Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 13
Having been ‘poached’ by Kitwe Playing Fields, their club premises were closer to Parklands – but this was not the reason for my move though. There I received excellent coaching from Yvonne’s husband Roy who had in his day been selected for Northern Rhodesia as goalkeeper.
We had the usual season’s scheduled matches with the other clubs and also the Lusaka club who would either come to us or we would travel to them. It was from these clubs that selection was made for the National side, the Zambia Women’s Hockey Team.
In time I too left CAMS after Mrs Myers started ringing me and with each telephone call the salary increased and I returned. Within a year I had decided enough was enough and that money wasn’t everything!
I was to have several work experiences with a few other companies but these were never satisfactory. The longest I stayed was as a secretary to someone who became a very good friend of mine. We had enormous fun in the office as Stewart had a mad sense of humour. We played pranks on each other … and on one occasion we had a couple of Hari Krishna arrive collecting alms, both were resplendent in their orange robes. It was my turn for the revenge and despite Stewart's instruction ‘not to be disturbed under any circumstances’ I decided otherwise. I knocked on his door and informed him there were two people I knew he would want to see and after a weary ‘ok’ I ushered them in … he finally managed to get rid of them after ½ an hour with the threat aimed in my direction of ‘just you wait … I’ll get you for this!!’ And so we would banter back and forth.
I would subsequently have a calming effect on Stewart when his wife went into labour with their only daughter.
Son No 2 had been born with a Pectus Excavatum, which meant that his breast bone was concave and we were told this was a congenital defect. He was subjected to severe chest problems from the slightest cold and incurred many visits to our doctor. His medical condition became so repetitive that we were advised to seek a consultant’s opinion. A car trip to Salisbury became necessary, there to consult with a lung specialist. He advised a stay in hospital for while he conducted tests. The length of time was unspecified and we had to return to Kitwe to continue working – in order to pay the expenses.
It was a month later when we were advised to return with the report that he was to send us to a friend of his, a heart specialist, in Cape Town! He thought he’d detected an enlarged heart!
Husband said no to ‘trekking’ around the country, our son would go to Holland.
The fact is after a month away from us, he had grown so much and hardly recognised me which was most upsetting but within weeks, everything soon settled down and thankfully, we were back to our original familiar footing with one another.
December saw son and I on a flight from Lusaka to Amsterdam via Paris. Our flight was with the airline UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens, part of Air France) and our tickets were donated by their manager in Lusaka, a friend of ours. What a kind gift!
Babies under 12 months were given hammocks for sleep on the flight and this was rigged up to the right via hooks under the overhead locker. During the night I became aware that he had woken up and was playing with the hair of the gentleman seated next to me but directly under him! Thankfully the victim thought it was amusing but son spent the rest of the night on my lap.
We changed aircraft very early in the morning at the port of entry Nice, before boarding a smaller one for Amsterdam. While waiting at the airport we were offered refreshments and it was coffee. I don’t normally drink coffee but having had no breakfast I was also very thirsty. This strong black liquid did not sit well with me and I felt very ill as we flew on to our final destination.
My parents-in-law met us and we stayed with them when they still lived in The Hague. They had made an appointment for us to see Professor Otto at the University Teaching Hospital in Leiden where the consultation and extensive examination turned into one of jubilation! I was informed that our son did not have an enlarged heart as diagnosed in Salisbury. His Thymus Gland had become enlarged from all the antibiotics and due to this it was the gland’s swelling which had cast a ‘shadow’ over his heart. The gland was now seen to be shrinking and the Professor asked the question ‘weren’t there any proper doctors in Africa?’ He also intimated ‘I had wasted my money on such a trip.’ I gladly said I had not, for he had given an absolute answer to the problem, and had spared us further untold worry.
(The thymus gland is located in the neck above the heart. Its function is to generate mature T lymphocytes (white blood cells that help the immune system to fight off illness)
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