Monday, June 30, 2025

Those "Army" days ...

 

It feels like another lifetime ago, but I vividly recall my high school years when mandatory military enlistment loomed large for all boys aged 16 to 18. Upon finishing school, they'd receive their "call-up" papers, a summons to fulfill their duty to the nation.

While there wasn't an active war, the National Government at the time classified the ANC political party as a terrorist organization. This was the same organization to which Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, and many current South African government officials belonged. It's important to note that this conscription took place under a minority white government enforcing Apartheid against all non-white people.

Conscription was an inescapable reality for all young white men. Some chose to leave the country as soon as they completed their education, while tragically, others resorted to suicide.

As a young girl, dating a boy about to embark on his National Service was particularly difficult. They would be away for two years, with their first home pass typically granted only after three months of basic training. The uncertainty of their posting locations added to the anxiety; some were sent as far as Upington, a considerable distance from Johannesburg, and after basic training, deployment to the Angolan/South West African border was a common possibility. (This is where my future husband was posted, though we hadn't met yet.)

In 1981, as I prepared for college, my then-boyfriend had just finished school and was due for his call-up. I remember the tearful goodbyes at Park Station, surrounded by mothers, sisters, and fathers all saying farewell to their loved ones. (That particular relationship was short-lived, but that's a story for another time.)

My mother was wonderful about sending care packages to my male cousins on the border, filled with comforts from home. Inspired by her, I started sending parcels to other boys I knew who were also serving. With no phones or email, letters were our only means of communication. It was common practice to adorn envelopes with lipstick kisses and spray the paper with perfume. We'd spend our pocket money on fancy stationery and our evenings writing romantic letters – the memories are truly flooding back now.

The soldiers received an Army magazine that featured a pen pal section. Civilians could submit their details – for example, "Female, Blonde hair, blue eyes, likes music, dancing etc. looking for pen pals!" I remember placing an advertisement like that myself and was astonished by the response; I must have received 50 letters or more!

I felt like a celebrity. Of course, it was impossible to reply to every single one, so I had to carefully read through them all and choose which ones to answer. Photographs certainly helped in the decision-making process! It significantly boosted my social life, with dates almost every other weekend when someone was home on a pass. However, I didn't fully grasp the hardships these young men endured during those two years until much later, when I heard their heartbreaking stories.

Thank you, Trevor Romain, for jogging my memory. I deeply appreciate your work and hope you don't mind me sharing my recollections inspired by it.

I'd love to hear your memories as well.

AI gave me a great overview on Google:

National service in South Africa, specifically for white males, was primarily implemented to bolster the military manpower needed to enforce apartheid policies and maintain internal security amidst growing resistance. It was also used to project South African power in neighboring countries, including Angola, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Namibia, and Mozambique, sometimes covertly, through military interventions and support for destabilization efforts. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Enforcing Apartheid:
The apartheid regime relied heavily on the South African Defence Force (SADF) to enforce its policies and suppress opposition, both within the country and in neighboring territories. 

Security Concerns:
The government perceived a "communist threat" and used national service to counter perceived internal and external threats, particularly from liberation movements and anti-apartheid activists. 

Border Wars:
The SADF was heavily involved in border wars, particularly in Namibia (then South African-occupied) and Angola. National service provided the necessary manpower for these conflicts. 

Maintaining Nationalist Rule:
The government viewed national service as crucial for maintaining its power and control, both in suppressing internal dissent and projecting military strength abroad. 
Political Context:

The implementation of national service in 1967 coincided with escalating resistance to apartheid, both domestically and internationally. The government needed a large, conscripted army to deal with the growing challenges. 

Friday, June 06, 2025

St. Mary's Children's Home - Rosettenville, Johannesburg

When I was home a few weeks ago, I met up with a few friends from the South of Jo'burg, who went to the same Primary school as I did: - "Highveld Primary". 

One of my friends who became a teacher and eventually was appointed principal of a private school in Linmeyer, but has now retired was telling me how she spends her days.   She told me she volunteers at St. Mary's home.   We always referred to it as an orphanage, but it wasn't really a place for orphans but for kids who's parents either could not afford to keep them or neglected them. 


