Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 6
We occupied this house for a year when the house opposite came up for sale. It was being sold by a South African couple who had no faith in the new country and were therefore hot footing it back from whence they came. We grabbed the opportunity to buy it. It had all the appearance of a Swiss chalet with its peaked roof. I must mention the bathroom, the décor was definitely not our taste at all. Pink bathroom suite and black tiled walls and floor tiles - chic for some perhaps!
The lounge lounge had large windows which allowed a good view of the front lawn and the driveway.
The plot was large with a good sized area to the left when looking from the front gate and the previous occupiers had dug out a huge hole intended for a swimming pool – but this was as far as they and we got! A wall separated us from our neighbours at the rear and on the right. A Hibiscus hedge separated us from the Close and access to or exit from the drive way were a pair of high black gates. Further to the left a hedge separated us from a Railway Company owned house.
With such a large garden we employed a gardener and there was plenty of work to keep him busy. We noticed however that the Hibiscus hedge needed little clipping along the outside and made a discovery. African women would come along with their baskets and pick the leaves. On querying, I was informed that when cooked, the leaves taste similar to spinach! I regret never getting round to trying it for myself though.
We eventually planted a row of Poplar trees on either side of the driveway and many shrubs in the front garden - a low wall separated the drive from the lawn which was on a higher level and two rows of paving slabs, the width of car tyres, were laid on the driveway. We grew many vegetables to the side of the plot where the boundary ended in a V shape. We also had one very large variety of Monkey Puzzle tree on the front lawn.
During the vegetable growing season we allowed our gardener to plant mealies (maize) but on a given day as husband inspected the growth he discovered marijuana plants amid the mealies. Although these were widely cultivated by the local people it was illegal to do so but a blind eye was turned for it was much in demand by them – no matter what rank one held. Not in our back yard it wasn’t or a nice fine would have resulted. After a right telling off, the lot were pulled up and burnt much to the dismay of said gardener. We didn’t wish to get into trouble via his endeavours.
We were then very fortunate to employ a husband and wife team. Jarvis worked in the house and was also our cook while his wife Esther became Eugene’s nanny. She was wonderful and they became extremely fond of each another. Both employees were able to ‘live in’ as there was a bed-sit and toilet already to the rear of the car port. We eventually extended this with the addition of a room giving them a separate lounge from the bedroom. We also enlarged the toilet room and installing a shower and hand basin to become a full bathroom. In time too the car port was covered with a roof.
I remember being overcome with a feeling of guilt and in one rash moment I insisted one day on giving son his lunch, much to Esther’s amusement. I felt I’d seen too little of my child who was by then about 2.5 years old – the first couple of mouthfuls were a doddle when the imp came in to play. With a full mouth, his cheeks puffed out, and he whooshed food over me, his high chair, and just about everything within reach… much hilarious laughter from him to a highly un-amused Mom. No amount of coaxing altered his play and when Esther entered the kitchen with a ‘madam what have you done!’ Mom was politely told to please go and sit down and Esther ‘would bring her a nice cup of tea.’ My son thought this was even more highly amusing as his tea mantra followed me out of the kitchen!
----oOo-----
