Africa

I arrived in Dar-es-Salaam harbour on my 8 th birthday back in 1958 promptly went down with malaria. Yet this was the start of some of the most magical years of my life. What a wonderful place for a child to grow up I was out there from 1958 to 1968
I will try to share some of those wonderful memories with you

Living in Africa

Author: shadow1950

© Linda Hillier 10/03/2013

In 1958 we went to Dodoma
there's a sleepy place
on the outskirts we lived
nightly, rubbish bins scatted
as big cats and hyenas scavenged
Leopards living a mile away
250 yards only or so then
straight into the bush
mangoes growing in our garden
yummy as you bit down on one
a flood of nectar down your chin
on safari often we would go
canvas so thick it weighed a ton
ridge poles six inches thick
nightly, lions prowled and roared
send icy shivers down our spines
guns we had and knew how to use them
sheaf knife always at your waist
by age of ten I could gut and skin a deer
this was survival at the edge
as meat was only airlifted in once a month
cattle too riddled with pests and T.B for us to eat
monsoons, oh that rain like 7 tubs of bath water
dumped on your head at once
dry parched earth suddenly a river 2-3 inches deep
poor little birds lying stunned under the trees
yet 30 minutes later after it ceased, the earth
once more parched and dry, crumbly in our hands
all this and so much more
was my childhood play ground
ah Africa, Sweet Sweet Africa
I love you still, and always will

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This covered my first two years of living there
at 10 we moved back to the coast to Dar-es-Salaam
now started a new chapter one that helped to define me and make me who I am today. Africa is a place of dark deep mystery of things us whites will never fully understand I saw barbaric things out there. The power of their witch doctors has to be seen to be believed, when they curse someone that person takes to their bed and slowly fades away may take three or more weeks but they just lose the will to live, you can scoff but I know I have seen it happen.
Although I wrote this poem first I have shown the other first for a more flowing potted history of my early life


African Skies

Author: shadow1950


African Skies

© Linda Hillier 08/03/2013

I hark to freer days of childhood
Life simplicity in itself
days of laughter, of playing in the sand
so so soft and fine
golden white sands from the coral reefs
sparkling, dazzling bright
Staring into coral pools at Tide's ebb
Beautiful rainbows of fish
endless darting, sea cucumbers sleepily still
a child's total delight
coconut palms wave gently in the salty breeze
scale them I tried in vain
inland to the vast savanna's teeming with life
tall grasses the lion hid
a wondrous baobab tree reaching up for the sky
look it grew upside down
for all the world to see, branches like roots
beware the croc log
hippo's snorting, noise vibrating as they plunge
then resurface amidst bubbles
all these wonders through child's eyes seen
Africa my heart you have still
I tell you what my friends, I swear to you
blindfold me, put me to sea
around twenty nautical miles or so
and I would know alone
by the vibrant scents of rich earth and spices
that I am back there
near heart's home, the East African coast

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Posted: Fri Mar 8, 2013 11:17 AM WET

I hope people will enjoy what I have written so far I will write more soon

I will diverse a little just to give a full picture I was born in Scotland moved to London at 2 years old the to Las Palmas at 3 until I was 5, returning to London. We shipped out on the SS Kenya travelling through the Suez canal now that was a sight (but another story) and as you know arrived in East Africa on 21st march 1958 next part will be Africa 2