We all would have had a kid in our class who came from the home.  At school they were not treated any different from what we were.   In one of my posts I mentioned going to a disco on a Friday evening at the home.   My mom who was a book keeper looked after the books for the home.

On our way to meet up with the friends at "Gino's in Robertsham", there were a few kids begging at the traffic lights, my friend said that often these kids would land up at the home as well.  This made me happy to know that they had somewhere they could go to have a meal and a warm bed.

I vowed that when I got back I would give back to the community where I grew up in and will start with "St. Marys", I have often helped other people who have organized events in the South, however this one is close to my heart and wanted to share it with all of you.  If you perhaps feel the same then please see if there is something you can do to help them as well. 

https://stmaryschildrenshome.org.za/news 

Interesting facts about St. Mary's - In one of my posts I spoke about the Anglo Boer War and how the Johannesburg Concentration Camp was at the Turffontein Racecourse.   My friend said that after the end of the ABW they opened St. Mary's which is not far from the Turffontein Racecourse. 

"St Mary’s Children’s Home has been operating since 1902. Their services include residential care to 54 children designated to them through the Children’s Court on account of the Child Care Act, for reasons which include abuse (mental, physical, emotional and sexual abuse) and / or neglect, being orphaned or some have been affected by HIV/ AIDS virus. They come to them from surrounding informal settlements and many can be seen as the poorest of the poor."


Home is where the heart is ...

We just returned from a couple of weeks in South Africa, far too short a time! 

It was a family wedding in the Midlands just near Nottingham Road, I had not been to that area since I was engaged to a guy I met down in Newcastle.   His family on a farm on Botha's Pass just outside of Memel on the way to Newcastle.

I was down on business and met him in the lounge at the Holiday Inn and we exchanged numbers, can you believe it, this was back at the beginning of 1991 and yet to call the farm, you still had to go through the exchange ... remember "Nommer asseblief" well that is exactly what it was.

They owned a farm which was 4000 ha of land, and they farmed mainly sheep.   When I look back now, I can see I fell in love with the farm and not with the guy.   It was an escape from the rat race, as I would often go down on the weekend and spend my weekends there.   

Then at one stage I had to go down on business and took my annual leave and spent 5 weeks down there.  I think after that I realized that I was a "city" girl by heart.   But the trip down to Nottingham Road, brought me back to a simple life.  The farm was called "Donkerhoek" and was approximately 25km's from Newcastle.  I remember that from turning into the gate of the farm it was a 5km drive to the main house, and the road wasn't the best. 

The Farm was very colonial - the mother Eileen Mollie Steel (nee Davis) born 9th January 1923, and who obviously came from Money married Raymond Graham Steel.   They had 3 Sons, Michael, Ian & Peter Graham Steel.  They were all given the middle name Graham. 

Eileen's father "John Richard Davis" came from Liverpool and was a sea Merchant, he must have had a lot of money as he acquired a piece of land in Witkoppen, Johannesburg called "Craigieburn" - I know his mom still had this land when Peter and I were dating.   When John died in 1948 he left this piece of land to her, she was an only child. Eileen was baptised in Parktown, Johannesburg. 
Interestingly I found all the details on the familysearch.org website - John seems to have been a very wealthy man as his Will shows that he left hundreds of pounds to his workers.  


Part of the Will also states that the balance of the income from his Trust Fund shall be paid one half to his sister "Ceceilia Annie Davis" a Major spinster of "Castle Downeen, Rosscarbery, County Cork IRELAND".  Now that is interesting. 

Looking at Google maps this is all that is left and one webpage says: "A section of this once large castle now stands on its windswept promontory isolated from the mainland by years of erosion."



I think I went down a Rabbit whole with this post, my whole intention was to talk about how beautiful the Midlands are and the area.  Where this probably came from was that after I was rescued from the Oceanos, I did not see Peter again, I broke up with him.   However I did bump inot him and his mother at Sandton Clinic one day, I had gone to see the specialist about having my tonsils removed.   And he had brought his mom up to see someone as she needed to get her 2nd hip replaced.  I was around for the first one!   She was a lovely lady and who knows where life would have taken me if I had ended up marrying Peter and inheriting a vast amount of money.  But we will never know. 

