Nearly seven decades in Zimbabwe

Sister Nora Broderick:

Shortly after the novitiate, in the 1940s, I sailed for three weeks to Africa.  I landed in Cape Town, travelled up through the Kalahari desert and eventually arrived in Harare in the early hours of the morning, after the train had been delayed by a landslide. Just the first of many adventures….!

I worked as a teacher to young  children. After one year I was transferred to a Mission in an isolated rural area. These were the happiest years of my life.  I developed such great bonds with my pupils and they taught me many of their customs, which was a privilege not normally offered to ‘outsiders.’ In many ways the lifestyle reminded me of my upbringing in rural county Galway and I was very happy there.

With one Presentation Sister and two Carmelite priests we formed a small community. I loved the wide open spaces, which offered a sense of the transcendent.  I formed strong bonds with the young people and we had so much fun playing games including soccer!  Twenty years later we acquired a car, it was a big advance… previously we’d travelled on the back of trucks! I have a distinct memory of teaching Macbeth (the pupils’ favourite Shakespearean play) and, like an omen, hearing a landmine explosion. It was the start of the civil unrest that plagued the country. At one point I was warned to ‘get out.’ We lived with the local community through these difficult years and accompanied people through the pain. Even after classrooms had been destroyed by conflict, we still managed to get pupils through their exams but eventually we had to leave the Mission.

I spent 67 wonderful years in Zimbabwe. In my final months when my mobility was limited, the pupils came to my front veranda for lessons. I was teaching to the day I left. I enjoyed my teaching and loved my students and life in Zimbabwe.

 I only returned to the UK in 2019, in my 90th year.