Karen ‘Then and Now’ – follow up

I was pleased to receive the following email from Barbara Black from Victoria, British Columbia in Canada after she read my blog about Karen, then and now. Here’s her email. “You will have to excuse my barely contained delight at finding your blog entry “Karen—Then...
Road to Congo 1968 – The VW

Road to Congo 1968 – The VW

I just got back from a road trip in Tanzania, where the roads were pleasantly paved. Our 20-year-old Land Cruiser performed well without so much as a puncture. On my return to Kenya I found a comment on my Old Africa blog asking for a photo of the Volkswagen car my...

Newsreels Fire Imagination

During World War II we sometimes saw black and white newsreels with moving pictures of how the war was progressing. We kids enjoyed watching the tanks clank across the screen firing rounds of ammunition. Sometimes the newsreels also showed other news. One time we...

Rhino Cargo

In 1949 Col George Jazman was driving his 10 cwt Fordson panel van on the Kiganjo-Mweiga road from his house between Monte Carlo Ranch and Steep (now Aberdare Country Club) when he heard a huge thump in the back of the car. When he looked around he saw a rhino in his...

Racism in Kenya

My story concerns Christmas on the Kenyan coast in 1963. Despite the atrocities committed by the Mau Mau during their uprising and equal atrocities that have recently come to light associated with its suppression, race relations in Kenya have been surprisingly good...
Catching the Train

Catching the Train

Getting out into the bush was the best thing about going to school at Rift Valley Academy for me. We had a huge playground – the wild out-of-doors. Once we hiked a few miles northwestward along the railway to climb Kijabe Hill. We found heavy old tires near the top...
Road to Congo, 1968

Road to Congo, 1968

I rode in the back of our white Volkswagen beetle, registration KCY 434, from central Kenya to northeastern Congo in 1968 when I was 12 years old. My father had to speak at a conference at Rethy.  We drove through Eldoret, into Uganda and Kampala before driving...
Egypt!

Egypt!

Being only three years of age on this epic voyage to East Africa via ship, my childhood memories are sometimes confused. I know we stopped in Naples, Italy, but remember nothing of the stopover except the visible evidence of World War II. Large, rusted hulks of bombed...

Wattle Underwear

While attending the Highlands High School at Eldoret, we were taken to a wattle farm belonging to an elderly German. Wattle trees where grown and the bark used for the leather tanning industry. We were told how the trees were planted and harvested and finally to our...