TBT: Working the Radio in Africa

When I first arrived in Malawi, I had a job with the Director of the United States Information Agency and the Voice of America, Lillard Hill.  We had a small office with just three of us and it was good to have a job in a country with very little to do.

My boss was an old newspaper man and a cigarette holder smoking sweetie. He had a daunting job in a country ruled by a dictator and no freedom of the press. Censorship was severe with criticism of the government leading to a disappearance. Moral censorship was also rampant and magazines or books always had images or words blacked out by an airport censor. I suspect that was an interesting job!

As for me I did a variety of things including monitoring a short wave radio. Mr. Hill was patient, explained my duties carefully and then let me get on with it. It was my first, but not last government job.

Betty Hill was also a Texas sweetheart and we traveled together by Land Rover to Zambia when the chance came up, in attempt to see the Big 5 of Africa, the African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and White/Black rhinoceros. The Hills were a couple to remember!

TBT: A Birthday to Remember

I have scanned a bunch of image of our years abroad, but this one is just after we were evacuated from Tehran in 1978. My middle child's birthday is January 27 so this is his 7th birthday in my childhood home. My mother still lived there but it was during this time of my return with 3 children and 2 (very unwanted by her!) Siamese cats that she started planning a move to a larger house that would fit me and my family if the situation arose again. It was a godsend when I was divorced.

I suspect he was wearing his school uniform though the patterned shirt is surprising. His sister, in a nightgown, was still a bit in the dark about birthday presents - for just one child! How about that vintage tv. I'm also wondering what that big package is behind him. Kind of looks like a rolled up rug or perhaps this is the year he got the drum set. Maybe he'll have a memory sparked by seeing this. You never know!

AAM Monday: Back in 1979, Not Quite Everyday

The layout has the short version of the story.  Here is the longer one.

My children and I had been evacuated from Iran the first week of December 1978. My then husband remained while I, our three children and two cats went to live with my mother and her ancient chihuahua in Maryland. In early February, we heard that my husband and some other men might be returning from Tehran after Valentine's Day.  My mother, who loved our house at the Delaware beach, said she would take the three children there for the long President's Day holiday. I stayed home in MD just in case.

When the blizzard hit, my mother eventually took the 3 children for a walk to the beach. The ocean was frozen, a sight my mother had never seen. Unfortunately, the camera was still back at the house and she knew there was no way they could repeat this trip for a photo. No cell phones much less portable phones with wonderful cameras.

When we have big storms as we did this winter, I sometimes think of that weekend. Them at the beach, me housebound with aluminum awnings over the front and side doors. Climbing up on a ladder in the snow to try and shovel off some of the snow from the front awning after the side one collapsed from the weight of the snow.  Reading, wondering if and when my husband would ever get out of Iran, and why he did not choose to return with the group that did come that weekend.

It was not quite like everday at all.

Flashback Friday

The memory that usually comes back sometime in October. We were evacuated from Iran in December 1979.