Playing Pretend in Tanganyika

Playing Pretend in Tanganyika

When my big brother Cal was home from boarding school, my younger sister Marlowe and I enjoyed playing ‘pretend’ in very creative ways. Being quite young when we’d left the USA for Tanganyika, our memories of America were dim at best. I recall wearing hats and...
Appendicitis in Sotik

Appendicitis in Sotik

I came across a letter written by Mrs Brian Shaw, of Sotik, in the early days of white settlement in Kenya. The hardships the settlers faced were enormous. When Brian Shaw developed acute appendicitis a doctor and nurse had to come from Nakuru, while friends and...

Flame Trees of Thika

Surely it is time for another showing of the TV series of Elspeth Huxley’s book, The Flame Trees of Thika?  Filming took place in Kenya in eighteen weeks before Christmas, 1980, with Hayley Mills playing Tilly, Elspeth’s mother, and Holly Aird as Elspeth. The filming...

Shoes from America

I remember vividly anticipating the arrival of a package from America, which was to contain five pairs of shoes for me! In those days in Tanganyika shoes were not readily available and I was growing faster than my parents could keep me in shoes. We were always...

Castor Oil – Ugh!

One of my most unpleasant experiences as a youngster growing up in Tanganyika Territory was having to swallow terrible tasting medicines for various diseases or illnesses! Having to swallow bitter quinine daily against malaria was bad enough but when worms took up...
Vladimir Verbi

Vladimir Verbi

I was interested to read in the piece by Michael Aronson in Old Africa of Feb/March 2013 (Only in Africa section) that Michael had met Vladimir Verbi. I have always been interested in this man, a missionary tried for murder. When Canon Peter Bostock was still alive, I...
The Golden Cowrie

The Golden Cowrie

Barb and I met at the Rift Valley Academy where we were both teachers. I had the joy of introducing her to the beautiful country of Kenya. We went on safaris, hunting trips, hikes and walked the sandy beaches where Kenya touched the rolling waves of the Indian Ocean....
The Greyhound Story

The Greyhound Story

(I don’t have a photo of a greyhound so a cheetah will have to do.) My adventurous travel spirit served me well during my high school days in Kenya and on into college. My best example is what I call the Greyhound story. After my sophomore year of college I was...
Huge Hippos

Huge Hippos

It was in an early morning call of desperation. “Bwana, kiboko iko ndani ya shamba! Saidia!” Here’s a loose translation. Mr missionary, please come down to the lake as the hippos have been eating in our gardens and have destroyed our crops! My dad, Oliver Donner, was...