60 Years in East Africa

Werner Voigt

Description

60 Years in East Africa:  Life of a Settler 1926 to 1986 describes sixty years of experiences of a settler, during which he built plantations for his German and other employers and finally acquired his own. He and his family experienced hardship, regards, jubilation and disappointments while living in East Africa from the 1920s to the 1980s. Mr. Voigt brings his many adventures to life, including a one thousand kilometre honeymoon foot safari, eight years of internment during World War II, prospecting for gold, and establishing several plantations in Tanzania and Rwanda. His stream of consciousness style, Germanic manner of expression and his recollection of particular details that interested him make this book easy and fascinating reading. It is the uniquely personal account of a German settler in East Africa spanning the years 1926 to 1986.

Informations

• Publié par: Burnstown Publishing House
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781772570977
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

BURNSTOWN PUBLISHING HOUSE
5 Leckie Lane, Burnstown, Ontario K0J 1G0
Telephone [phone]
www.burnstownpublishing.com
ISBN 978-1-77257-097-7
Copyright © Evelyn Voigt 2013
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher or,
in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence
from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency),
1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.
Cover design: Derek Ewen.
Published in Canada.
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada.


Contents


Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Frontispiece
Epigraph
Dedication
Prologue
PART ONE
My Dream Begins in Childhood
Childhood Memories
The 1914 War
Growing Up
PART TWO
My Early Years as Plantation Manager and Adventurer
Bagamoyo
Old watchtower/observation post outside Bagamoyo
First German administrative building, Bagamoyo
Old well (in former times, slaves were washed while sitting on the seat shown here)
Coconut processing factory yard, Bagamoyo, 1927
Typical coastal African house
The beach in Bagamoyo. This is where dhows came to shore because larger ships were forced to anchor farther out in deeper water.
My First African Christmas
A salt saline (salt evaporation operation)
Mr. Voigt and the first hand-operated gramo phone—a sensa tion, 1927/28
Beginning of plantation, 1927
Kidagoni
Werner Voigt and Mr. Arras in front of Mr. Voigt’s palm leaf hut, 1927
W. Voigt and his cook with a dwarf coconut palm between them, 1927
Malaria
Locusts
Little Animal Stories
Leni
My Best Cook
The Indian Ocean
A Fateful Outrigger Trip
Ngalawa, an outrigger
The former mayor of Bagamoyo, a very good friend of Mr. Voigt’s
The Old Slaver
I Get New Neighbours
Stomach Trouble
On Leave
Back in Bagamoyo
PART THREE
My Own Plantation
Up to Mufindi
Railway station, Dar es Salaam, 1930
Railway station in Dodoma; passengers and goods preparing for departure to Iringa, 1930
Cape to Cairo Road in the rainy season
Ford through Ruaha River—vehicle is pushed through
Ford through Ruaha River—vehicle is pushed through
German settlers arrive in Iringa, 1928
Main road in Iringa, 1928
The Settlers
The Settlements
Mufindi Highlands
Settlers ploughing with oxen
A settler’s house, walls made from wooden frame and clay; thatched roof
Bush Ambulance
Post office in Mufindi, still in operation in 1995
Some Settler Types
The Lupa Goldfields
Panning for gold at the Lupa Goldfields
Panning for gold at the Lupa Goldfields
We Build a New House
Pit sawing boards for Voigt house
Pit sawing boards for Voigt house
Voigt house, 1934
PART FOUR
Helga Is Coming
Helga Arrives
Helga on the road to their house, 1934 (Note: Compare the small cypresses at the left to those in the picture on page 204; this shows the same road in 1965, thirty-one years later.)
Nazi Time
The Trial Safari
Helga’s Ship Acquaintance
The Oil Mill
A Very Special Honeymoon
The oil mill
District officer in his Boxbody
The Dance
Werner with eland
Liuli
In Dugout on Lake Nyasa, Helga Wearing a “topi”
Bridge in the bush
The Big Disappointment
Pyrethrum
Werner Voigt standing in his Pyrethrum, shortly before the War, 1939
An African Eye Specialist
Father’s Death
First German tea factory (approx. 1932)
The first tea produced in Mufindi
The first tea produced in Mufindi being loaded
Mufindi settlers
PART FIVE
War and Interment
Everything Is Taken Away
Baviaansport
The Foreign Legionnaires
Bad News from the Women’s Camp in Salisbury
Norton Internment Camp
Werner and Helga Voigt with children Werner (Jr) and Peter, Norton Internment Camp, 1946
Helga Voigt with children Werner (Jr), Peter and Evelyn, Norton Internment Camp, 1947
Certificate identifying Werner Voigt as a member of the Antinazi Democratic Group in Norton Internment Camp
Steward Voigt
Apartheid – 1947
PART SIX
Starting Over with Nothing
Back to Mufindi
Voigt family back in Mufindi after internment, 1949
A Fair Lady
Another Job
The Nachingwea Groundnut Scheme
A Little Surprise
Peter Is Coming
An African Episode
Two of the Voigts’ staff and the children; Omari started as an ayah (babysitter) and played an increasingly important role in various positions. Ena was an ayah and is holding Evelyn; Peter and Veronika are sitting in front.
Building in Dar es Salaam
Bagamoyo 1951
Outrigger Trip to Dar es Salaam
We Become Tea Planters
Labourer Hieronomus, preparing for tea planting
Young tea
Normal Members of Society Again
Driveway to Voigt house, 1965 (compare to picture on page 119)
Voigt house with the extension, 1965
Voigt children,
Ras Roale
Werner’s Death
Our Island Paradise
Ras Roale, the Voigts’ island paradise
Unloading supplies
Ras Roale scenery
Building a bungalow in Mufindi
Completed bungalow on Ras Roale
Original lifeboat
The boat transformed into a cabin cruiser, using timber from trees Mr. Voigt planted shortly after arrival in Mufindi
Transport of lifeboat from Dar es Salaam to Mufindi
Voigt children with fish
Werner Voigt and all three children on the island
Helga with Peter and Veronika
Some fish caught off the island
A Planter’s Life on Kifulilo
PART SEVEN
Rwanda Times – Our Years Apart
Rwanda
Mulindi
Cutting papyrus in the swamp
Canal similar to the one the woman fell into
Tea in Mulindi Valley
Dancers
On Leave
Changugu
Bukavu
Helga Comes to Rwanda
PART EIGHT
The Dream Fades
Kifulilo
Kifulilo tea plantation 1985, shortly before Helga and Werner Voigt left Tanzania
Tea pluckers
Helga with visitors to Kifulilo
More visitors
Tanzania Is Independent
Helga and Werner Voigt, 1983
Werner Voigt in front of his tea
Our Wheel Falls Off
Some Nasty Visitors
More Nasty Visitors
Retirement
The Court Case
PART NINE
The Sale of Our Plantation

