Leading from Behind

Maia Chenaux-Repond

Description

Drawing on communications �rescued� from the shredders in the last days of Rhodesia, enlivened by photographs and memories � both her own and those of her colleagues � Maia Chenaux-Repond tells the story of her work as the Provincial Community Developpment Officer (Women) for Mashonaland and South in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the 1970s. There are no records whatsoever in the National Archives of Zimbabwe about the Community Development Section (Women), even though it was active in all the provinces. In the absence of other documentary sources, and all other provincial officers long having emigrated or died, this account of her work fills a significant gap in the pre-independence history of Zimbabwe. he crucial focus of the Women�s Section on improving the lives and skills of women in the rural areas became progressively more difficult when the civil war intensified from the early 1970 as rural people � and the development workers themselves � were moved into �Protected Villages�, and as the Ministry became increasingly militarized.

Sujets

• Gender Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: Weaver Press
• Date de parution: 19 juillet 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781779223210
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Leading from Behind Women in Community Development in Rhodesia, 1973–1979
Leading from Behind
Women in Community Development in Rhodesia, 1973–1979

Maia Chenaux-Repond
Published by Weaver Press, Box A 1922, Avondale, Harare. < www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com >
© Maia Chenaux-Repond, 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-77922-318-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-77922-319-7 (ebook)
Typeset by TextPertise, Harare
Cover design by Eltrym Design, Harare, from a painting by kind permission of Therese Garrood.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc.
To my family Rolf, Sue, Caroline and Yvonne and to all Women Advisers who worked in the Province of Mashonaland South and the Development Workers who worked in the Protected Villages and Consolidated Villages in Mashonaland East during the 1970s
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Abbreviations used
Map of Mashonaland South

Prologue: 1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
Epilogue: 1978–79

