Mother runs a clinic – stoic Somalis survive on little:
When we got to Hargeisa, Ruth had returned to England so some of her official duties were carried out by my Mother, Marjorie. She and Ruth had worked together at a small Clinic, Ruth had set up in the village to attend to Somali women and children. I believe the clinic is still in operation. My Mother writes:
"At first I was merely asked to keep records and to teach the two Somali dressers to speak English. But as things became busy I helped with dressings. We had busy mornings attending to 300 to 400 cases. Most cases were routine but every now and then we had serious patients. Malnutrition among the babies and young children was prevalent. The dry desert winds caused dehydration. The adults had trained themselves to do with very little water as there was sometimes many miles between water wells. Infants were unable to compensate for these conditions and were often so weak they couldn't cry, but mewed like a cat.
"We did what we could with rations, powdered milk, and vitamins etc but we never knew how many survived. Tropical Ulcers and all kinds of cuts were brought in – perhaps a kick or a bit from a camel, a bite from a Jackal, while a women slept, and so on. The people were most stoical, I never heard even a young child scream no matter how much we hurt them. Ruth has some VAD training but I was very ignorant so was horrified when told I was to take charge of the clinic when Ruth returned to England. I was relieved when a trained nurse joined her Officer husband and came to take over."
When we first arrived, Mother was in the thick of it and seemed to be coping ok. She had an interesting experience. She lost a dress ring. It had a distinctive aquamarine stone and it disappeared from the house. Only our servants came into the house so one of them must have taken it. Some months later a Somali woman came to the clinic with the ring on her finger. Mother called the Police who were told the woman was given it by a man for perhaps the obvious reason. Mother got her ring back. Her grand-daughter in Australia now has it and wears it on special occasions.
Mother runs Radio Hargeisa & plays governor's hostess. Mother left the clinic and was drafted as personal secretary to the Information Officer. She writes:
"Now I had never worked in an office, never filed a letter, and could only type rather slowly. I was given a one hour tabloid course in office procedure, and then left to my own devices. My boss was new to the office and indeed, I arrived the day before he did, which gave him the excuse 'you were here before I was so you must know what to do' He soon asked for a transfer, and I was told that as he would not be replaced, I was in charge. The unpaid job consisted of running the Radio Station, sending out the mobile cinema unit to surrounding villages, and getting out a weekly news-letter. I had a Sergeant Major to run the radio station, Somali drivers for the cinema unit, some clerical staff , and I was responsible for an expenditure budget of ten thousand pounds"
Being one of the few females in the Administration, Mother became an unofficial hostess for the Governor. First for Brig Jerome Fisher after Ruth went home to England and then, for the Acting Governor, who was a bachelor, who replaced Jerome when he followed his wife home. Her unpaid duties included arranging and hostessing official dinners. Jerome Fisher had been a career Officer in India so still had a Victorian mind-set. The 'wallas' were put on this earth for his benefit. While in India he had purchased two museum grade Persian rugs. Each covered an entire wall (they were too valuable to put on the ground) in the Residency. The Residency was the only 'proper' house in Hargeisa at that time.
During the day, therefore, my Mother and Father were otherwise occupied leaving us to our own devices. Each morning, Mother set some school work for us to do. We had other ideas. The next door neighbour with the two horses was also busy during the day. He asked us if we would exercise his horses for him. So most days we would saddle up and tear off up the Tug as fast as the nags would take us. Schoolwork would be hastily done just before the parents returned home.
…to be continued
Hugh Milne welcomes reader's responses and enquiries if any at his Email:
Hugh and Trish
Email: huntrish@bigpond.net.au
This memoir piece is provided by Bashir Goth, Email: bsogoth@yahoo.com
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