Pages For this Section
Winnie, her life in Kenya.
Barnoldwick to - where?
Leaving England
First Impressions
Eldoret
Kisumu
Trip to England
Parties and Picnics
Home Leave
War Years - the last years in Kisumu
Nairobi
Post Script
Winnie's Cook Book
image: View of the harbour at Kisumu
1931 and Frank's next posting was to Kisumu, which was soon to become the administrative center for the Nyanza Province. It is situated in a sheltered Bay of Lake Victoria and was once called Port Florence. Like its name place in Italy, Kisumu is surrounded by hills. The tribe of this Province is the Luo, an intelligent, brave tribe who made good reliable soldiers and policemen. Later they were to make their mark in the administration and political arenas.
image: Passenger steamer.
Kisumu was the chosen place for the rail terminal and also for a harbor to service the shipping trade of the Lake. Three lake steamers, carried passengers and some cargo to ports in Tanganyika and Uganda, and left Kisumu on regular schedules. It took about a week for the steamer to make its trip around the Lake. As well as this passenger service, tugs, towing lighters (barges), carried cargo and the dhows of the Luo traders, added interest to the horizon.
image: Winnie with Marjorie and Kenneth in 1932.
Kisumu was also an administrative center for the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbors (later called the East African Railways and Harbors) and headquarters of the Lake Marine Services. It was selected as a staging post for the flying boats on the Empire AirMails, linking England through Alexandria in Egypt with the Cape. An aerodrome was also built for maintenance and repairs and receiving feeder flights from Nairobi. During World War 11, the Royal Air Force had a base camp there.
image: Frank on a lake expedition.
Being 3,579 feet (1,090 metres) above sea level and on the Equator, the climate of Kisumu was pleasantly hot and very predictable. The hot season consisted of hot dry days, with a low humidity and when the rains came, they arrived with a series of thunderstorms, starting about 4 p.m. and it could rain heavily all night. It was unusual to need to wear a cardigan any time of the year. Not so pleasant were the locust-clouded evenings.
The locusts would land in plague proportions eating all plant life and turning gardens and plantations into a barren wilderness within minutes. During these "invasions", the children used to run through the swarms, swatting the locusts with tennis racquets. It did little to reduce the nuisance, nor did the racquets benefit from the exercise. Nevertheless, the children felt that they were making a contribution, however small, to the mitigation of the nuisance. Kisumu, literally meant "poison" in the local patois, because it was one of the most malarial -infested areas of Kenya. It was no coincidence that Frank's arrival to join the team working to eradicate the breeding areas of the malarial-carrying mosquito, coincided with the development of the air route to the Cape. Their task was to "engineer" malaria out of Kisumu by draining marsh ground, embanking the edge of the Lake (to prevent the trapping of still water by papyrus growth at the edge) and making rivers flow throughout the year. The arduous work was undertaken wholly by convict labor working under Frank's control.
The resulting elimination of still water interrupted the life cycle of the malarial mosquito leading to its eradication. The techniques developed here were extended to Cyprus, which is now malaria free. The 9 hole golf course was extended to 18 holes on Frank's reclaimed marshes but much of his good work was destroyed in about 1954 when the Lake level was raised by 2 meters to feed the new hydro-electric power scheme at Owen Falls in Uganda.
Kisumu township fanned out from the harbor, with the Lake Drive and European housing to the right and the township, Indian and African housing to the left. The Lake Drive, running along the Southern shore of the bay was a favorite spot to view the impala and hippo. Sunday afternoon was the most popular time, as shops were closed and the Indian shopkeeper would load his car with his large family and take them for a drive. The yachts from the Yacht Club added scenic interest to the lake in this area. The procession of cars stirred up the dust and created traffic jams!
Winnie quickly settled in Kisumu. She liked the climate, soon made friends and she and Frank found themselves in a circle of friends with similar interests and sense of humor. Frank and Winnie's first house in Kisumu was situated near the African Hospital. Winnie described it as a " queer house having only one big bedroom and a very small one. It was next door to an Indian family who always seemed to be cooking in the garden." There was no town electricity or sewerage but there was piped water to all the houses. Plumbing was still primitive, with no running water in the bathroom or kitchen. Basins had to be filled by jug and then emptied. Dishwashing was done outside in an enamel basin. The hot water was heated the same way Winnie had experienced in Eldoret.
Refrigeration was not common and Winnie kept all perishable food in a "meat" safe. The safe was a wooden framed cupboard standing on legs, covered on all sides with mosquito netting. Some were more elaborate being insulated by a layer of charcoal between two layers of wire netting. The safe stood on a verandah on the cool side of the house with its feet standing in small tins of water to keep out ants and other crawling insects. Following the traditions of the African, Winnie kept milk and butter in a large earthenware gourd filled daily with clean cold water. The butter was wrapped and placed in a smaller pot and floated in the water, whilst the milk was in bottles. Milk had to be boiled, as had water for drinking, which was then filtered.
Winnie was always fastidious over cleanliness and perhaps being the wife of a Health Officer made her more conscious of this and she prepared all the family meals and did a great deal of the cooking. It is thanks to this that her family did not suffer from any of the dreaded tropical diseases such as dysentery. She invested in a small portable stove and oven, which was fuelled by paraffin, and she baked all the cakes. This stove was kept on the back verandah for her sole use, the cook continuing the cooking of meals in the dark, smelly kitchen.
Frank continued to be the chief shopper, visiting the markets daily. Paw-paw and mangoes were grown in the Kisumu area and citrus fruits were readily available. Bananas came in regularly on the Lake boats from Uganda and Tanganyika. Apples and other soft fruits were imported from South Africa and became treats at Christmas time. Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables were bought daily and the Lake fish, a species of bream, called tilapia was a favorite of the family.
Winnie became very proficient in smoking the Lake fish and the method was very simple. In a four-gallon tin, she made a mixture of straw and charcoal. The straw was used as packing material around bottles of whisky. The fish, coated in anchovy paste, was laid on cake cooling racks across the top of the tin and covered. The smoke from the slow burning straw and charcoal would "cure" the fish. This could take several hours before the fish finally were poached in milk. Her smoked fish was a popular dish for all occasions.
An ayah (an Indian word for an African nanny) was now employed to help to care for Marjorie. She was also involved in some domestic chores, such as the washing of clothes and making the beds. At one time, Winnie could not understand why she was so short of pillowcases. The staff was accused of stealing until she discovered that the ayah was not removing the pillowcase before putting on a clean one! "I found seven on one pillow!" Each afternoon, the ayah would push Marjorie in her pram, to the Victoria Park. There she would meet other ayahs. The children played, babies rolled on the ground on blankets and the ayahs gossiped, not unlike a meeting of English nannies in Kensington Gardens!
When away from their country of origin, settlers turn to their Church and Frank and Winnie, who were non-conformists, were no exception. They joined the Church of England. The Church was a small corrugated iron building with a charm of its own. Frank and Winnie were baptized into the Church and were later confirmed.
It is perhaps of interest to note that the family's arrival in Kisumu was only some sixty years after the first European exploration of the Lakes. An interesting link is that Marjorie's godmother; Karen Speke was married to a descendent of the explorer, Captain Speke who had discovered Lake Victoria Nyanza on 3rd August 1858. Also, Peter's godmother, Margaret Pearson was the daughter of Karen Speke.
On 24th April 1932, Winnie gave birth to her first son - Kenneth Neill. (Neill, after the Doctor who delivered him).
