Bulawayo – July 1978

Itinerary

30-Jun-78 • Fri Bulawayo City Hall – A Hand Reaching Down – MultiMedia Presentation

1-Jul-78 • Sat Conference

2-Jul-78 • Sun 10a Apastolic Church of Pentecost

2-Jul-78 • Sun  2p Shaw Barracks – Bala Bala

2-Jul-78 • Sun  7p Rhodes St Baptist (plus SingSong after church at Manse)

3-July-78 • Mon  1p Hamilton Scripture Union

3-Jul-78 • Mon  4p Luveve School

3-Jul-78 • Mon  7p United College of Education – Bulawayo (Black Jesus)

4-Jul-78 • Tues 10a Gifford High School

4-Jul-78 • Tues  3p Mpopoma Secondary School

4-Jul-78 • Tues  7p Bambi Lounge

5-Jul-78 • Wed   7a Eveline High School Assembly 

5-Jul-78 • Wed  10a Northlea High School 

5-Jul-78 • Wed   7p T.T.C. (Teachers Training College)

6-July-78 • Thur   2p Mailikazi School

6-Jul-78 • Thur   7p Founders School

7-July-78 • Fri       9a Hamilton School

7-Jul-78 • Fri     6p Supper and Meeting at 12 Caithness Ave

8-July-78 •  Sat     2p Mpopoma Hall

8-Jul-78 • Sat     6p Rhodes and Founders Camp – Baptist Camp Willowpark   

9-Jul-78 • Sun    8a Brady Barracks

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If anyone has any pictures of the tour in Bulawayo we’d love to post them!

1978 Rhodesia Tour with Bulawayo YFC

Who can forget that Rhodesia Tour! Les & Joan, Mac & Penny, Lewis & Seph, Steve & Johnny.  The 8 of us who took the intrepid trip to Bulawayo.   We had met Stan Hannan earlier at one of our concerts in South Africa.  At one time, he had been the manager of “4 Jacks & a Jill”, one of SA’s most popular groups of the 60s/70’s.  Stan had become a dedicated Christian, studied at Baptist College and was now running the Bulawayo Baptist Church. In addition, we had also been approached by Rhodesia YFC’s Hamish Grant (Bulawayo) and Pat Laufman(Salisbury) during Youth Week. Between the three of them, a tour was planned for a 10 days. However as Rhodesia was pretty much at war at that time, the Salisbury part of our tour never happened, but the multiple 3-event days made up for it. 21 events in 8 days.

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Memories

Seph remembers: At this time Rhodesia was pretty much at war. People were dying! But we were kids of faith! The Lord was our protector! Part of trip up from Beit Bridge to Bulawayo would be driven in an armed convoy, because so many cars were being attacked.  My dad had given me his handgun to take along, and I remember being popular….”come ride in our car Seph!”  It was a new experience for us to see the cars in the convoy with machine guns sticking out the windows!  We were on edge as we left Beit Bridge, with stories of roadblocks and ambushes swirling in our heads.  Every time we saw a car or people alongside the road, we tensed up!  Years later I found out the word Bulawayo comes from the Sindebele word Kwabulawayo meaning ‘place of the persecuted one’ or ‘place of slaughter’. I guess if we knew that we might never have gone!

The main event was a multi-media music presentation in the Bulawayo CIty Hall, called “A Hand Reaching Down”. Stan had taken our songs and had written a musical around them, added a few actors, a couple of large screens on either side. The stage was decked out with shiny silver glitter backgrounds (made from the leftovers after milk bottle tops had been punched out). Stan was very resourceful!  The BeeGees were hot at the time, and Stan’s script even called for us to open up with “Stayin’Alive”!  It was exciting and exhilarating to be working with a real professional!  There were posters around Bulawayo advertising the event, and pretty much a full house when we were about to go on.  The House Lights dimmed, The curtains opened, the flashing lights and music started, screens with images, dancers dancing and suddenly – ….blackness, no amplification! The whole thing cane to a halt.  Someone had tripped on a major power cord!  So… close curtains…  OK  Take 2…. lets try this again! Bit of a false start, but it was a great evening, and the rest , I believe, went great.   Thinking back, it was all the things that went wrong that we recall, and what we laugh about the most!