I don't even think I have a photo of the farm or the family, I will need to have a look. 

Oceanos Podcast

 A few Months ago, I was approached by a Canadian company who do podcasts called "Tell Me What Happened"  - Here is the Podcast if you have aobut 35 minutes to spare. 

I have started following them on Spotify as there are a lot of other interesting stories as well. 

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Communes in Jo'burg - Revisited

 Back in 2017 I did a post from an email I received from David who was reading my blog, then in January 2025  Richard commented on my blog post, and today sent this photo to see if anyone remembers. 

Firstly this is the Post from 2017 - Commune parties in Jo'burgs Northern Suburbs 

And here is Richards Comment:

Amazing to stumble on this blog. I was around a bit earlier than most of the history here - my time was 1971 to 1974 . I started Gasworks in '71and left in '74 after marrying one of other "inmates" - Gill, and still married - just made 50 years. Now living in Tasmania - 2 children (ha!) and 5 grandkids spread around the world. Great memories of Gasworks - largely in an alcoholic haze. I started the house olympics and actually have a picture of our team. (sorry John Cornell - he can claim fame to the "League of Gentlemen" darts league but not the olympics - sadly John died quite a while back). The Summer of '72 was an epic party - we even had Glenda Kemp who was a famous stripper. My wife had the task of looking after her snakes between acts. Then there was the gambling nights with full size roulette tables and blackjack. Not to mention movie nights with "under the counter movies" . I hope there's a statute of limitations because the number of rules we broke was huge. We built a great bar - there was always competion between houses for the best.

I can't see how to publish pictures on this blog but to name the Gasworks Olympics team - and where they are now: Bob and Jim - sorry can't recall surnames. Pam Martinez and John Cornell (John later married Marilyn) . Steve and Carolyn Kirk - now divorced living in Ireland. Jilly Warren, my GF at the time - married and living in Wales. Mike and Ardyne O Sullivan - now divorced DK. Stella Still - married and living in Jersey - still in touch.
Like so many ex-pats we decided life was getting too unpleasant ( bombs at the school , bricks through windscreens) and in 1987 we moved to Tassie - started up the same electronics business I had in Jo'burg which I eventually sold , retired, now into local politics for entertainment. Getting old gracefully.
Love to hear from anyone who can fill in the blanks.

And here is the email I received today along with the photo:

Hi Rozi

Here is the picture I refer to in post. Coincidentally, Stella Challinor now Still is visiting us in Tassie from another island  - Jersey.

Happy to share my email if it can raise any old contacts.

Cheers

Richard (richardireland @ bigpond . com ) 

Friday, January 10, 2025

TV in South Africa - 1976

I was looking at the Stat's on my Blog, to see which posts have attracted the most attention, and it seems it is all the one's in which I reminisce about the old days.   

I think a lot of us look over those days with fond memories, and by reading about someone else's memories, they think of their own and where they were and what they were doing at the time.

This reminds me of a post in a blog SA IN THE OLD DAYS from 2011, which triggered so many memories for me.  So, I thought I would write something similar about my own memories. 

1976 - TV was introduced to South Africa with the first Broadcast on the 5th of January 1976, we did not get our TV set until much later that year or the following year. 

However, to start the programs were short, I think they only broadcast for a few hours every evening. 


My Aunt and Uncle who lived on a small farm in Roodepoort had TV, we would go visit them on a Saturday with my mom and swim in the dam when it was hot, it was like a round reservoir with corrugated iron sides and it was slimy with all kinds of stuff floating in it.  But we did not care it was wet and cooling.   
Then when they got their TV, we were allowed to watch re-runs of "The Brady Bunch" that were aired on a Saturday at 1 PM. 
We didn't even realise that the show was almost 10 years old at that stage.   But we didn't care, we were actually watching a box with moving pictures, in someone's house without having to go to the Cinema. 

There was only 1 Channel to start and if I remember correctly each alternate day it would start with a different language, so for instance on a Monday you would have English from 6 - 8 and the news in Afrikaans, and then Afrikaans for the rest of the broadcast.   
On Tues you would start with Afrikaans and go onto English with the news in English. 
I destinctly remember Tuesday, as my mother would make us watch the programme "The World at War" which started at about 9 PM and had some horrific scenes of Hitler and how he killed the Jews.  They even showed someone being shot in the head and the brains splattering on Hitler's shoes. 

