Tucked away in a box I found the leaving card which we were given by the staff at our farewell party at Bernard Mizeki College in Rhodesia in 1970. Most of the people who signed it are easily remembered - the Hunts, the Davises, the Katedzas, Aggrey Mtambwanengwe, Ephraim Watambwa, the Armstrongs, Norman Kuwengwa, the Ndaworas, Richard Inglesby, and Mr Mbanga - while our memories of the others have faded.
Some continued to keep in contact. Ephraim sent us a Christmas card the year we left. Pauline Davis kept in touch for several years, for some of which her husband Leslie was headmaster after Andrew Hunt left, though they were forced to leave when the guerrilla war became dangerous. We still exchange Christmas cards and news with the Armstrongs who now live in the north of England.
The card came with a water colour of a group of eucalyptus trees, a painting which we had until we left Matenderere in 2017. It was a bit of a disappointment since eucalyptus aren't native to Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and our memories of the country are much more of the beautiful natural
miombo woodland, mainly
musasa and
mdondo trees, which blazed in shades of red in the spring, just before the rains came. This picture, taken from the summit of a granite
kopje, shows the scenery around Bernard Mizeki in summer - the roofs of its buildings are visible in the middle distance.
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