Index
Preface
Some years ago, my daughters asked me to write about my work in community development. That became my first attempt at what is now this book. It was not easy. My emotional memory recalls the joy of the early days of my work in the rural areas, the intense pain of the war years – and the difficulty of relating to family and friends during those years; but I found that I could not remember all the facts. Yes, I should have written them down during the 1980s, when my memories were still fresh. But then I had other plans.
During the later years of my work, pain corroded the joy. I remember the nightmares, the insomnia, and the unspeakable fatigue. I took sleeping pills and, eventually, once I had left the ministry, I learned to sleep again without them. But in the process, I successfully repressed the war memories that had triggered those long, white nights.
This account is based on reports to my superiors that fell ‘off the back of a truck’. They lingered in cardboard boxes for thirty years without my ever looking at them. My set of the various reports is by no means complete, so not all detail was available to me. In any case, they summations were dry and concise, as befits internal reports in a government department. They contain no rendering of the emotions involved, they give no flavour, they leave out the joy, and the weight of what I regarded as the most important aspect of my role – supporting the Women Advisers and Development Workers, both professionally and emotionally, as they continued with their work under the increasing pressures of a civil war.
I have also drawn on annual reports of my field staff, and on their personal letters to me, though some written during the war years were so personal that they asked me to destroy them after I had read them. I invariably burned them. Lastly, I have drawn on the memories that those mentioned in the Acknowledgements have shared with me.
There are no records whatsoever in the National Archives of Zimbabwe about the Community Development Section (Women) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, even though it was active in all the provinces. I could only write about the province I worked in. I intend to donate my own records to the Archives so that other researchers may have access to them.
Maia Chenaux-Repond June 2017
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my appreciation to:
My family – my husband Rolf, who gave me his support during these eventful times, sometimes ‘against his better judgement’ and who ‘only ever saw my back hunched over a laptop during the last five years’; our daughter Sue, who first asked, ‘Mum, what did you actually do when we were growing up?’, and thus prompted me to start the narrative; and our daughters Caroline and Yvonne, who unfailingly encouraged me in my writing.
Paddy Pacey, whose early constructive comments helped to shape the text.
Chris Hales, who persuaded the History Society of Zimbabwe to invite me to give a talk on this topic.
Professor emeritus Ray Roberts, who offered to read an early draft and encouraged me to publish.
My brother, Jörg Furrer-Brunner, and my sister-in-law, Rosemarie Furrer-Schiess, who gave me generous financial assistance for this project.
Lazarus Takawira, who, after reading my Women of Courage – Eight Life Stories , so open-heartedly donated one of his early sculptures to help finance the publication of this book.
The Embassy of Switzerland, for financial assistance that will make it possible to place copies of the book in Zimbabwean libraries; and Ambassador Ruth Huber for her personal interest.
Nick Baalbergen, who shared much information with me and dispelled my confusion as regards the paramilitary structures of Internal Affairs.
Dudley Wall, for allowing me to use some photographs that had first appeared on his website, < http://www.freewebs.com/dudleywall >.
Paul Moorcraft and Peter McLaughlin for permission to reproduce from their book Chimurenga! The War in Rhodesia, 1965–1980 their map of infiltration routes that appears on pages 156/7.
Kevin Philip of Parascope, who constructed the map of Mashonaland South that appears on page xvii, compiled from a variety of sources.
Professor emeritus Michael Bourdillon, for taking the trouble to read an early draft and to write the foreword.
Roger Stringer, who edited my manuscript with expertise and empathy, designed and laid out the book, and compiled the index.
My publisher, Irene Staunton, who gave helpful advice from the very beginning.
Margaret Chitumba, Beth Chitekwe-Biti, Lucia Fallab-Graf, David Ford, Thandiwe Henson, Elizabeth Makuzva, Grace Mangoma, Philippa Maphosa, Lucy Mukombiwa, Patricia Ngwerume, Lillian Murwisi, Louisa Nhavira and Kate Van der Linden, who shared their memories with me.
District Commissioners Charles Collett, John Saunders and Brian Lucas, who supported my work during very difficult times, Assistant District Commissioner Andy Parkinson, who always had an encouraging word for Development Workers and Women Advisers, and District Officer Debra Enslin, whose support I much appreciated in the field and office, and some of whose texts I have incorporated in this book.
Foreword
The publication of this book is a fitting and welcome tribute to the women we meet in it. Maia Chenaux-Repond tells us of her encounters with women in Mashonaland South province for six years just prior to the independence of Zimbabwe. She describes her entry into development work, and her initiatives over the years to find ways to improve the lives of women, and to boost their morale in times of extreme hardship.
At the same time, she provides many insights into the operation of the white government in rural administration, and of life in racially divided Rhodesia. Maia explicitly states her own values that lay behind her work; but she describes how events unfolded, allowing readers to make their own judgements about policies and programmes.
This is an account of how theoretical ideas such as community development and the advancement of women can work out on the ground, with committed workers and inspiring and committed leadership. Aims had constantly to be adapted to particular local situations, and especially to disruptions due to the war. The book describes those things that went well and those that did not go according to plan. The author’s own records and memories are supported by reminiscences recorded many years later of some of the women she had worked with, and of some of the children who fled the country during the war.
We meet many and varied women. We learn something of the difficulties they faced in a patriarchal rural society governed by white supremacists. We see how many of the women overcame difficulties. Extracts from their comments and reports bring vividly to life their hopes and frustrations, and the help they received from the author’s many initiatives.
The style of memoir or diary helps to break down stereotypes. Apart from the women appearing in the book, we meet caring and enterprising men as well as patriarchal autocrats. Among the white government employees and administrators we also find variety, ranging from those who had deep knowledge of, and respect for, the culture of the people they were serving, to those who had only ignorant prejudice; from those who were deeply sympathetic to the roles of women in their communities, to those who were chauvinists. The account often illustrates the difficulties faced by those who genuinely cared for the people they were administering in a situation fraught with racial tensions.
The narrative relating to the years of more intense warfare shows courageous women continuing in their development work through troubles and dangers, suffering the same upheavals that the people around them were facing, and remaining committed to their work. Maia describes her continued support for the women she had trained, involving repeated visits to war zones. The focus remains on the women’s work; but the war impinges heavily on this work. The vignettes show suffering and trauma, courage and perseverance, and attempts to continue life and work amid war. They show both brutality and humanity from combatants on both sides. They also show developments taking place in spite of all the difficulties, and attempts to provide relief.
There are lessons and inspiration for all in these pages.
Michael Bourdillon Professor Emeritus Department of Sociology University of Zimbabwe
Abbreviations used
ADC
Assistant District Commissioner
ADF
African Development Fund
ALOR
Adult Literacy Organization of Rhodesia
APA
African Purchase Area
ARU
Administration Reinforcement Units
BCDT
Branch of Community Development Training
CD
Community Development
CDOW
Commun