The sad thing about getting TV was that we no longer listened to our favourite stories on Springbok Radio.   This was the start of the end of Springbok Radio and the many shows we would listen to in the evening, like "Squad Cars" & "The men from the Ministry", so many different ones. Wikipedia has a list of all the different shows here.  But I think Springbok Radio probably deserves a post of its own, so watch this space. Oh, actually I did one previously ... Springbok Radio.

Mostly we listened to the Springbok top 20 which was late on a Friday night with David Gresham and then repeated on a Saturday.   They eventually made Pop Shop which was shown on TV on a Friday evening with the latest top hits and music videos. 

My best friend's brother "Alex Jay" (name dropping) eventually took over Pop Shop and hosted it for many years. Although now that I googled it, I think Alex's show was called "Fast Forward" and not Pop Shop.  Check it out ... 


That was also the start of all the shows that we became hooked on e.g. Dynasty, Rich Man Poor Man, Dallas, and I could go on and on for 40 years, but I will leave that post here and we can reminisce about something else tomorrow. 

Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the start until next time.  Adios Amigos

Wednesday, January 01, 2025

How i wish for Simpler days ...

Happy New Year to you all! 


I often wish for the "Good old days", I think a lot of Metal stress is caused from social media having information at your fingertips.  

When the clocks struck Midnight in both SA and in Ireland my WhatsApp on my phone pinged like an ongoing alarm clock, people wishing me a Happy New Year, some that I have not heard from since last New Year and it makes you wonder, if it wasn't for the ease of technology would these people wish you a Happy New Year at all?

In fact I wished I had turned off my Wi-Fi and data just to have a bit of peace, must remember to do that next time, no I am not grumpy - I just don't see the fuss of sending every contact on your phone that you never even call a New Year Message or ten!   Why?  Post it on Facebook and Instagram, someone is bound to see it.  If you really are thinking of me, then drop me an email or phone me. 

Back in the old days, the 80's and early 90's before everyone had cell phones, you would hear from someone who is either having a party or going somewhere and you would arrange to meet there.  There was no constant checking up, where are you?  Yes, life was probably harder, but still it worked and we got things done. 

I know a few parents who have an app on their children's phone and their children are in their 20's but they can constantly check where their kids are, why?    Even parents who's kids have left and moved to a different country and the parents are still checking where their kids are and what they are getting up to.   I refuse to do that to my daughter, everything should be built on trust, leave them to enjoy themselves without constantly thinking oh if I go there my parents will see I was there.

While visiting a couple just after Christmas, their 22 year old son who had gotten home at 5 am, the mother knew exactly where he had been the last 12 hours, I don't get it.    If he didn't come home and she could not get hold of him, then yes go to the Police and let them trace his last movements.   

We just tell our daughter, when you are leaving somewhere to come home, send us a text so if you are not home in an hour we can worry, just be in contact when you can, but I am not going to monitor your every move like a detective, maybe if I still lived in South Africa or in a dangerous country I would but seriously cut the cord. 

I left college and started working when I was 17 but even before that my parents had no clue where we were a lot of the time, or what we were getting up to.   Maybe if they had I would have been sent to a convent. lol   the days we would tell my mom to drop us at the sky rink on a Saturday and we would end up at the teen disco at "Just for Kicks" or "Plumb Crazy" or even "Club Chicago" and then race back to the Carlton Centre when she came to collect us. 

The nights my friend would tell her parents she was staying at mine, and I would tell my parents I was staying at hers and we would go to a disco to all hours of the early morning and then end up at someone’s house until it was a decent hour to go home.  It was all innocent fun, maybe it's the parents who heard these stories or did far worse things that are monitoring their kids, perhaps?

Give the kids a break, let them grow up and bump their heads it will all work out. 

So if I don't look at my phone and answer your WhatsApp message till Monday, well it obviously wasn't urgent, if it was you could have called me ... right?

Those "Army" days ...

  It feels like another lifetime ago, but I vividly recall my high school years when mandatory military enlistment loomed large for all boys...