Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 5
I was also included in an invitation to join husband at the newly appointed Mayor’s cocktail party and had a grand time during which I met many professional African people. This was the first time in my life where I was at a mixed-race ‘occasion.’ Remember I came from a segregated country and had never before had such an opportunity. I was quite at ease and it came naturally to me despite never having spoken with my parents on the political aspect of the country I had left. Whether or not anything was discussed with my brother I don’t know but I suspect it was considered not seemly for a girl to know about. It was indeed a man’s world! Many early mornings though I do remember hearing both parents speaking, too softly to decipher the context of their discussions. It was in all probability aspects of Dad’s work in the Supreme Court.
All I know is that within me I felt very uncomfortable living with apartheid as segregation was known in South Africa. (This term was coined by the then Nationalist Government)
As I continued to work, meeting people and making friends I didn’t bargain for falling in love with a country, nor my compatibility with its peoples.
Zambia was inhabited by over 72 different tribes with a wide cultural diversity. It is one of the few countries in Africa with very little tribal animosity, and the existence of many tribes has proved less of a political problem than in many other African states.
In 1965 we moved to another council house in St Peters Close (eventually renamed Twalishuka Close after Independence – meaning unknown) off Freedom Avenue and still within Parklands but further away from the park. Freedom Avenue, a busy thoroughfare led to a roundabout with a parade of shops on one side. A petrol station and garage on the corner with a nightclub above, at the time named St Tropez (later changed to The Golden Peacock), the Zambia Television studios around the other side of the island and leaving this a road led further a-field to the suburb of Riverside. Other roads to the left and right led to more homes with Kitwe Central Hospital at one end and the Fire Brigade around that corner in Independence Avenue.
Our Close was a cul de sac and safer for children as our son was apt to charge down the drive way in glee with either nanny or us chasing after him. The house was of similar style to that vacated with the surrounding garden somewhat smaller and a Bougainvillea hedge acted as a screen giving some privacy at the front. There was one shrub on the front lawn, an Oleander, which we removed very quickly because its milky sap is lethal. I had heard of a child who had died from being poisoned after breaking off a branch which she stuck into her mouth.
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