When I put the article into Open Door I had no idea of the interesting lovely people that I would meet. Yesterday I went to see what M wondered might be useful, and stayed for about 2 hours chatting with her and looking at photos that she had taken from 1956 when she went to teach in Tanzania.
What a difference 55 years makes - in September I will be taking a direct flight to Lusaka but her flight to Tanzania was in 5 steps, leaving from a shed at Heathrow (in a Comet, I think) and stopping for a meal and general comfort break in (I hope I remember this correctly) Rome, Cairo, Nairobi and finally Dar Es Salaam. Then she took a train out to the shadow of Kilimanjaro where she lived for 2 years 6 months.
M taught at a school where about a third of the girls boarded, and many of the day girls had a 90 minute walk each way in the dry season, and a much longer one in the rainy season.
M has led a fascinating life and I can relate to so much of what she thinks and has done, although she actually achieved things that I simply dreamed of. For example, she arranged an exchange between Romsey schoolchildren and those in industrial Smethwick - something that I tried to get set up between Sparkbrook and Winchester but it didn't get off the ground.
I'm so glad to have met M and really looking forward to hearing more about her travels and experiences next time I visit to collect some more items to take with me to Zambia.
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