wombat so I made him buy a lotto ticket at Hillarys Boat Harbour after lunch. Of course, he'll have to return to Perth to collect his winnings! We can't wait!
Sue Coughlan (née Forde) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 02:38:58 (UTC)
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I have been inundated with good wishes for my birthday! THANK YOU to everyone who sent me messages - it warms one's heart to be remembered. I had an excellent day ......... after being spoilt by my kids with dinner and a night's stay at a top class resort, I was taken to birthday breakfast the next morning. Spent the rest of the day cruising the beaches and shops with my daughter and then came home to a wonderful surprise ...... a carved wooden elephant that stands 32 inches high and 42 inches long!! So, now I need a name for her - any suggestions people?
Happy Mo
Moira Steevens [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Brisbane, Australia
Friday, March 26, 2004 at 01:57:41 (UTC)
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Craig, Sue & Paidie!
Thanks for posting pictures of the recent Perth Party. Great to put a face to a name at last. Everyone looked to have had a wonderful time as all GNR reunions tend to result in. Craig - good to see U looking so well too. Paudie & Sue - looking as happy as ever together.
Best regards to all - Gary Brasso.
Mo Stevens.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE. Miss our chats.
Love & best wishes - Gary, Tash & Scott. XXXXX
Gary Brassington [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Banbury Oxon, United Kingdom
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 22:34:33 (UTC)
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Ross
What happened to your arm? Next time kick him!
Craig
Looks like you had a great time! The sun must be very hot there as everyone is looking quite red in the face. Or is that the effect of the vino. Paudie seems to be settling in real well and already looks like an Aussie.
Cheers
Doug Grewar [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Vryheid, Natal, South Africa
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 18:11:37 (UTC)
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Hi Craig...
I will be in Vancouver May 30 - June 4 likely staying at the Sylvia hotel. I am at a conference at UNB June 2,3,4 during the day.
Lets make a date and meet for a beer! Maybe some others can join us?
...Peter
Peter Dielissen [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 16:30:27 (UTC)
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Mo Steevens
Happy Birthday me old mate. Hope you have a good one and don't forget to have a glass of mature (!!) Aussie wine for me too.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Carole
Carole Evans (née Bruce) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Doncaster, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 14:07:10 (UTC)
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Craig........ Hope you enjoyed your stay in Perth (an understatement?) and have a safe trip home... Sue and Paudie Great photos of Perth etc.......they reminded me of the places I took my Aunt from Krugersdorp when she came and stayed...and yes she also fell in love with the place.........Ali
Ali Key [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 01:08:24 (UTC)
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My brother Robin and would love to get in touch with old friends form theJean and Gilbert Rennie School (1956-1963) in Lusaka.
Molly Bence (formerly Angus and Hawksley) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
NSW, Australia
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 23:10:44 (UTC)
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Pictures from Craig's Crackerjack Party
Here they are finally. I am making this post on behalf of Sue. For the benefit of the ladies that were are the party I disclaim any and all liability for the selection of photographs. Please address any complaints to Sue. :)
If I have made any mistakes with respect to names, please let me know and I will make any necessary corrections.
Ali Key and Gavin.
Clive and Marilyn Noall.
Clive Noall dancing with Meredith.
Clive Noall and Paudie Coughlan.
Craig Hartnett and Clive Noall.
Craig Hartnett and John Steers.
Craig Hartnett and Marilyn Noall dancing. (At least Marilyn can dance! Not sure about the guy on the left.)
Derek Dutton and Lorraine Bloodworth.
Derek Dutton, Marilyn Noall, Craig Hartnett and Clive Noall.
Eamon Coughlan and Peter Anderson. (And Hazel Forde walking by in the background.)
Gavin, Craig Hartnett, John Steers and Sue Forde.
John Steers, Moreen Myles, Craig Hartnett, Jeanette Anderson and Steve Bloodworth.
John Steers, Moreen Myles, Craig Hartnett, Peter and Jeanette Anderson, Steve and Lorraine Bloodworth.
Katja King, Lorraine Bloodworth, John Steers, Mick King, Moreen Myles, Craig Hartnett, Peter Anderson, Jason King, Jeanette Anderson, Steve Bloodworth. In front are Eamon and Paudie Coughlan.
Hazel Forde and Marilyn Noall.
