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(Page 5 of 15)

I read with interest the article written by Mr. Colebatch.

It seems that Southern Rhodesia in the '60s was a favorite of the British. I went to the Pathe website not long ago, and saw a film that showed the country in an enthusiastic light. It reminded me of the days when my wife and I as young Rhodesians could pop into Britain and work awhile with no formalities to speak of.

Later when we decided on advice from my Father to leave Rhodesia for good and return to Britain, we were not only denied this in South Africa (Rhodesia was then under sanctions and had no British representation in Salisbury), but were given a lecture on democracy by a young slip of a girl. This to an ex self-supporting Church Worker!

We remained in Africa awaiting the politicians to fight it out. My perspective is that if politicians dislike each other, it's often the public of their respective countries, trying to live a normal life, who pay.

Several times we tried to return to the U.K. for our children's sake, always there was some reason or other. We immigrated to the USA as my wife is of American stock. There we were welcome.

Finally we decided we would like to consider living our retirement out in the U.K., as we have children, grandchildren, and a great grandson there, and would like to have spent our sunset years with family, but now we cannot return as we are not wealthy Americans, or using Zimbabwe as a citizen platform, Zimbabwe no longer being a member of the commonwealth.

I love living in the USA, and probably would not return to Britain if given the option, but I would like the option to say "No." My wife misses close family dreadfully.

We Rhodesians are portrayed as spoilt, privileged and so on, but I saw the other side, people who used to take down curtains to make a new dress for a function struggling to make ends meet and only after years of battling being what some silly journalist calls privileged. If other folk worked as did our folk, they, too, would have what they call privilege. I see this phenomenon of putting successful folk down is called leveling. If you can find it, a good read is: Next Year Will Be Better (life on a Southern Rhodesian farm).

Being a Rhodesian was fun, hard work, rewarding and great to see a country grow from very little. Yes, we had help, but that didn't mean we sat around, we simply did more. There was a bad side to it, I must confess, but the good side overshadowed it, as is the case in the USA today. I am dismayed when the bad side of a country, any country is amplified and the good side diminished. We had great values, believe it or not, still do. I will never regret growing up there and the life and comradeship shared. It cannot be taken away. Whilst Zimbabwe is in a bit of a mess today, it is still a wonderful place peopled by wonderful people. Make no mistake.

However, those left behind both white and black deserve a lot better than they are getting. It makes my heart bleed. Communism run amok.

There are numerous charities trying to support Zimbabwean Pensioners, and I ask you and your readers to seek them out on the web and consider them seriously, please. The rewards are great, British politicians, it seems, won't.

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