Allan Anderson's Blogs

NOTE: These three letters cover the two years following our first "Homeland Furlough" in England in 1959, when they only spent a few months back in Sinoia before being transferred to Mazabuka in what is today Zambia.   P.O. Box 33, Sinoia. S. Rhodesia. June 1960. I must write to all my friends letting them know how we are getting on since returning from our very enjoyable Homeland furlough. [1] Unexpectedly when we reached Bulawayo Keith was asked to inspect the Matabeleland schools as they had been without a D.C. [Divisional Commander] since July, so he went off into the Bush and the children and I took up temporary residence at the D.H.Q. [Divisional Headquarters] in Bulawayo. We were happy to associate with the Bulawayo European Corps and Allan was able to play his cornet with the small band. One Sunday we went to an African Location Corps, where they have a Band. Allan played with them but as we had to march about 2 miles to the Open Air stand in terrific heat, ...

  Box 33, SINOIA. May, 1957. It is time I wrote to all my friends again to let them know how we are getting on. We have much to be thankful for in the progress there has been in our Division since the beginning of the year. … … … Easter weekend was a thrill. Keith’s Mother and Father [Rev. William W. and Sheila Anderson] were with us for Good Friday and we took them with us for united meetings in the Magonde Reserve, and had a very good meeting under a large tree. … In the afternoon [of Easter Sunday] we went to the other end of Sipolilo Reserve along one of the worst roads (even for Rhodesia) that I have ever been on. Fortunately it was dry so we got through quite all right. That meeting I will always remember with over 500 sitting on a hillside by a river with the sound of the music of 500 full-throated Africans singing lustily “He lives” the echo of this wonderful message reverberating over the hills. There were many seekers at the end of the meeting. … My Euro...

EXCERPTS FROM NEWSLETTERS TO HER FRIENDS 1955-1991 by GWENYTH (STARBUCK) ANDERSON Edited by Allan H. Anderson Note: Salvation Army Captains Gwen and Keith Anderson and their children Allan (4) and Carol (1) arrived at Howard Institute, their first appointment, in January 1954, as Training Officers for the Officer Training College there. Howard is around 80 km from present-day Harare, then known as Salisbury. Southern Rhodesia is today’s Zimbabwe.  They had previously worked in North London for 8 years before moving to Rhodesia, but my mother had been an SA officer since before the Second World War. All paragraphs are as they appear, and missing sentences and paragraphs are indicated with ellipses. Any explanatory insertions by me are in italics.   The Howard Institute P.O. Glendale S. RHODESIA 29 th May, 1955. We owe so many letters and life is such a rush over here that I am having to send a duplicated one so that you can know what we are doing out here. Li...