Jeanette Anderson.
John Steers and Sue Coughlan.
Marilyn Noall and Meredith.
Marilyn Noall.
Moreen Myles and Lorraine Bloodworth.
Paudie Coughlan, John Steers, Eamon Coughlan, Steve Bloodworth and Chris Forde.
Ray Wright.
Ray Wright and Bill Thomson.
Steve and Lorraine Bloodworth.
Around Perth with Paudie, Sue and Craig
Perhaps not as exciting, but some humorous commentary/titles from Sue. :)
Chris Forde enjoying a beer.
"Look at all these birds hanging off me."
Craig in a hammock.
"Jeez Jezza, see dem pink thongs."
Craig in King's Park with the Perth CBD skyline in the background.
Craig in King's Park with the Perth CBD skyline in the background.
Craig in King's Park.
Craig and Paudie waiting for the ferry to Rottnest Island.
"You know I only like the black ones." (A pink and grey galah eating out of one of our hands. Sharp claws!)
Craig looking at the lunch menu on Rottnest Island.
Applying sunscreen dance. (Paudie and Craig applying sunscreen on Rottnest Island
"Where are we again?" (On Rottnest Island.)
"No, too far to walk back." (Craig and Paudie wading on the shore of Rottnest Island.)
The ultimate office.
Nginga. (I hope you know what that means, because I don't.) Craig on a rented bike on Rottnest Island... reading the rental agreement. Note the helmet safely secured where it won't be damaged by someone's head.
The famous pink thongs.
A thong too far.
Paudie and Craig in a "semi-submersible" boat looking through the windows at the marine life.
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 21:57:49 (UTC)
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Steve de Lange, Syd Mack, Stewart Yesner
Best wishes on your birthday
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 05:35:09 (UTC)
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Still here all, Haven`t posted as the arm is very crook now and I`ve not to agravate it before the op, the surgeon say`s. Still looking in though.
Rossley Gillies [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Leicester, United Kingdom
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 11:53:56 (UTC)
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Jimmy Turner, Bob Tring, Ronald Thompson, Lee Kohl
Best wishes on your birthday
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 05:25:14 (UTC)
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Very interesting Paudie.
And if Internet information is to be believed, "you Australians" get plenty of the "Little Shag" which is half the size of the New Zealand varieties such as the Spotted Shag which, I am informed, can occasionally be seen (spotted?) 'in impressive formations' off Kaikoura Peninsula." That would be a sight to see!
Craig, and all you lovely Perthites, glad you are having such fun. We are certainly cheering for you and having more fun than is legal with your postings.
Hugs to all,
Tina
Tina Magee (née Wallace) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Texas, United States
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 03:38:43 (UTC)
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Craig's Perth Party
Thanks to all the Perthites who managed to get there at such short notice. Craig was delighted to meet you all. Sue and I enjoyed meeting up with the people who were previously only names on the GNR. It's great to put faces to names.
The party started off in a reserved area of the beer garden at the Breakwater Tavern at Hillarys Boat Harbour. For non - Perthites this is a resort marina on the coast at Hillarys, a suburb about 25 minutes drive north of the city centre. It has about 10 quality restaurants and a number of entertainment venues with live music. Anyway, at about 8.30 we moved into the main lounge area, where a massive table had been set up for us. The food was excellent, as was the service, and of course the company was great. The band started playing about 9.30, and most of us got to dance and boogey away. All in all, a good time was had by all.
It was a good turnout considering that there was such short notice.
Attendees were:
Craig Hartnett
John Steers
Eamon Coughlan
Steve and Lorraine Bloodworth
Mick and Katja King and young son Jason
Janette and Peter Anderson
Paudie and Sue Coughlan
Moreen Myles
Chris and Hazel Forde
Ray Wright
Marilyn and Clive Noall
Alix Key and partner Gavin
Derek Dutton
Meridith Eaton
Bill Thomson
Interesting to note that of the above, six were attendees at Gary Brassington's very successful GNR Banbury Bash in UK in Sept 2002 (Paudie and Sue, Chris and Hazel, Eamon, and Craig). And two attended the Livinstone Lark in Zambia last year (Crig, and John Steers).
