Remember to wash your hands

I say!

Lwok cingi inge limo coron pi gengo two.

Loosely translated from Luo, this means "Wash your hands after visiting the latrine to prevent disease".

Very good advice, especially if you are one of the tens of thousands of people in northern Uganda who are still living in camps. Humanitarian aid to the camps is big business. Many well-intentioned people are involved in the support business in that part of the world. However, it would be much better if the real cause of the lingering conflict in that part of the world was addressed. It is not just the work of a madman, as Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been made out to be. A madman cannot hold half a country at ransom for two decades. However, it often suits the purposes of interested parties to make out that Kony is simply a madman.

The real problem is still the north-south divide, and the position of the Acholi within Uganda.

Across the border in southern Sudan, in Juba, which has been peaceful now for some time, there are fortunes being made there, what with all the investment going into the area. Perhaps, one day, Acholiland may join with a new country formed out of Souther Sudan. Read about Riek Machar's incredible life for more details.

Anyway - and on a completely different topic, what are the three largest buildings in the world?

MM III

Duneditin conference, Quiz question, plus a great new game

I say!

Kha'bahje has started to build a rather large construction, down at the lines. I believe that he may have been inspired by William Kamkwamba, but has become rather confused somewhere along the road. His construction features several flattened cooking oil cans, an old car battery and some maize cobs, and he seems to believe that it will be able to receive signals from his cousins in Mocambique.

Anyway...we're rather looking forwards to the Duneditin conference, to be held later in the year in Edinburgh. I hope it turns out better than the Duntokin Conference, Edinburgh, 1992.


Question: What are the two largest train stations in the UK? Answers in a comment, please. This question was prompted by Mrs M discovering one of those free magazines that are now found in trains throughout good old Blighty. We spent some time on various trains on our recent trip. Most confusing it is, having so many train companies in one small island.

What a wonderful game Beach Cricket is! Mrs M and myself were watching a game from Scarborough Beach, Perth, on the telly the other night. It featured various legends of the great game, such as Thommo, Deano, A.B., Daffy Defreitas, Graeme Hick, Lamby, Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, Goochy, Embers, Gus Fraser - legends all! Of course, England swept the board.

MM III

Tot facienda parum factum

I say!

There was an old Rhodie up at the Masongola the other evening. Milton, by name. Used to own a farm just west of Macheke, but has since resettled in Zambia. He'd start most sentences by saying "Um nit a wriscist, but..." and then proceed to demonstrate, through his argument, why he was exactly a racist.

However, he did entertain us in various ways, once he'd had a few. Here are the words to the song he sang just before he was evicted by Benson, for calling him a floppy:

We're Rhodesians and we'll fight through thick and thin
We'll keep our land a free land from the enemy coming in
We will keep them north of the Zambezi till this river's running dry
This mighty land will prosper for Rhodesians never die

Well, the 'settler vermin' as Mugabe has called them in the past are now mostly gone from the land south of the Zambezi (Zimbabwe), but the country is now starving without them. Can't help but feel sorry for anyone left in Zimbabwe, at the present time, and of course there are quite a few of them hereabouts. Their country has imploded, with inflation now at well over 100,000%. Zimbabwe, today, is like the whole of the world might be if everything eventually stops working.

Cabbage has decreed that, henceforth, he is to be known as Kha'bahje. I believe that that makes it legal, hereabouts.

I say! What on earth are those Ozzie barmen doing to my little boy, Menzies IV? Below is a snap of him and Zapper in a bar, somewhere in Sydney. They ask for two pints of amber nectar, and they've been given two jugs of jade slime. What on earth is going on, I ask you? He's used to Carlsberg Greens, but the green only refers to the colour of the can label, not its contents. It looks as if they're waiting for instructions as to what to do with the liquid - drink it, or clean out the toilet with it.


And below is one of Hairdo, who often experiences problems walking in a straight line even before a jug of green slime.


Must toddle off and pick my Fantasy Cricket team. Do you think I should plump for Hicky or Vaughany?

Kan pei - as they say in some parts of China.

MM III

Kha'bahje M'hango

I say!

