As
you may recollect I spent many years in East Africa and the latest Valijn story
rung a bell!
Firstly I was pleased he
liked the local people. The Tanzanians are different because for one thing when
we lived there before Independence in 1962 there was no racialism. Tanganyika
was German and Zanzibar owned by the Sultan of Oman who also reigned in Mombasa
and Lamu a small island in Northern Kenya. In fact until the Sultan was chased
away his red flag flew from Zanzibar and Mombasa.
During
the big split up in the 1880's Tanganyika was allocated to Germany which ruled
there until 1918. The territory was then given to the League of Nations who
asked the British to supervise it as they had territory in Kenya, Uganda and
Sudan already. The British could not introduce laws apart racial zoning like we
had in Kenya.
There
was therefore no tension between Africans, Asians and Europeans.
The
Tyre factory of General Tyre in Arusha was quite well-known to me. The Dutch
factory had become antiquated so the Dutch Government made it a present to
Julius Nyerere, the well-known and fairly moderate President.
Normally
Dutch aid was transported by non-conference lines run by East Germany and the
Russians. It gave these poor countries some propaganda when the goods arrived
and were handed over.
Somehow
or other we heard about the project well in advance and with the full support
of our Dutch agents managed to secure the cargo. Quite a
large parcel which was shipped in one ship to Daressalaam and from there by
train to Arusha.
I
was pleased to know the factory was still up and running!
Talking
about Arusha and Dutch engineers, we had a chief-engineer on the Tayari Joop
Grolle. A most capable man and believe you me to keep that ship's engine
running needed expertise and hard work. However Joop had one failing, he was
unable to pass exams, so was destined to stay on the Tayari until the end of
his career. His English wife Jenny did not like that idea and she managed to
get Joop a job as chief engineer of the Arusha power station. As far as I know
when I left in 1977 he was still there.
Finally
I have another story for you which I received from a friend of mine Peter
Barefoot. I knew him as pilot in Daressalaam, Tanga and Mombasa and we
afterwards met in Hong Kong where he ran a shipping agency and Brisbane where
he worked for a Burn Philips. The story is called Ras
Kimbiji
but I cannot attach it because I wiped it off somehow. Comes
by snail-mail. I have no scanner at the moment.
Another
"quickie”
Arusha
is a beautiful spot with excellent climate because of the altitude ( abt 5000 feet) at the foot of Mount Meru 100 km West of
Mount Kilimanjaro. As Valijn also remarked, (apart from the incomparable
Serengeti plains which are part of the Rift valley which runs from the Red Sea
to the Eastern end of lake Malawi in Mocambique.)
there are some smaller parks in extinguished volcano craters which are what
paradise must have been.
One
day I had taken the Padre of the Missions to Seamen (Flying Angels) in
Daressalaam with wife and two children on holidays with us to Northern
Tanzania. (Marangu about 15 km North of Moshi. John
and I were going to visit one of those lesser known parks off the road from
Moshi to Arusha. Forgotten the name. To get there we
had to traverse a very badly maintained road but we were not in a hurry. That
is, until we got stuck in an under the surface
river. The star of our Mercedes was just visible above the mud but the rear
wheels were still on the road. Not a soul to be seen at 5.30 in the afternoon.
I had a winch on board but the two of us could not budge the car and when it
got dark (which it does very quickly in the Tropics) we had no option but to
curl up in the car and hope somebody or something would see or come to look for
us. All sorts of animals seemed to be rushing outside the car. I could
only say softly to John: "trust me to get stuck in a game park with a
padre!". John thought that very funny and I
believe he repeated the story many times during his sermons.
But as not unusual in Africa , at about 8 0çlock, there suddenly appeared an African out of nowhere. He did not seem to bother about the elephants, lions and other predators who were sharing the road with him. He would inform the warden of a nearby lodge and within half an hour we were saved and on the road again.
Anton
Jansen