Craig will be putting up some photos of the party soon. We're keeping him busy sight seeing around Perth and environs. and he does have to spend time running his business through his laptop. Regarding "the Lucky Shag Bar", a shag in this instance is a sea bird. I suppose they could have called it The Lucky Sea Gull, or Albatros or Herron, but The Lucky Shag Bar sounds much more fun!!!
Paudie Coughlan [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 01:10:20 (UTC)
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I just got back from holiday and have been catching up on the Board.
Interesting to read about Ndola's Len Catchpole. He would definitely qualify for a "Reader's Digest" Most Unforgettable Character.
Everything people have written about him is true, and have only scratched the surface. I lived next door to him on Kenmere Ave., and he was forever trying to entice the News embibers to switch their loyalty from Tony Blake's Coppers to the E&C., with some success from time to time.
I went in the E&C one afternoon and noted to the barmaid Betty, don't ask how I remember the name, I've no idea, that Len's brother Jack was not working. Her answer has stayed with me and been repeated at numerous "when we" gatherings, "Oh, Jack's hanging around Broken Hill today".
Len Jr. wrote me that his Uncle Jack had moved to Johannesburg, I believe, and died there a few years ago.
In a country of characters, they were near the top of the list.
Robert Summers [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Dayton, Ohio, United States
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 21:20:37 (UTC)
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Craig:
Happy holidays in beautiful Perth. It was great meeting you. You look very relaxed and still sporting your African tan, we noted.
Happy travels.
Sue and Paudie:
Thank you for all the hard work in getting us together on Saturday. It was so nice meeting you at last and still on honeymoon, hey!
Alix, Ray, et al. Great to see you all again. Keep well and take care of yourselves.
Ray, coffee on the meny?
Marilyn
Marilyn Noall (née Shooter) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 06:24:24 (UTC)
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Birthday greetings for yesterday to Stephen Smith, Allan Glazer, Kevin Sharp, Pam Smillie and for today to Bill hunt, Hamish Macdonald, Ed Rybicki and Richard Best
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 05:54:36 (UTC)
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Really good find, that article, Douggie W. Great post.
p.s.
"I see you are still at it" That's a bit personal isn't it? Ohhhh heh heh I see what you mean now. Confused for a minnit.
Tina Magee (née Wallace) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Texas, United States
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 03:17:32 (UTC)
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Welcome to the GNR Keith.......
Ali Key
Ali Key [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 02:32:38 (UTC)
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I only came across The Great North Road web site recently and have been amazed at the excellent quality and quantity of its contents. There is so much to read and so many really interesting links to follow. Fortunately I have not been THAT busy at work recently.
I worked as a young engineer at Chililabombwe (aka Bancroft) Zambia for 3 months in 1968 in an undergraduate vacation job. I returned for my first permanent job after uni from 1969 to 1972 and worked at NCCM, Chingola. The first and last days of my 3 year contract were on the anniversary of Rhodesia's UDI, November 12th.
My social and sporting life revolved around Nchanga Rugby Club and the highlight was probably our Far East Rugby tour in 1971 to Ceylon, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong with stopovers in Nairobi and Bombay on each leg of the journey. A lowlight was being one of many Nchanga players who boarded a flight in Ndola to take us back to the Copperbelt after our 3 teams had played down south. We had one more passenger (say 25) than boarding card (say 24) and squeezed 4 of us onto a row of 3 seats with the arm rests raised. Eventually, armed police came on board to help the flight attendants sort out their miscreant passengers. Things rapidly deteriorated and whilst many of us disembarked, evaded security, escaped from the airport and hitch hiked back up north, several ended up in prison and the British High Commissioner had a busy few days assisting not only the poms but the S. Africans and Rhodesians amongst us. Another memory of those days were the (non rugby related) weekend trips across the border to Lubumbashi for sophisticated "Belgian" evenings in dark bars with lots of velvet curtains, marble or copper bar tops, shiny mirrors, barmen called "Pierre" and testing/tasting a vast range of their incredible cocktails.
After arriving in Perth, Western Australia in 1988, I have come across 10 or possibly more people from those days in Zambia. They are mainly working in the mining industry based in Perth head offices. Looking at the Great North Road web site shows that there are many many more ex-Zambia people here. The weather and life style here are excellent, like Zambia, and we have better beaches!!
I am pleased to be able to add my bit of news to the web site.
