Winds of Destruction ( PDFDrive )

were grown and cured. We lived in pole and dagga (mud) thatched houses for
many months with communal kitchen and dining hall constructed in like manner.
Peter, Michael and Marcus Gordon, though younger than Tony and me, were
good friends who, like us, enjoyed living in the crude accommodation so much
more than the brick homes that came later.
During the 1949 Christmas holidays with Dad we learned that Tony and I
would not be returning to Eagle School but were moving to government schools
in Umtali. We were heart-sore about leaving the Vumba, which had been a happy
place. Had the reason for moving—money—been explained to us, it would have
been much easier to understand why we had to step-down, in line with our
stepsister and stepbrother.
We moved to Umtali High School in January 1950. I boarded in Chancellor
House, whereas Tony went to the junior school and boarded in Kopje House.
From the outset I enjoyed Umtali High School, which catered for boys and girls.
Unfortunately the subject levels I had reached at Eagle School were substantially
higher than the grade into which I was first placed. I was immediately moved up
a grade but, again, I had covered its levels. Any thought of elevating me further
was rejected because I would have been two years younger than the youngest
member. My brother was in a far worse position for having to stay at junior
school.
By the time new subject matter came my way I was fourteen years old and
had been in a state of idleness for over a year. Somewhat bewildered, I found
myself struggling to learn for the first time in my life. Nevertheless, I managed
to pass all examinations and moved up another grade with Jennifer, my
stepsister. But instead of remaining in the upper academic stream, as expected,
we were both placed in what was know as Form 4-Removed where subject
levels were slightly lower than those being taught to some of our previous
classmates, now in Form 4A. I did not understand this, but accepted that I would
have to do another year at school before writing the Cambridge Certificate
examination. Good results in these examinations qualified one for a Matric
Exemption, which was crucial for acceptance into Edinburgh University.
On the 2 June 1952, my sixteenth birthday, the whole family attended a dance
at the Black Mountain Hotel in the small village of Cashel. Any occasion at the
Black Mountain Hotel was great fun, but this particular night turned out to be a
depressing one for me. It brought about another substantial turnabout in my life.
Dad chose that night to take me out into the cold night air to tell me that, with
immediate effect, I was being taken out of school.
Schooling for Rhodesian whites was mandatory to the age of sixteen, so I
could not have been removed before that day. But now Dad was telling me that