GLORY BE TO GOD BABA IS BACK

 

Christmas 1963

AFTER  enjoying the Christmas of 1963 with his family and visiting relatives my father was now ready to face the new world. He had managed to collect enough money to survive a week in Dar Es Salaam, so  in mid February 1964 he left Iringa and went to Dar es Salaam  to follow up the letter from CALTEX that he had received while in prison. In Dar es Salaam he got a room at Zam Zam Hotel. That evening there were a lot of people in the restaurant, and he saw a number of faces that he knew, one was a teacher from Tabora, who asked my father if he had come for the meeting, to which my father replied , ‘What meeting?’, the teacher told him that all people there were teachers from all over the country, they had a meeting the next day right there at Zam Zam, and the agenda would be, to inform the government on teachers’ grievances. My father told the teacher that he had other business to attend to the next day so he would not be at the meeting.
And so early the next day my father went to the CATEX headquarters at Kurasini, the secretary told him to wait for the boss, a Scott named Bob Mackay. When Bob came, my father introduced himself. It seems that my father’s letter written from prison must have  caused quite a stir, who ever writes letter from prison looking for a job and mentioning that they are still in prison?.  Bob took my father and introduced him to almost all the top officers saying, 'This is the Francis Kitime'. For some reason it seems they had already decided to hire my father, the interview was just a formality, they asked simple questions which practically  nobody could possibly fail, after the 'interview' Mr. Mackay left the room and minutes later came back with a letter and said, ‘Here is your appointment letter, tomorrow you start training’.
With a letter in his hand my father went back to Zam Zam hotel a very happy man. At the hotel he expected to meet the teachers but he found the hotel very quite. ‘Where are the teachers?’ he asked a waiter, ‘Are you a teacher also?’ My father replied ‘Yes’. The waiter told him all the other teachers had been arrested in the middle of the conference. My father thanked God for missing that meeting and he immediately moved from the hotel.

Job Training

He moved to a hotel in Ilala that belonged to Mzee Ditopile, the late Regional Commissioners father, it was a much cheaper hotel and he needed to use his money very carefully yet. The hotel  also had a space that was also a dance hall, Salum Abdallah’s Cuban Marimba band performed once while my father was staying there.

Francis Kitime first on the left sitting. Bob Mackay third left sitting. Samuel Sitta, second from left standing

My father got his appointment letter on 19^th February 1964, and for the next six months he underwent training for his new job. After completion of training he was assigned to work in  Southern Highlands Zone as a Salesman with a salary of 1000/-. His headquarters were to be Mbeya and he was sent from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya in a Dakota DC 3 type airplane, his first time on an airplane.
What a story........he once came to Mbeya by bus as a student, he next came to Mbeya on a motorcycle as a teacher,  then  he came to Mbeya in handcuffs, now he comes back in an airplane.
 He was to take over the zone from Emmanuel Rwechungura who was the Sales Manager then, other sales managers at the time were, the late Samuel Sitta who was the Lake zone Sales manager, a Mr Berege who ran North Zone.

 And to top that he was provided with a company car a Hillman Minx.

Hillman Minx picture by Redsimon

Babaaaaaaaa is back

FRANCIS KITIME FREE AT LAST

 Last Weeks In Prison

This picture was taken for my father, it was sent to him while he was in prison, from left, my mother,  George, me,  Evelina, Blandina, my grand mother, Richard 

A year had almost passed in prison for Francis Kitime, he knew he was going to be released soon, he was even now and then getting a newspaper from the prison wardens. One day he saw an advert for a  vacancy. He asked Mr Sifaa the Chief Warden for a pen and a paper he wanted to apply for the post he had seen. Mr Sifaa laughed while giving him a pen and a paper, ‘You must be joking, you will never get the job, they never hire convicts’. Francis answered, ‘In fact I am going to specifically mention that I am writing from a jail cell, but will be released soon and I need to work’. And  so he applied for the post of Sales Manager for an American Oil Company, known as CALTEX. With the help of the prisons officers he mailed the letter. A few weeks later to everybody’s surprise, a letter was received from CALTEX OIL (T) Ltd acknowledging the receipt of the job application and inviting him for an interview as soon as he is released. No one could have thought that possible, it had never been done.
A week before being released an incident happened, he was charged for spilling cooking oil in the kitchen, so a week was added to his sentence. At the time some warders had been requesting him to write English job application letters for them, he believed that the oil incident was not an accident, he was needed to finish writing a few English letters.

One more week to freedom

My mother had gone to Mbeya to escort my father back, she had gone with my youngest brother George who was  just 10 months old when  father was sentenced to prison, it was while she was there there that she receive the news that her husband has had an additional one week, so she had to stay  at the Mount View Hotel for some extra days until 16^th November 1963 when he was released and the next day they got into the bus and returned to Iringa.

Back in Iringa  we were worried because we thought they would be back just the next day, now days were going by and no news, at the time communication was very difficult, but my grandfather kept telling us to be patient.

My friend the tree

I remember very well the day my parents came back. I was very restless like everybody so after lunch I left my grandfather's house in Makorongoni and went out walking aimlessly, I went past the  SILABU quarters, these were quarters that youths who were collected from  villages in Southern Tanganyika to work in sisal farms would rest, before continuing their journey to the farms in Morogoro and Tanga, SILABU stood for Sisal Labourers Bureau. I then walked across the golf course owned by the European Club, and sat under a tree all alone. This tree still exists it has changed, I sometimes pass there and wave at it, we have known each other since that day in 1963.  I sat and played alone under that tree until something like 5 o'clock in the evening and then went back home to wait and hope that my parents would be back. Buses from Mbeya arrived at around seven o clock in the evening, so we all grew more tense as the evening went on, and suddenly my mother emerged from darkness, and then immediately behind her was my father carrying George in his arms.  Babaaaaa. My father was back.

The next week was spent just trying being near him as much as I could, we even got a two day excuse from school.
On Sunday our school had a special timetable for us Catholics, to make sure we attend a Mass, we had to report to school and from there go to church in a long line. After the Mass we had to go back to school for a roll call and maybe to learn a new church tune and then we were released. The first Sunday after being released my father came to school to wait for me to finish the school timetable, and then we went home I remember thinking this is the best father in the world.

Father Francisco Schiolla of Tosamaganga offered my father a teaching job in Tosamaganga Secondary, but he refused he wanted to keep the date with CALTEX Oil (T) Ltd.