When Mrs MW and I arrived at Bernard Mizeki College near Marandellas in Rhodesia in 1967 it was made clear to us by other teaching staff living on the campus that it was 'sort of' expected that we would employ a domestic servant. I recall our discussing whether we really needed one, and were certain we didn't want one to do the cooking, but in the end we employed Titus (above) to care for our quite extensive flower garden, to tend to our very productive fruit and vegetable patch, and to do some of the chores round the house. I can't remember how much we paid him, but I don't think we were ungenerous, and his wages included some food, particularly meat, and accommodation on the campus.
I liked Titus. He was cheerful and keen to learn though, as we discovered when he first started, he wasn't accustomed to working in a modern house - for example, early on we found him washing up the electric kettle.
After he'd been with us for a couple of years he asked to be taken home to his village in the African 'reserve' because he was feeling ill. This was a journey I had done before when he had holiday due, but this time he didn't come back. It was difficult to get out of anyone what was wrong but it appeared that he thought he had been bewitched, something which had also happened to a member of the estate staff who helped me with the rabbit farm. So, after waiting some time for him to reappear, we, very sadly, replaced him with a relative of his, Alexander. Alexander was okay, but we missed Titus.
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