Best regards,
Keith Binns
22 March 2004
Keith Binns [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Monday, March 22, 2004 at 01:48:49 (UTC)
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An interesting article from the NY Times Online edition today . Who could have predicted such a reversal of fortunes ? I find it very ironic having farmed in both countries .
Doug W
ps Tina , I see you are still at it ......... but if the Irish don't like the Scots it also have been Surface to Ayr .......
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Zimbabwe's White Farmers Start Anew in Zambia
The New York Times | March 21, 2004 | SHARON LaFRANIERE
CHISAMBA, Zambia — Douglas Watt is part of a most curious diaspora in Southern Africa: prosperous white farmers, vilified as greedy racists and driven out of Zimbabwe, looking for a home.
Mr. Watt left the country of his birth about a year ago after what has become a common sort of encounter there. The husband of a worker in the office of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe politely told Mr. Watt that he was taking over his farm and that Mr. Watt had 90 days to get out.
Today Mr. Watt is one of about 140 white Zimbabwean farmers who have relocated to neighboring Zambia hoping, many say, for a mix of racial harmony and political stability that will enable them to prosper and contribute to black Africa.
For the farmers and for the Zambian government, the migration amounts to a new experiment on an issue central to the whole region: how do whites fit in?
While Zimbabwe has been uprooting its white farmers in an aggressive effort to redistribute colonial era landholdings, Zambian officials, if a trifle warily, have rolled out the welcome mat. They are hoping that farmers like Mr. Watt will breathe new life into the nation's moribund farming economy, which has been mired at the rake-and-hoe level since the mid-1970's.
For their part, some transplanted farmers say they have learned from their experience in Zimbabwe that they need to integrate, not just prosper, if they want to be accepted.
Mr. Watt drove around Zambia for three weeks before he found 1,600 acres to lease near this one-street village with a post office, police station and food market north of Lusaka, the capital. Pasture and brush a year ago, the gently rolling land is now five feet high in green tobacco plants tended by 240 workers. Huge yellow sheaves of tobacco are hung to cure in 15 shiny sheds by a new blocklong warehouse.
Mr. Watt has sunk $900,000 into his new farm, most of it borrowed from a bank and from the Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, based in Richmond, Va. "I have put every cent I have into this," Mr. Watt, 38, said, sitting in the dining room of his new ranch-style house. "I've got more invested here than I ever did in Zimbabwe. We will be an asset to the country."
Mr. Watt's move continues a long pattern of whites, increasingly uncertain of their welcome, who have hopscotched around the southern end of Africa in the last four decades.
His shift reverses that of his parents, 40 years ago. Back when this Texas-size nation was still called Northern Rhodesia and chafed under colonial rule, Roy and Ria Watt grew tobacco and corn on 4,000 lush acres. In 1964, when white minority rule crumbled and the country became Zambia, the Watts, fearful of their future under a new black-led government, fled to Zimbabwe. Today their son is convinced that his parents bet on the wrong country.
Douglas Watt describes Zambia as everything that Zimbabwe is no longer: racially tolerant, law-abiding and moderate. It had been desperate for investment after disastrous postindependence economic policies reduced the nation to a beggar for foreign handouts and loans. Critics say President Mugabe's policies in Zimbabwe are creating the same conditions for disaster there today.
Also unlike Zimbabwe, or South Africa for that matter, Zambia has good land in abundance: about 60 percent of the countryside is arable, but less than 10 percent is actively farmed. In a country of 10 million, there are no more than 450 commercial farmers, including the Zimbabweans.
"We think there is a large vacuum to fill," said Chance Kabaghe, deputy minister for agriculture, in an interview in a dilapidated office building in Lusaka. "That's why we have been so open."
Still, he added: "We are encouraging them to respect our norms and mix with the local people. We are watching the situation very closely."
For Zambia, the white farmers' money and knowledge may help the nation climb out of the hole it fell into with the decline of its copper mines and nationalization of land after independence.
Aided by open government policies on leasing and investment — and by America's tobacco industry, which is underwriting much of the farm-building — farmers like Mr. Watt are already creating a more modest version of Zimbabwe's once mighty tobacco industry, which has been left in ruins after three years of land seizures.
Zambia is taking up some of the slack, doubling its tobacco production this year. By 2008, analysts predict, it will produce 82 million pounds of flue-cured tobacco a year. That is twice the yield of that in the mid-1970's, before farmland was nationalized, but still far less than Zimbabwe and Malawi each produce now.
