Early Days

The saga continues

In the early days of Rhodesia, Rosa appears unconcerned, or unaware, of the British believing that they were superior to all others. As an independent thinker, perhaps she never did take on enough of the dominant culture to feel it mattered what they thought of her, or if they thought of her at all. Nevertheless, for whatever reasons, there was a need to assimilate. Whether the ideas came from Rosa or Kiriaco, their children were one way to start the process.

The association between conscious strategies to integrate, and learning English, is significant in the sequence of the family history. Aunt told me she started to speak English at age five (1919), therefore the family had been in Rhodesia for over ten years. The decision not to return to Russia was the deciding factor, and I presume this is when, on a personal level, Kiriaco started to prosper in Rhodesia or to see the chance of prosperity in the future. Perhaps Kiriaco’s steady, but gradual, change from Bolshevik to Capitalist, becoming a true coloniser, precluded a return to Russia, now in the great upheaval of the Communist Revolution?  

I asked my aunt about her home language:

Aunt: We only heard Russian, and it was when George went to school … He had to learn English. Papa tried to teach him a bit, because Papa was learning too … that’s when we started learning English. Papa always … and its a pity in a way, but at that time this is what happened, Papa said, “If we are staying here, we must learn English without an accent!” and so they stopped us speaking Russian.

George (my father) was academically gifted. He learned to speak English. When he went to Boys High School (which became Prince Edward School) he had to cycle from Parktown every day. He excelled at school and continued his education at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, majoring in science and mathematics. He also met my mother there, she was a student in Fine Arts.

My aunt told me more about the strategies to assimilate:

“There was an elderly Greek gentleman called Mr Antonaki who was  my god-father, and I think was (my uncle) Pete’s godfather too when we were  christened together in the Parktown hall. We walked to the hall so I must have been about five. On the way both Pete and I began to cry. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and possibly thought I was going to be hurt in some way?

This was interesting to me because, as far as I was aware, Mama was an Atheist. Aunt said she thought it was because they were anxious to be assimilated into the society. 

So, this begs the question:

Where do the children find the mentors to show them the way into the society? Consider that neither Rosa or Kiriaco had any idea of English culture, particularly as lived in the colony. The difference between their background, and that of the society in which they found themselves, is extreme. Aunt tells me of the women who were her influences in childhood:

“And so she loved me old Mrs Scott. She taught me a lot. She helped me a lot because, Mama not being English she … It was Mrs Scott who would give me a grounding. Yes, I had a couple of very good influences in my life. One was Mrs Scott. And the other person was Myrtle McJanet. 

Eleanor: I met her …  I remember her.

Aunt: Myrtle influenced me, because … I was in her company quite a lot. She taught me elements of the piano and she started my piano lessons.

Myrtle taught me good manners at the table, which my parents, being continental, didn’t know the English way at all. Myrtle taught me that. Not to chew and drink at the same time. Finish what you’re chewing, then drink. She took me to Sunday school. My parents never introduced me to anything like that. Not that it had much influence

I’ll leave the saga there for the time being. Thanks for reading this far.