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From Great North Road

The GNR "Boma"

The "Boma" is where you will find the stories (true and otherwise), pictures, and other information submitted by members for publication.

MEMORIES

Living as I do now, in one of the most populous states of the USA, a very different life from before, some time ago I started jotting down my memories, mostly for my son, and if they are interested, my nieces and nephews.

I started because I realized that their lives are so totally different from the one I enjoyed as a kid. The funny thing about doing this is that one or two of them have been published, and well received by many with the exception of my family. The stories roused considerable argument about this detail or that. We mostly agreed on the main points, but we could argue about the details forever.

My point is this, your memories are yours alone, no one else has them. Write them down for your kids, or for yourself even. And when you do, the best you can do is write them as you remembered them. Accuracy is too hard to come by at this stage!

My father had a hundred wonderful stories that we loved to hear. I took my son, who is now four, to meet his grandfather, and none of the stories are there anymore. My Dad is losing his memory. I would start a story, and he would listen as if it were the first time he heard it, instead of having lived it.

Now I am left trying to write his stories. The way I remembered them is at best, very incomplete. My point is this - get on computer, or get a pen, or get a tape recorder, and record some of your wonderful stories, for yourself, for your families, for your kids, for your grandkids, for anyone, just do it! (p.s. - keep old photos where you can too!).

The old Northern Rhodesia we knew just does not exist anymore, and never will again. There is still a wonderful land there, but, for most of us, it no longer carries our footprints, though we carry its imprint in our souls. Dont let it disappear completely!

Marion Murphy November 2001

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