Epilogue





Werner Voigt thinking in the sitting room of his home



Helga Voigt lighting lanterns in Kifulilo (Kifulilo was the name of the Voigts’ plantation)



Map of Tanzania as drawn by Werner Voigt




This story is written as I remember the different episodes; a bit embroidered, perhaps. I make no claims to the historical accuracy of my account. In many cases, the names have been changed.



This book is dedicated to my brave wife, Helga,
and to our children and grandchildren.


Prologue
In 1996 Werner and Helga Voigt went back to their beloved Tanzania for an incredible visit. Werner was ninety years of age, Helga eighty.
Thanks in large part to their good friends the Fox family of Foxtreks Safaris, they travelled to Ras Roale, their island paradise; to Kifulilo, their tea plantation; and to the Ruaha game park, a favourite weekend retreat. They visited with old friends, experienced once again the joys of everything African, and simply drank it all in. Werner, in particular, relished every single moment—each flat tire was an opportunity to reminisce about challenges of old; each rough road was an autobahn compared to the mud-soaked pathways of his day; and each accommodation was an extravagance. The tougher the journey, the happier he was—his eyes sparkled. “This,” he would say, time and again, “this is Africa!”
Werner and Helga were welcomed back to Kifulilo with a ngoma (traditional party and dance), where they had an opportunity to meet former friends, neighbours and staff. This was a very emotional reunion, during which it was announced that the laboratory that forms part of the Tea Research Station now located on their farm would be named after Werner. There were speeches and stories, dancing, and of course abundant food and drink.


Werner at the ngoma on Kifulilo meeting Charles, a special friend and employee, as well as other friends


Other guests at the ngoma


The Werner Voigt Tea Research Laboratory


Helga at the ngoma , conversing in Swahili with some of the guests


Fireplace in the Voigt home. The concrete mural was carved by Werner’s father.


Werner and Helga on the steps of the Iringa Hotel (formerly known as the White Horse Inn), sixty-two years after they first set eyes on each other on these same steps

On the way to the Ruaha Game Park, Werner and Helga stopped at the Iringa Hotel to remember the day they first met sixty-two years earlier . . . to remember the moment when eighteen-year-old Helga first set ey