It was good to hear from Janet and Richard Fitzgerald of the Pumicestone Passage Probus and to be able to speak to you on July 9th.

Having been born and bred in Tsholotsho, which is the historical heart of Matabeleland in today’s Zimbabwe, the three best friends of my childhood years, were Ndebele boys.

They went on to lead such diverse lives, that between the four of us, we could bring to life the hopes, aspirations, desperations and increasing isolation of our country, covering its history in a vivid and dramatic way.

Book One takes us from 1840, the formation of the Matebele Kingdom by Mzilikazi, through Lobengula’s reign, on to the carpet baggers, empire builders and early administration of Southern Rhodesia (the last of Britain’s colonies) to finish at UDI - the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Book Two takes the four characters through the war and sanctions years to 1980 and Book Three will cover the Mugabe era to whenever the book is completed.

I will be reading from the book, so look forward to a bit of education, some hilarious moments and some thought provoking and sad ones too. It was an strange time in Britain’s last colony - asw e tried to find a place in a very fast changing world.