Back in the Day: Growing Up in Colonial Central Africa

ADVENTURE

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After World War 2, British colonial countries like Southern Rhodesia were abuzz with renewed energy and excitement for the future, as the language and culture were British, yet the country, unlike Blighty, was tropical with interesting and different geology, archaeology, fauna, flora and people, with fantastic agricultural and mining potential for the rapidly expanding population. The warm, sunny climate reflected a gloriously happy disposition amongst its people.

Willie MacDougall was born under these warm, umbrella-blue skies and enjoyed growing up in a carefree environment where friends and family had value. Whether it was cycling to school and back; sleeping in a tree house; camping in the Matopos Hills or Khami Ruins; going by steam train to the Victoria Falls; enduring long holiday trips to South Africa; exploring disused gold mines; horse riding; or playing the bagpipes, it always involved friends and family.

Inevitably the political landscape changed, and the ‘white bubble’ was unsustainable. Jake, his elder brother and friends were progressively enlisted to fight insurgents on the border. Ultimately, though, it was when the family of his first real love, Hazel, decided to move to Cape Town that he also fully understood his future direction: to go to South Africa, get a degree and work as a biologist.

Winston David Emmerson was born in Bulawayo, Matabeleland, during colonial British Southern Rhodesia, where he went to school. He later went on to do a biology degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown (Makhanda), Eastern Cape, when South Africa was under strict Apartheid rule. This led to a career in marine biology, first cultivating prawns in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and KwaZulu-Natal, before returning to Port Elizabeth to monitor estuarine pollution and read for his doctorate at the University of Port Elizabeth, now renamed Nelson Mandela University. He then moved to the University of Transkei, Eastern Cape, now renamed Walter Sisulu University, as a research associate, senior lecturer and professor researching mangrove fauna, before emigrating to Scotland.