Tuesday 9th March, 2010
Dear Jeremy,
It was 1959. It was a hard year. Christopher had outgrown the local school so he was to go to boarding school in Lusaka. Who recommended Silver Rest I do not remember. It was a wrench for me to send him away to school. I always maintained I was yet to meet the person who was more capable then I was to bring up my children. Michal did not feel the same as I did as he, too, had been sent away to boarding school to Kingswood College in Grahamstown. Though it had been tough for him the reigning philosophy was that boys had to learn to be tough and be a MAN.. Needless to say it was not part of my philosophy.
The day we were to fly to Lusaka came. Kasama had an airfield which was large enough for Dakotas to land. I do not remember the flight down as I was so tense and anxious but Christopher was very excited and thought it was great when the air hostess brought him a boiled sweet to suck. In those days boiled sweets were handed out to passengers to relieve the pressure in the ears while taking off.and climbing.
The Humble family met us and took us to the school which was on the outskirts of Lusaka. It was called a "School in a Garden". I remember a walkway shaded by different coloured Bougainvilleas. It was there that I first saw a white Bougainvillea, and that was what I planted at Mufulira Training College against the principles house, when you were born, in honour of your birth.
I met the headmaster, he was Afrikaans but kind and friendly, and the staff. The children were playing in the garden they seemed happy enough but that did not stop the ache as I said goodbye to Christopher. He was excited about this new adventure and could not understand why I was all tense and seemed unhappy. Later he told me he knew the next morning when he woke up and felt very homesick.
I flew back to Kasama and was met by Michael, Jill and Celia. Celia was fascinated by the windsock which flew beside the field informing the pilot which way the wind was blowing. This she always called the Brmm brmm sockie wing wong.
As you can imagine Chris left a big gap in our lives. I wrote him many letters he said one a day and he wrote back once a week and sometimes there were little notes enclosed for Jill and Celia.
The children at Silver Rest were allowed out at weekends and often he stayed with the Humbles. The Humble girls adored him. I would always send him a letter enclosing a ten shilling note to buy them a cake which they all enjoyed.
Silver Rest was not far from Chalimbana, another Teacher Training College, and Munali a boarding school for African senior students. The Dibden family were at Munali and their children were at Silver Rest. They thought Christopher was very clever as he did well at school. Always knew the answers they told their Mother who wrote very nice letters to us telling what a pleasure it was to have Christopher stay and commenting on his good manners.
By this time the Hiddlestons were at Munali and Elsie Laws was at Chalimbana so he also spent time with them.
Before Elsie went to Chalimbana that year she and Phil Hall (now Phil Phillips) came to visit us. It must have been a bone-shaking drive over those corrugated dirt roads in her little Morris Minor. We took them on a picnic to Lake Chila near Abercorn. As Michael had to visit the Education Office in Abercorn the Kasama Office gave him the big Chevrolet Impala to drive us there. It was big and comfortable and locally known as the Passion Wagon.
We counted the days to the school holidays when Christopher would be home again and he received a great warm welcome and I was happy again.
All too soon it was time to go back to school so to make those last few hours fun and memorable we had a picnic lunch in a small shady park on the edge of the Boma. Christopher was enjoying his swim when he spied a piece of rope lying on the bottom. He dived down and gave it a pull then we heard, "Dad, Dad the water is running out". He had pulled the plug which kept the water in. I think it was filled from a small stream and the bottom had been cemented to hold the water. I dont know what happened then but presume Michael put it back and dealt with the problem in his usual reassuring and tactful manner. Chris has never forgotten this episode in his life
Love you, Mum