Growing up in Northern Rhodesia 1946 to 1963

By John Shillito

Growing up in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in Pictures and Words. These are watercolour paintings and words of a wonderful, though sometimes scary, life growing up in Northern Rhodesia between 1946 and 1963. The pictures, painted by Biddy Shillito, to illustrate and remind her children of the wonderful life and freedoms of growing up in a truly beautiful country in Central Africa. The words are by Biddy and family members.
Biddy loved Africa, the African People, those whom she worked with, and, as the Physiotherapist at the Ndola Hospital, those she treated and cared for.
Also Included are images of Biddy’s Arts and Crafts from 1960 to 2009 in the UK.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Shillito
• Release date: Dec 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005442255

Book preview

GROWING UP IN

NORTHERN RHODESIA

John Shillito

*****

Published by: John Shillito on Smashwords

(www.smashwords.com)

Copyright © 2020: John Shillito

Thank you for purchasing this eBook.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, John Shillito

This eBook celebrates, in Picture and Words, some memories of the family’s life in Northern Rhodesia between 1946 and 1963. The images were painted by, and text mostly written by our mother, Biddy Shillito. Included are images of Biddy’s Arts and Crafts from 1970 to 2009 in the UK.

Biddy loved Africa, the African People, those whom she worked with, and, as the Physiotherapist at the Ndola Hospital, those she treated and cared for.

My thanks to my brother and sisters for their help with the content of this eBook. To Annie Findlay, thank you for suggesting this eBook, reading and correcting the draft copy. A big thank you to my wife, Ginny, for her support and putting up with my hours on the PC.

To

John, Ann Marie, David and Linda.

I made these drawings for you in memory of the wonderful (and sometimes scary) times that we had with Joe when we lived in Northern Rhodesia. Biddy Shillito

A Family photograph, mid 1950’s, taken on the beautiful beach at Samfya on Lake Bangweulu.

Table of Contents

1. Our Arrival

2. Johnny

3. The old Plymouth

4. Red Ants

5. Crash

6. Our Garden

7. Chameleon

8. Christmas

9. Saturday Night In The Compound

10. My Baby Austin

11. Spitting Iron

12. The Banded Cobra

13. M’bo

14. Impala At Chichele

15. Pollypuddleduck

16. Flying Termites

17. Mulenga’s Mfasi

18. The Burning Bush

19. Halt, Who Goes There?

20. Peanuts

21. Fairy Mushrooms

22. Muntumanyama

23. Albert - The Rabbit

24. Swimming Pool

25. The Dambo

26. Crocodile

27. Capsize On The Kafue River

28. Guinea Fowl

29. The Sunken Lake

30. Shoebill Stork

31. Bilharzia

32. The Abattoir

33. Praying Mantis

34. Rabid Dog

35. Flying Foxes

36. Choma

37. Game Rescue – Kariba

38. Cervical Traction

39. Bush-Babies

40. Television

41. Pioneer On Lake Kariba

42. The Bush

43. Senyatti Gorge, Kariba

44. Joe’s Store

45. Kaffir Oranges (Strychnos pungens)

46. Gaboon Viper

47. The Baobab

48. Kpiri Mposhi

49. The Rains Come

50. Clara

51. Revenge!

52. Swimming In The Lakes And Rivers

53. Elephant

54. My Work

55. Butterfly Dambo

56. Benson

57. Our Dogs

58. Design and Construction – Delivery

59. Hope Ma Dota Bweeya Cha

60. Cutting Steel Sheets

61. Alceone

62. The PK

63. Polio

64. We Leave For England

65. Biddy’s Arts and Crafts on her return to the UK

66. Figures in clay. The human form, a favourite.

67. Ammonites

68. Plaques and Tiles in clay

69. Other items

70. Books

71. Biddy Shillito

1. Our Arrival

I arrived at Ndola Station in February 1946 with my seventeen month old son John, after a five day train journey from Durban. My husband Joe was to meet me at the station to drive me the thirty five miles to Mufulira where we were to live.

When we arrived there was no Joe! I was in the middle of Africa with no money – wondering what on earth to do. After five minutes – the worst five minutes of my life – Joe turned up in a jalopy with a reed buck in the back. He had shot it on the way to meet me (food for us and the Africans) and this had caused the delay.

We arrived at our house in Mufulira and the buck and our packing cases were off-loaded onto the lawn. Joe told me he had to go back to work but Brian would like a haunch, Grace a saddle and Matao, the cook, the eyeballs. I was so naïve – I knew nothing of Africa or the