Convent Girls

From Great North Road

By Kenneth Miller.
October 2001

Being a student at St Stephen's College in Balla Balla, which lay forty odd miles South of Bulawayo, a red blooded boy such as myself enjoyed those stolen moments that we could spend with a young damsel, especially one from the local convent. Oh ! their beauty and more importantly their charm was every young man's delight.

When traveling on Rhodesia Railways in the 1960's, very seldom did two boys' schools travel on the same train, and even more rarely did a boys' school and a girls' school travel on the same train. Somthing to do with protecting the virtue of the delightful young maidens.

Having been educated in the strictest Anglican tradition, I believe that it was little more than a miracle when my traveling companions and I discovered that we were traveling with a group of innocent nubile young girls from the convent in Bulawayo. The train may have pulled out slowly from the station in Bulawayo as it headed for Northern Rhodesia, however my companions and I moved fast like commandos on a mission.

A delightful time was spent entertaining the young ladies in the dining car. As the evening progressed, several invitations were made to the young ladies to join us in our compartment, where we could offer them something stronger than coke. Our offers of hospitality, were politely rejected.....that was until a young lady whispered into my ear and invited a select group of my companions and I to join her and her friends in their compartment ... ah, those charms!

At the appointed time in the wee hours of the morning, four of my companions and I eagerly made our way along the corridor of the train until we arrived at the compartment of the young ladies. After gently knocking on the door several times, with no response from within, we determined on a new approach ... surely our companionship was not being rejected. I took my steel comb from my hip pocket, ran it through my ducktail haircut and proceeded to slide the well greased comb along the edge of the door with the intent of releasing the lock.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, the door was thrown open and we were confronted by nun attired in her sleeping habit and a face that would even scare satan ... before you could say holy rosary, my brave companions and I pushed and tried to climb over each other as we beat a hasty retreat down the corridor, through several coaches before finally reaching the peaceful sanctuary of our compartment.

When I climbed into my bunk, I could only dream of what may have been ..... and prayed to God that the sister from hell would not report us to the school for behaviour unbecoming of a gentleman.