Open Writing

The day of our arrival, 19 August, 1970, was our daughter's sixth birthday. For the next four years she was to celebrate her birthday in different countries: 1971 Zambia, 1972 Tanzania, 1973 India, 1974 UK.

The following day we were taken shopping, met the Head of Department of Business Studies at the Polytechnic and set about looking for a car.

The day after, I found myself standing in front of my first class of students. My predecessor, a New Zealand barrister, had left the country and left a void for several months in respect of business law teaching. I was soon made aware of the enormity of my task in getting my head around my subject.

It was only a few years since the collapse of the Central African Federation, of which Nyasaland, later Malawi, was a member together with Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia. As a consequence much of the business law contained some of what had been retained from Federation days. Since breaking away, however, the country had introduced some of its own legislation.

As if this was not enough, the colonial heritage dating back to the 1860s relied on some English Common Law. I was faced with a multitude of law sources as my brief with very few documentary
records or textbooks to research. It took me until Christmas 1970 before I began to get on top of my subject matter. The course on which I taught commercial law was the three-year Business Studies Diploma. Law was a component in each year.

My first year of teaching was stressful. In addition to the dearth of material available for me to research, I was preparing lessons from scratch for each of the three years. This placed a heavy workload on me. Most evenings and non-teaching hours during the day found me engrossed in academic work. During most of the first term I worked until 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening.

The three cinemas in Blantyre had two shows each evening. I tried to make it to at least one late show each week. Goodwin, who I employed for most of my time in Malawi would earn himself extra money for babysitting.

Despite my constant urging to persuade him to sit on an easy chair during our evenings out, he doggedly persisted in sitting on a dining room chair. He had only attended school for a year; Margaret, his wife had never been to school. Employed in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, for 16 years in a garment factory, he had returned to Malawi and spent three years as a houseboy before coming to work for us. Jane spent many happy hours at Goodwin's house.

As Paul grew older he also bonded with 'Bambo', as he called Goodwin, and he also began making a beeline for his house. At other times he would make use of his three wheeler bike to come thundering down the hilly approach to our flat, usually stopping just short of the solid brick wall but occasionally crashing into it. Sometimes he would have one of the young Malawian boys standing on the footrests behind him and hurling down at even greater speeds. The daily visit of the vegetable seller would also be a magnet for him. He always wanted to inspect the contents of his basket.

I had ninety-one students of which only eleven were females. To his credit, President Banda did have a policy of increasing the number of females at all levels of education.

The Polytechnic had been built during the 1960s with aid from the USA. My teaching hours were 7.45-12 noon and 1.30-3.30. Evening classes 4.30-6.30. Most of the time I cycled the one mile using the only purpose-built cycle track in the country. At lunchtime a policeman was always on point duty at the junction between the cycle track and the road which led to our flat. He always gave me priority, stopping vehicles to give me a clear run. I usually walked to the Polytechnic when taking an evening class, not possessing any lights. As it became dark around 6pm every night, I preferred to play safe.