ARS ARS Northwestern University Library Evanston Ill'no's 60208-230U To Live a Better Life To Live a Better Life An oral history of women in the city of Harare, 1930-70 Terri Barnes and Everjoyce Win NO401Doo First published in 1992 by Baobab Books (a division of Academic Books (Pvt.) Ltd, P.O. Box 567, Harare, Zimbabwe) @Terri Barnes and Everjoyce Win , Cover design: Tali Geva Bradley Maps: Lorraine Mons © City of Harare, Town Planning Office Typeset by: Baobab Books Printed by Mazongororo Paper Converters (Pvt.) Ltd. We would also like to thank the National Archives of Zimbabwe for the photographs on pages 32, 44, 45, 50, 52, 54, 58, 62, 66, 69, 78, 94, 107, 112, 134, 145, 149, 152, 159, 163, 184 185, 188, 195, 200; and The Herald for the photograph on page 104. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 0-908311-35-4 Contents Acknowledgem ents ....................................................................................................... viii Introduction . 1 Historical Notes 4 The Joys of Interviewing ......................................................................................... 10 Biographies of the Interviewees............................................................................... 12 1. W hy did you com e to Harare? .................................................................................. 25 2. Old Bricks ....................................................................................................................... 33 3. W hat did town look like in those days? .................................................................... 41 4. Life in other parts of town ....................................................................................... 49 5. G irlsandeducation......................................................................................................... 61 6. M arriage ......................................................................................................................... 67 7. Hard at W ork ..................................................................................................... ... 79 8. Earning Money in Other Ways: Brewing Beer, Crocheting, Selling Vegetables ......................................................... 95 9. Those W om en ofEpworth ........................................................................................... 113 10. Prostitution........................................................................................................... 117 11. Tinobika M apoto .......................................................................................................... 127 12. Laws and passes ........................................................................................................... 135 13. Clubs, churches and politics ......................................................................................... 153 14. Famous ladies .............................................................................................................. 169 15. Having fun .................................................................................................................... 193 16. The worst things about town ........................................................................................ 201 17. The best things about town ........................................................................................... 207 18. Getting old ...................................................................................................... 211 Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 215 Oral History Projects (for students) .............................................................................. 220 Questions (for students) ................................................................................................ 222 Illustrations Houses in Old Bricks ........................................................................................................ 32 General Plan of Salisbury Township, 1901 ..................................................................... 42 H arare in 1892 ........................................................................................................................ 44 Manica Road (undated) "Early days" ................................................................................ 44 First Street, Salisbury in the 1930s .................................................................................. 45 Plan of Salisbury Municipal Location, 1940 ................................................................... 46 A house in the married quarters of Mbare, 1927 .............................................................. 50 A Nissan hut, native urban area, 1950 ............................................................................. 50 Mr William Craster in a rickshaw with his puller in the Craster uniform ......................... 52 A house in Highfield, 1950 .............................................................................................. 54 Kambuzuma Township, 1965 ............... ... .. ... ................. 54 Single men's hostels in Mbare .......................................................................................... 58 A kraal school near Epworth Mission, 1908 ..................................................................... 62 Girls at a school at Chishawasha Mission .. .. ............ ......... 62 Christian wedding in Fort Victoria in the early 1900s ...................................................... 66 Christian wedding at Gogoya, 1919 .................................................................................. 69 Old woman shopping with her servant, c. 1965 ................................................................ 78 Beer garden in Harari township, 1950 ............................................................................. 94 Crocheting for a living ............................................ 104 Selling vegetables at Mbare Musika ..................................................................................... 107 Epworth, 1908 ................................................. 112 Highfield Village Board ........................................... 134 A registration certificate ....................................................................................................... 145 M r W . S. Stodart .......................................................................................................... 149 A meeting of the Sakubva Homecraft Club .......................................................................... 152 M rs H elen M angwende ........................................................................................................ 159 M rs A gnes K anogoiw a ......................................................................................................... 163 Lady Kennedy, President of the Red Cross, presenting a Red Cross badge to Mrs Franks ................................................ 184 M rs Stella M ae Sondayi ........................................................................................................ 185 Red Cross workers receiving instruction .............................................................................. 188 Jiving in full sw ing ............................................................................................................... 195 A view of Old Bricks which in 1958 housed a quarter of Harare's populations .................. 200 Acknowledgements "...it's not nice to omit [the names of] some people who enabled you to start [activities] ...there were other people who enabled us to do [things] but omitting them is oppression, like the oppression we used to cry about." Mai Sondayi First, and most of all, we would like to thank all the women and men who opened their doors and then their memories to us - two strange women with a tape recorder and a long list of questions. Their patience, kindness and hospitality were always greatly appreciated. We hope that this book, the result of their efforts to satisfy our curiosity, will meet with their approval. The staff of the National Archives in Harare provided help with the illustrations and some of the other material included in the text. Elisha Khumalo, Sitabile Ncube and Samson Manjolo worked on some of the interviews. Mr V. Tutani of the Ethnomusicology Programme at the Zimbabwe College of Music, kindly helped with the lyrics to popular songs of the 1950s. Our families and friends bore with us and provided great amounts of moral support. Finally, the Ford Foundation provided the funds to pursue the project. viii Introduction This is a history book but it is not a standard history text. There is no emphasis on great men and events. Instead the comments of ordinary people are presented on eighteen different topics dealing with the lives of women who have lived in Harare since the 1920s. To Live a Better Life grew out of the belief that the experience of ordinary people should be included in the history of the time they lived through. There are many areas of social experience in Zimbabwe which have never become a part of formal history. We know about the 'great men' of government; we know about the actions and ideas of the political