The purpose of our stopover in York, which is of course in Yorkshire, where they have a long tradition of playing the great game, was two-fold. Firstly, to enable us to visit the birthplace of Geoffrey Boycott's granny, which is situated not too far away. As is well-known, 'Sir' Geoffrey is the greatest living opening batsman of all time, ever. He has elsewhere explained what it was like to stand at the crease and face Michael (Whispering Death) Holding, bowling to (or rather, at) him:

"To have some idea what it's like, stand in the outside lane of a motorway, get your mate to drive his car at you at 95 mph and wait until he's 12 yards away, before you decide which way to jump."

As an aside, is it not wonderful how the great game is catching on in the USA?

The second reason was to enable me to give a talk, to an invited local group of worthies, on the topic of: Lesser Known Cricket Poetry from East and Southern Central Africa, 1918 - 1962. This is a topic on which I am somewhat of an expert.

Well, I must say, the talk went down splendidly. Here is a short extract from one poem, entitled "Zomba Invitational IX v Likhubula CC, 1959", by Norton Johnson, which the audience seemed to particularly appreciate:

'Neath the imposing western buttress of the Mulanje Massif
On a track with a hint of emerald growth,
M'hango bowled
Clutterbuck-Simpson straight drove
It was a sixer!
And a shot which would have impressed as much
Had the batsman been Baron Bror von Blixen

I could continue, but I think that the above has given you the gist of the evening.

In fact, Cabbage, our gardener, claims that he is the grand-nephew of the bowler M'hango in question, who, as the record books show, is credited with the full name of: Kha'bahje M'hango. Cabbage thus maintains that he was not, as we originally assumed, named after a vegetable. Well, it certainly is possible, because Kha'bahje M'hango hailed from Mangochi, which is also Cabbage's birthplace. It might also explain Cabbage's rather crooked nose and slightly Arab appearance. Mangochi was, of course, on the slavers' trail.

The record book also shows that Clutterbuck-Simpson went on to score 34, but was eventually out to M'hango. Likhubula CC won by 3 wickets.

By another coincidence, Clutterbuck-Simpson is a very distant relative of Mrs M, though not on the Delamere side of the family I hasten to add.

Here are two more snaps taken in our excellent hotel, and one of my dinner at the reception which followed the talk.




MM III

York

I say!

What a frightfully nice time we had on our recent(ish) trip to dear old Blighty, to see off Menzies IV on his travels Downunder.

Mrs M and myself called in at several places, including York, where we spent an enjoyable few days at the four star Royal York Hotel - a lovely Victorian building, as can be seen from the snaps below.


Particularly impressive were the toilets. One can easily imagine a contemplative moment or two in such surroundings:


Our room was small, but perfectly adequate:

In the next post, I will mention the purpose of our trip to York.

MM III

Malemia Road

I say!

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a line drawing worth? Below is a drawing of a house about a mile up the road from Kalimbuka, below the Plateau. I think the drawing, by Brian Roy, has much character.


This evening, watching the sun go down with an MGT in my hand and Casper by my side, I have been reading 'Turn the hour' by M.H. Hamilton, and what a remarkable book it is. I can fully recommend it. It tells the tale of life in colonial Kenya, from 1914 up to 1962. What a life M.H. Hamilton experienced, and one is in awe of her knowledge and expertise.

Here are some more snaps from Downunder:

After a lot of thought, and many incorrect attempts, Menzies IV confirms that Hairdo has finally identified the Sydney Opera House.

They managed to convince Zapper that he was on holiday in Ireland. I understand that he has finally found a surgeon to remove the extra left arm.

MM III

Keeping the right company?

I say!

One can't help wondering about the company Menzies IV is keeping, Downunder, and that Rob was correct when he stated in a Comment on this blog that "On the photographic evidence MM is clearly the normal one of the team."

Below is, l to r, Hairdo 42 and Menzies IV.


Below, Hairdo smiles for the camera:


They sometimes need to cage him at night-time, if there's a full moon:


Below, l to r, Menzies IV and Zapper Whizzo, on the beach at Byron Bay, Zapper checks that his head is still there:


Below, Zapper demonstrates the benefits of NHS dentistry:


MM III

Menzies IV

I say!

Nice that Menzies IV has sent me the following snaps from his trip.

The snap below shows from l to r, Menzies IV, Zapper Whizzo and Hairdo 42, in Hong Kong.

Also taken in Hong Kong is the following.

Finally, they arrive in Sydney, and relax in the Botanical Gardens.


MM III