Rhodesia, Bulawayo, Garretts

george matthews wrote: I travelled by Union Castle from London to Mombasa in 1965. The service didn't last much longer.

That's interesting, George. Was that a seventeen day trip? I used to make it across the Atlantic between Europe and New York in six days.

philipmartin wrote:

philipmartin wrote:Rhodesia in photographs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm4eo6V_9-k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once there was a great nation called Rhodesia.

Category

If you had actually been there, you would not write such nonsense.

This was written by John Edmond who certainly was there.

"Uploaded on Dec 2, 2010
This is photos that we have found of various websites several years ago. Thanks to all those unknown people who collected them so we could show them to all friends of Rhodesia. Thanks also to all unknown people who owns some of the photos. We have not been able to thank you since we do not know where in the world you are these days.

Once there was a great nation called Rhodesia.

It proved that a few thousand men and women of good quality can create a civilisation. Rhodesia was great, but forced to die when USA and Britain decided to kill it.

Unfortunately it also showed that a few stupid politicians and governments can destroy a civilized nation.

Thanks for the music: John Edmond
http://www.johnedmond.co.za/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

Philip, it's easy to find any opinion on the internet, and this is the rose-tinted view of some former white Rhodesians. As I said in an earlier post, I know some of them who talk like this. But as George and I have both pointed out, that doesn't necessarily make it true.

johnthefireman wrote:Philip, it's easy to find any opinion on the internet, and this is the rose-tinted view of some former white Rhodesians. As I said in an earlier post, I know some of them who talk like this. But as George and I have both pointed out, that doesn't necessarily make it true.

I have worked in Uganda, Kenya, Botswana and Nigeria -mostly as a teacher. I hope that what I did was useful. I can see references to the spread of biogas in Kenya, and I think I was partly responsible for that. The old world of the settler colonies has gone and I do not lament its passing. Many of the settlers were unpleasant people who treated the people with contempt. Some of those who continued to live there were useful people and I worked with them. I did travel in Rhodesia and South Africa and found the general situation very unpleasant. I worked in Botswana and thus was living near the edge of South Africa, so could observe it from a safe distance. I did enjoy travelling in the trains, though the segregation was an obnoxious feature. It was interesting to travel in the train through Botswana where there was no segregation (by law) and how it annoyed the South Africans and Rhodesians when we were travelling with a group of students from Palapye to Francistown.

It's certainly interesting, hearing your experiences in Africa, George. I was hoping that photos of Rhodesia in past times might interest people who have been there, as pictures of my home town, a hundred years ago, interest me.

I would say that old pictures are always interesting. It's not the pictures that are being challenged; its the commentary that goes with them. I often look at and repost old photos of Kenyan railways, but I don't repost the commentary from old white settlers telling me what a perfect place Kenya was when the vast majority of its population was oppressed.

johnthefireman wrote:the vast majority of its population was oppressed.

. It also received the benefits of civilization, to some degree.

That's arguable, but is off-topic on a railway site, which is why I welcome the photos but not the political opinions that go with them. On a different forum I would really want to unpack the notion of the assumed benefits that western "civilisation" brought to Africa.