Government officials see a new revenue stream of fees and taxes, plus the potential for fertilizer stores, irrigation equipment and maybe even a tobacco processing plant like the one now operating at a quarter of its capacity in Zimbabwe.
"We think we have benefited from the farmers who have come in," Mr. Kabaghe said. "We are very proud of them. Our tobacco industry is now booming."
At the same time, no official here wants the success of white farmers to be too visible, lest it engender the sort of racial backlash that has helped spur Zimbabwe's land takeovers and that is building in both South Africa and Namibia.
Nor do the tobacco companies want to be seen as the benefactors only of whites. Universal Leaf says it wants to develop 40 to 50 smaller, black-owned commercial farms on the periphery of the white-owned farms — a move Mr. Rusch says makes both political and economic sense.
Campbell Dunlop, a 42-year-old farmer, is not certain how it will all work out. He has lived for 18 months next to his tobacco fields in a safari-style hut off a heavily rutted, half-flooded road near Chisamba. But he left his wife and children in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, calculating that he might eventually go back after turning over his new 395-acre farm to Zambian managers to run.
"I haven't got my head around making this home," he said.
Like many of his compatriots here, Mr. Dunlop is haunted by his losses in Zimbabwe. He and other migrants say they find comfort as far-flung neighbors, united by their two-way radios, their memories of 90-day eviction notices and their sense of outrage over the lack of world reaction to Mr. Mugabe.
A few of their old workers have followed them. Dzingai Kapondoro, 33, worked for 15 years for a white tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe. After Mr. Mugabe's forces evicted the farmer and carved up the farm, Mr. Kapondoro's delighted family were the proud new owners of 25 acres. But while he had skills, Mr. Kapondoro said, he had no equipment to till the land or money for fertilizer and seed. With 25 acres of barren farmland and no income, he finally followed the farm's former white manager to Mr. Dunlop's farm in Zambia. Now he grades tobacco and lives in a thatched hut hundreds of miles from his wife and four children.
Douglas Watt says it is a relief, a joy even, to feel welcome again. Barely a year ago, during his final days as a Zimbabwe farmer, he recalled, his own workers barricaded him and his wife in their farmhouse for 18 hours.
With shouts and a clamor of drums, they demanded that he make good on the Mugabe government's promise of compensation for the fact that the Watts' forced eviction from their farm would leave them jobless.
During his first weeks in Zambia last year, his workers raised a different sort of ruckus. They were celebrating the first time in their lives that many of them had been paid.
"You could hear the party across the river," he said. "The drums beat for two days. It was actually a wonderful feeling."
Doug Waybush [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Maryland, USA, and London, England
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 22:40:50 (UTC)
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Hi - many thanks for the Lusaka map (Lynda Fielder) - fascinating to see it because I've tried dredging my memory to find Ripon Rd. I managed to remember quite a few streets, but not Ripon Rd
It turns out now that we had Wilson relatives there in the 1960s - in the same suburb of Lusaka - and I didn't know. Strange!
Cheers, Rob
Rob Wilson [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Cirencester, Glos, United Kingdom
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 21:52:46 (UTC)
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Johnny ...
How come you haven't comet to Perth yet....look at Craig he has the birds after him already !!! giggles
Ali Key [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 06:21:28 (UTC)
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Green Submarine Doug
"When it's 200 ft. above the surface they shoot it down."
With surface-to-Eire missiles I suppose.
Tina Magee (née Wallace) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Texas, United States
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 06:09:59 (UTC)
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Friday in Perth
OK, change in plans so I have time to post these pictures from Friday.
Proof that I am not a teetotaller.
Arthur gets around.
Bird on my head. The answer to the obvious question is, "Yes. It did crap on my head."
The passion of the one-eyed pigeon.
Sign at Hillary's Harbour. 8489 km to Harare -- not far enough!
First dip on the eastern shore of the Indian Ocean. Now I've been on both sides and in the middle. Same with the Pacific Ocean.
Outside the Lucky Shag Bar. God I love Perth! :)
Pictures from the party later today or tomorrow.