The Bulawayo City Hall set up. (our Peavey speaker seems so small!) The multi-Media idea is something we used in later years.  Lots of work, but very effective. Think its Mich, Theo & Stan at front, Steve on Drums

Among the people we met and worked with, were Hamish Grant, the Bulawayo YFC Director, Pat Luffman, The Salsibury (now Harare) YFC Director, Morag Fraser (who can forget Morag!), Mich Robb, A fiddle player (or Violinist with a big smile and wicked sense of humor, and Alistair Louw, with his big Afro and Teddy Bear looks. Things somehow did not work out for us to go to Salisbury, after all.  So we had a bit more leisure time. I remember going to the big department store for tea or a meal.  It was like we had in SA growing up, at Ansteys or Belfast. Anyway we went to Meikles or Haddon & Sly, and were surprised that you could not enter without having your bags searched!  So foreign to us at that stage. I remember the restaurant on the second or third floor, I guess we were having a meal, because we were saying grace. I was chosen, (my prayers normally being short) and with all 8 or 10 of us holding hands, I prayed and prayed…and prayed. After the Amen Mac remarked… “you forgot to pray for your grandmother too!” I think maybe people were looking at us!

We had a concert at College of Education, and were taken by the Arts professor and shown some of their art work. That’s when we saw a depiction of a Black Jesus.  New to us, but made so much sense as the black professor explained that Jesus was not a blue eyed, blond anglo saxon! Never thought of that! To Africans, He was black!  Lewis was in his element at the Arts area, nice to see him that way, and he did not even have his hand in front of his mouth as he talked to the Prof! I think we also did a session at a girls school where they wore uniforms with red tartan skirts and red jackets! (The things we remember!) That was followed by a visit to a Rhodesian army base, where we played in a large hanger? Or am I dreaming?

Again Steve’s faithful Kombi was pressed into service for the trip, but it was showing its age.  The throttle linkage broke, and Johnny, Mac & I had tried to jerry rig the thing together, with thoughts of breaking down along the “terrorist” infested roads! Just made us laugh and cry more! Which brings us to the infamous “Bambi Lounge”. It was arranged for us to play at this Bar/drinking hole, quite a way out of town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  We arrived at the cinder block building, amazed that it really was a Bar & Beer Lounge.  The characters at the Bar were already drinking, and glanced suspiciously at us as we proceeded to set up our equipment in a corner. Rather rough looking group….ah, the things we do for Jesus.  Then the stories came out about how sometimes the terrorist would come and plant bombs under the wheels of the cars while the people were inside!  Good food for thought, and certainly helps the imagination!  That evening, as we did our music set, Ihappened to noticed a balaclava covered face peering in one of the windows, and just as quick, it was gone! Thats it… were done for!  I crouched behind my Roland Keyboard stand expecting the imminent attack. Nothing.  At the end of the set, I quietly slipped outside and went feeling under our cars wheels for what surely must be bombs.  Pretty stupid idea! And rather embarrassing to recall!

But that was not the only “experience” we had.  That weekend was the Rhodes & Founders weekend camp. A Rhodesian equivalent of YouthWeek. Lots of enthusiastic young people at a camp ground in the middle of nowhere! Some of the students attending were currently in compulsory military service, and they took turns patrolling the perimeter, complete with automatic rifles. Every guy at the camp seemed to be walking around with a machine gun casually slung over their shoulder.  It was just the way of life up there, especially being out in the veld. And they were in a “Bush War” where people did get killed! We had set up in the dining hall of the camp grounds, and being far from town, the electricity was being provided by generators. It was after dark when we started the concert.   The first few songs went great, and then BANG!…. darkness, so black you could hardly see your hand in front of you! Now this is really it! Wild thoughts raced through my head as I dove for cover under the dining tables, my heart thumping so hard I’m sure everyone can hear it! But I’m trying to be quiet holding my breath, waiting for the gunfire….. then the lights come back on, and I sheepishly pick myself up, extracting myself from the table.  That was probably the longest 10 seconds of my life!  Think the generator overloaded or something! Ah the joys of touring in a war zone!