141) Goodbye

Saying “Goodbye” is never easy but as we were leaving for good and had no idea if and when we would see our family again it was particularly sad. Australia is a very long way away and we all felt that this could be our last farewell.

When I first arrived in Africa I would think how amazing it was that I was really in Africa. I had been taught a little about it in Geography at school. I had learnt about the highest mountain and its longest river. I learnt about the Rift Valley and drawn maps that showed the mineral wealth of the countries. More maps showed each country’s crops, flora and fauna and we also learnt a little about the climatic conditions. We were read stories of brave missionaries bringing Christianity and health services to the poor black people. We would collect our pennies to send cloths and gifts to the children in Africa and we would wonder what it was really like. I don’t think I ever imagined that I would one day live there. I think now, that in those days I thought that only missionaries, explorers and wild life photographers went to Africa. We watched films on wild life; David Attenbrough was very popular (and is still going strong.) That reminds me of another wild life program we used to watch when I was little. It was hosted by a couple called Armand and Michaela Denis. Armand was the photographer and Michaela did the narratives. She would start every paragraph saying “Armand says…”. But we enjoyed them too. Another couple of wild life photographers who had a TV show at the time, although theirs was underwater photography, were Hans and Lottie Hass. We always called it Hands off Lottie’s (I’ll leave you to think of the last word)

Yes, my knowledge of Africa was pretty limited. I was amazed that the sun went down so quickly, you could just watch it falling behind the horizon; it was a much slower process in the United Kingdom. I had trouble remembering that my rhyme to tell me were the sun was needed to be revised:-

The sun rises in the East,
sets in the West,
is highest South
and is never in the North,

had to become:-

is highest North
and is never in the South

It took me a long time to think of the North being the sunny side. North had always meant cold to me.

But I was very blessed to spend 38 years on the continent and I loved it from the very first. Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa all have problems and life is not easy for the majority of the people and I feel a great sadness about the terrible things that have happened there. I pray continually that there will be improvements.
Now that it is obvious that we will settle in Australia and not go back to live in Africa I think that this might be the right time to finish “Letters from Zimbabwe” after all it was quite some time since we lived in Zimbabwe. I would like to tell you of all the wonderful things that have happened to us since we came to live in this lovely land but I think my new blog should have a new name don’t you? How about “A Zimbabwean in Oz”? Or “To A(ustralia from Z(imbabwe). If you have any ideas on a new name please submit them to me. I wish I could promise a six-week holiday in the Caribbean to the name that is chosen but unfortunately I am afraid I can’t even afford to give a weekend in Bognor Regis.