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 05:01:57 (UTC)
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The Crackerjack Party
It was great to meet the 23 or so people who showed up for the party at Hillary's Harbour last night. I really enjoyed meeting all of you. Thanks to Sue, Paudie and Marilyn for their organisational skills too.
Sue has a bunch of pictures which I will post, but the weather here is too nice to be sitting inside at the computer (which explains why I don't have Friday's pictures up yet either), so I will get to it maybe this evening or Monday evening. Can you hang on until then? :)
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 03:10:20 (UTC)
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Doug - you and your Irish Submarine joke . . . . . !
Of course we all know that South Africans are just as smart as the Irish.
It appears that a piece of string walked into a bar in South Africa, jumped up on the barstool and asked for a beer.
"We don't serve string in this bar!" exclaimed the barman.
The string very upset, dismounted and went outside where he frayed one of his ends, tied himself into a knot, walked back into the bar and sat back up on the stool and once again asked for a beer.
"You must think I'm stupid," said barman van der Merwe "aren't you the same piece of string I just refused to serve a minute ago?"
"No," said the string "I'm a frayed knot."
Glen Drake [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
California, United States
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 19:15:52 (UTC)
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!
I hope you've had a lovely day and been spoiled rotten.
Lots of love from your little sister
xxx
Fiona Gayther (née Ferguson) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Tytherington, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 12:09:56 (UTC)
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Sue Moffat
Best wishes on your birthday
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 07:18:48 (UTC)
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Johnny:
Len just emailed me again and said he has contacted you through your GNR contact email. Is that the new one you have switched to or have you not updated your profile? Please email me with your new email address so I can forward it to Len.
Linda Hayes (née Dore) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Austin, Texas, United States
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 01:41:07 (UTC)
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Yes Johnnie, had a most welcome e-mail from LC Jr.
We'll keep in touch.
Ken Fernie [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Irvine, California, United States
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 00:31:01 (UTC)
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Linda I have not recieved any mail from Len he is maybe trying to get through on my old address please ask him to copy you in and then you can FW to me thanks babe Johnny.x
Ken have you had contact?
Johnny [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Scarborough, United Kingdom
Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 00:00:26 (UTC)
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Pappy:
I emailed Len Jr. and got a response today. He is reading the postings back and forth so we may just get one from him. He said he has emailed Ken and Johnny directly to correct some info that is being posted.
Fiona Fenton is deceased, unfortunately. She had a really tragic car accident in Zim many years ago, the cause of which remained a mystery. She was found, 100 miles outside of Salisbury, no other cars involved, on a dead straight road, but with the car overturned and off in the bush. Her infant child survived, but was thrown a considerable way from the car and almost overlooked. Nobody could fathom why she was so far from home, as she had been at a party with her husband, Sid. He went home early and went to bed. She remained and so it was not until the next morning that he realised she was missing. A really tragic end to a great person. She and I were room mates as you know. RIP.
Linda Hayes (née Dore) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Austin, Texas, United States
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 23:16:55 (UTC)
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Craig
A very warm welcome to Perth....Yes it is beautiful here, have you come across any scorpians yet....??? I have two here living with me (giggles)..looking forward to meeting you..
Marilyn I hope you have gallons of Amarula on hand.......smiles
Artie... I haven't tried out too much of the HTML yet........might frighten a few GNRers away............
Ali
Ali Key [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Australia
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 19:06:58 (UTC)
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Tony,
Thank you for the prompt and yes it was Snowy Gascoigne that I had a pint with. I suppose being a hangman and an undertaker is just a job and somebody has to do it. However making a living out of both the about to die and the already dead is a little unusual.
However this is the GNR so the big question is, "Does anybody know if Snowy Gascoigne still on this planet"?
David Hoyle [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Muscat, Oman
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 18:19:06 (UTC)
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Perth
Perth is awesome. No wonder a large chunk of people from our part of the world came here.
Sue took about 500 pictures on Friday. I'll post a couple of hundred here later today (Saturday).
Craig Hartnett [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 18:07:23 (UTC)
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Linda,
The Len Catchpole you know is Len Jnr. Ricmond Smith was a Queens council in Ndola,and reprisended me on an occasion,I`m sure the likes of Baby Bester would remember him well.
The Catchpoles were undertakers if memory serves me well.I became one myself for a number of years in Rhodesia,and was quite good at it if I have to say so myself,ha!ha.
