This is story #35 in the series “Where Exactly is Home?”. The author recommends you read them in order.
Introduction:
“Where Exactly is Home?” follows the story of my parents, my two younger brothers and me, Susan, who emigrated from war-battered Britain, in the mid-late 1950’s, to Southern Rhodesia, Africa.
The effects of this move on our family were huge, as we struggled to adapt to such a different way of life. Only after further upheaval, and more long-distance travelling, did our family eventually settle in the city of Salisbury, Rhodesia.
However, we did not know then that we would not remain there for the rest of our lives, either.
When the family first went to Africa, I, Susan, was 9 years old. My two brothers, John and Peter, were almost 7 and 4, respectively.
Nowadays, as seniors, John and Peter live in England. I live in Canada. Throughout our lives, we have both benefitted from, and suffered because of, our somewhat unusual childhood.
I, for one, still sometimes ask myself which country represents home to me.
This is a series of stories under the title “Where Exactly is Home?” – I recommend you read them in order, starting with story #1.
35. “Memorable Events” in The Swinging Sixties
The vibes of the Swinging Sixties did not affect Southern Rhodesia as much as they did America and Britain. Sure, we knew about the Beatles and enjoyed their music, recording and replaying on our reel-to-reel Telefunken tape recorder the many popular tunes of the time. However, for most of us who were living in southern Africa at that time, much as we might be wearing similar styles of clothing and listening to the same music as our American or British counterparts, we were living in a different world, far removed from their reality.
Yet the 1960s were memorable years, all the same. Whenever I think back to that decade, three events spring to my mind with their associated dates of 1963, 1965 and 1966. I would have thought that my spending a year in France from August 1967-68 would come to the fore, or even watching as the first man landed on the moon in July of 1969. But no. Although these events had an impact on my life, my memorable moments have their own significance. Their memories have remained with me over many decades, even though I have long since left Rhodesia. Not all of them were personal milestones in my life, but I remember them very clearly all the same. Luckily for us, unlike South Africa, Southern Rhodesia had television by the 1960s, so we could follow world happenings on our small television screen with its grainy black and white images.
Our family was appalled by the first and second of my “memorable events” and mesmerized by the third, which is probably why I remember them so clearly.
So, what happened in 1963? I was still at high school, when we reeled from the shock of learning that John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States, had been shot whilst travelling in an open-topped car in Dallas, Texas. We were appalled, watching in disbelief on television as his wife, Jackie, crawled over the back of the car to her husband, although there was nothing that could be done to save his life. The assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald was the first of several to beset American politics. We would not have guessed that 60 years later, people would still be talking about this crime. Countless books have been written on the topic, so I guess that this moment in time was very special to many people, world-wide.
