MRS. BARBARA LEA
It was somewhere in the 1950s, and it was only the second Colony inter-racial camp ever to be held in Rhodesia. Four separate camps, all adjacent, were set up in the woods at "Greensyke" Ruwa. There were two European camps as Umtali District had their own camp, as opposed to the Colony European camp.
There was a camp for Coloureds and Asians and a camp for Africans. All went well until the last night. The commandant of the African camp had to leave early, and as they were short of Guiders, after lights out moved from my camp into the African camp. Just as I was crawling into my sleeping bag a great gust of wind like a tornado blew through the camp. I, with the other Guiders, rushed out to tighten up the guy ropes when out of a clear sky came the biggest hail storm on record in that area. 7 inches of hail fell and with the hail gradually tent after tent collapsed on the Guides, many of whom were already asleep. Then down came the rain - this in August when it is not supposed to rain Mr. and Mrs. Wynne (whose farmhouse was about 1/4 mile away) arrived on the scene and offered us the use of their home. Then came the evacuation of over 100 Guides in the freezing cold and rain. Efforts, which were fairly successful, were made to keep blankets dry, and these, with some of the Guides were ferried to the house in the Combi. The big coal stove was lit in the kitchen, hot drinks were made and fires were lit in the lounge and playroom, and eventually all the Guides were bedded down on the floor in various rooms. Round about midnight Mrs. Wynne, who as then Chief Commissioner, and I found ourselves lying on the floor in the lounge sharing a pillow, trying to thaw out, because we had been the last to leave the camp. At that moment we both burst into song, "It was a great day in my life when I joined the Guide Movement".
Next day the camp site looked like a scene from Switzerland with the hail banked high around the trees and those tents left standing. When we left Ruwa by train at midday the hail had still not thawed.
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