What happened to Fiona Fenton,I saw her brother Michael when I was in the forces,I think he was living in Bulawayo with his dad.
Pappy Papier [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 17:19:49 (UTC)
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I believe the person who took over from Jack Catchpole as the Public Topper, was Frank Medd, an ex-Prison Officer at Bwana M'kubwa. Last saw him in the Buffaloes Lodge in Ndola around '75. Couldn't mistake him - he wore the craziest purple-tinted glasses.
Ken Fernie [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Irvine, California, United States
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 14:49:21 (UTC)
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I remember getting to know Snowy Gascoigne (?) quite well in the Lowenthal Theatre bar. I seem to recall that he was an undertaker by trade and lived outside Ndola on the Muf road. An interesting combination of professions!
Tony Austin [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Houston, Texas, United States
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 14:07:43 (UTC)
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The hangman might have been called Snowie not Chalkie, I can't say for definite. Does anybody out there remember?
David Hoyle [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Muscat, Oman
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 10:12:51 (UTC)
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All this talk of the hangman. I remember early 1971 (?) having a quiet Castle in the Broken Hill Rugby Club early one evening and taking to a person who I hadn't seen before, an Irish man called chalkie. I asked him if he lived in Kabwe and he said that he only came to Kabwe if there was enough business for him to do. I made the mistake of asking him what he did for a living and he opened his briefcase which was at the side of him. There inside was the hangman's rope/noose. Nice man but made me feel a little uneasy.
David Hoyle [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Muscat, Oman
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 09:14:09 (UTC)
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David Rendall, Kevin McGrath, Chris Hey
Best wishes on your birthday
Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Lusaka, Zambia
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 05:25:22 (UTC)
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Linda
Yes - you should be here. We'll certainly send you a ticket but you'll have to pay your own fare...
Sue Coughlan (née Forde) [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Perth, WA, Australia
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 02:51:00 (UTC)
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Postscipt to my last communication,
When the Israelis finally caught up with Adolph Eichman in Argentina, Jack Catchpole volunteered his professional sevices at his own expense, but this was turned down.
Just thought you'd like to know.
Ken Fernie [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Irvine, California, United States
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 01:24:01 (UTC)
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The Len Catchpole I knew was from Ndola in 1960, and owned The Elephant and Castle Hotel on Cecil Avenue. His brother Jack was the official Hangman. A casual comment from Len led us to investigate a Bartender, who was bringing in his own product, but that's another story. Len was a former Mayor of Ndola, and was partially responsible for the development of the road over the Dambo (which his Company built), and named it Richmond-Smith Drive after one of the more prominent mebers of the legal profession at the time.
A really loveable character, even tho' he was arrested in Leopoldville during the Congo thingie apparently for running guns (or something). I last saw dear Len in Lusaka in the early seventies with a truckload of Scotch, which he sold in a heartbeat. A typical East-ender, Len could sell sand to an Arab. BTW, he also owned Chondwe Fruit Estates, wherein he took in a bunch of alchoholics to try and rehabilitate them (providing, of course, they had some manual skills).
Last saw Len Jr. in Lusaka, in the early seventies - a dead spit of the old man!
They both reminded me of Anthony Newley.
Ken Fernie [ Profile ] [ Contact ]
Irvine, California, United States
Friday, March 19, 2004 at 01:18:07 (UTC)
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Bob Gillies:
The Len Catchpole I correspond with was from Ndola, but is now in Australia. He is a GNR member but has not posted in a very long time. He was close friends with a friend of mine, Fiona Fenton, in Zambia. I never knew him then. Could it be the same person? I have not heard from him in a while, but I will see if he is the same person next time we email.
Marilyn:
You will have to ask Sandra to tell you about the 750 days. Watch out, though. She may hit you up for the LSEA Fund. She has amazing "puppy dog" eyes when she wants something. And her smile is brilliant. Hence, the nickname "Smiler."
Paudie & Sue:
I've been checking my mailbox on a daily basis, but my ticket to Craig's party has not arrived from you guys. Dang!! I was hoping to win the Lotto drawing here, but I was only 6 numbers wrong this time. Ha! Ha!
Reginald Swinton-Jones:
It was a lovely surprise to hear from you today, and I hope we see you posting again pretty soon.
Linda Hayes (née Dore) [ |
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