Family first
Welcome to my Time capsule
Appended below is some detail of my earliest time of life. You may find some of this information useful to introduce the whole story. This is information that my grandchildren and even perhaps my children, do not know much about .
I was born in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on the 14th August, 1933 in the house my family lived in, rented from a Mrs.MacDonald, their neighbor. A midwife was in attendance. I grew up in that house and lived there happily till the family moved back to Bulawayo in 1946, where my parents had lived when they arrived in Africa a few years earlier
I was the youngest of four children, the others being my brother Jack, Jack was born in Memel, a German city near the Lithuanian border in 1925, my sister Jane born in Bulawayo in 1929, and my sister Lola born in Livingstone in 1932 in the Livingstone hospital, in unattended circumstances. I would say that over all I had a very happy childhood in Livingstone. My father had become the owner of a Taxi business and my mother a wonderful homemaker and a talented seamstress. My mom ran our home, attended to telephone calls for taxis and made beautiful clothes for us girls. We had four servants, all black people, as was the custom in those days. The servants lived on the property in flimsy huts (I regret to have to say) with the minimum of comforts, as was very common. In addition to a telephone which every household appeared to have we already had an electric refrigerator which we called a fridge or by its make fridgidaire! ( So I was rather surprised when I arrived in Israel in 1952 and both these convenient items were hardly seen or available in people’s homes). Our toilets were away from our houses and every night the municipal sanitation collectors came to remove the contents by driving into what were called sanitary lanes
We always felt safe in our home and the doors to the outside were never locked. We never experienced any criminal activities in our homes. Sometimes, because of the very hot temperatures in the summer, my father slept on a bed behind a screen in the garden! I had a bicycle and so did my friends and we would visit each other in our respective homes or in the park which was opposite our home. We children felt comfortable moving around on our own. When we were very little a nanny, one of our four servants, would accompany us
I recall being very happy in our home and that our home was open to friends and relatives. Both my parents had relatives in Livingstone who had arrived from Europe earlier. On my mother’s side the Grill family had been there from the 1890s already. The small Jewish community, about 100 strong, was warm and active and I remember many a celebration being held in the homes of the heads of the community at the time of Jewish festivals. Functions were also held to raise funds for what was then called Palestine and I recall often being asked to tap dance as a little girl at these functions, together with my little cousin Marion Sossen, who lives now in London
I started school at the Livingstone Government school at the age of 5 and then went to boarding school in Bulawayo for about a year and then back to Livingstone to the Convent School there
As Livingstone was less than 10 miles from the Zambezi river and the famous Victoria Falls, many of our Sundays were spent picknicking on the banks of the river and were wonderfully happy experiences, very often with friends in the wonderful Livingstone Jewish community
I left Livingstone in January 1946 when I was 12 years old. I was a bright scholar in school days and won a number of prizes for high achievement in junior school. I still have one of the books I won when I was about 9 years old and recently my son Danny (who lives in the USA)took it as he thought it was an "heirloom" worth keeping
Responsibility
We loved dancing
lets rock
Optimism
Counting My blessings
Hope
Friendly Taxi Driver
" ?Bist a Yid"
I was requested by Ronnie’s family to interview her as she approaches her 87th birthday this week. I am preparing for her and her family a personal capsule
Ronnie was born in Northern Rhodesia in 1933 and left to live in Israel only 12 years ago when she was aged 75, thereby fulfilling a childhood Zionist dream. Her family is scattered around the world and so the idea of short capsules on a personal web page will be easily accessible to the grandchildren and their children
One of Ronnie’s wonderful stories tells of the way the universe brought the man of her dreams from Jerusalem to a remote city, Ndola, in Northern Rhodesia, now called Zambia. I asked her permission to upload it here. Ronnie edited it for me and wanted me to be as precise as possible. And here’s the story I received permission to publish
“ ? ARE YOU JEWISH”
On a bench at train station in a remote city in Africa a young man is sitting with his head in his hands, appearing to be very troubled and in despair. Suddenly a man stands before him and asks in Yiddish “Bist a Yid?”. The young man on the bench recognizes the word “Yid” and his eyes light up with hope
Joseph, a taxi driver from the town sits next to him slowly. Only 12 years have passed since he left Lithuania for Africa and he recalls the feelings he felt like this young man when he first arrived in the new country. He listens to the young man’s story. He had come from what was called Palestine then, to look for work. He was a member of a well known Jewish family who had for many generations lived in Gaza until they were forced to leave there after the 1929 riots and move to other places in what is now Israel. This young man came to Africa on a freight ship and travelled down the east coast of Africa to Beira in Portugues East Africa. From there he travelled on trains to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia. The immigration authorities did not allow him resident status so he was forced to move on and took a train which would get him to the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia. At Livingstone station the immigration authorities had tried to stop him from going on to the copperbelt because he did not have enough money on him to sustain in him for more than a few days
Joe, the taxi driver looked at this young man with a paternal smile and said “come with me" – this will not be the first time I shall try and convince the border officials to allow Jews to enter the country, assuring them that the small Jewish community would take care of these prospective immigrants until they find jobs
JULY 16TH 1954
Ronnie is walking through immigration and security at the small airport of the town of Ndola, proud of the fact she was sent to represent the Habonim Zionist Youth Movement of Rhodesia to assist in the establishment of Habonim groups in the small towns of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). She does not know that within 48 hours her world is about to change and that the good deed done by a family member many years earlier will manifest in the most unexpected way
On that same Friday evening (July 16th) the few young people of Ndola were invited to meet the guest of honour. Approximately an hour after everyone else had arrived, suddenly the door opened and a tall, very handsome guy enters the room and with great confidence and says in fluent Hebrew “Who speaks Hebrew here?”! Looking at Ronnie with a penetrating look he continues "It must be you – all the others I already know"
Ronnie smiled a little shyly, even though her Hebrew was not perfect – but hey, why did she spend the whole of 1952 in Israel at the "Institute for Youth Leaders from Abroad" if it wasn’t going to give her the opportunity to meet such a good looking Israeli
When the evening was coming to an end the good-looking Israeli said to her “My uncle has an amazing collection of records with Hebrew songs – maybe you would like to hear some of them and teach them to the young children you will be meeting”. So it was arranged that the next day, Saturday, he would pick Ronnie up and take her to his uncle’s house. As they were walking up the garden path Ronnie saw a man standing at the front door of the house. The host welcomed her and he immediately asked “Are you the Furmanovsky girl?” Ronnie was surprised wondering how Avner’s uncle knew of her family name. She asked the gentleman, who smiled as if he was waiting for this moment all his life. He replied: “17 years ago I was sitting in desperation on a bench at Livingstone station and Mr. Furmanovsky helped me cross the border "
9TH MARCH, 1955
A decorated wedding hall in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. The Jewish community is invited to the wedding of Annie and Joe’s youngest daughter Ronnie. Joe has the honour to accompany his daughter to the chuppah, and the honour to accompany Avner is given to his beloved Uncle Hanan Elkaim –and as they stood behind the bride and groom they must ?have thought about how the universe arranged for this union, at a remote train station in Africa so long ago
?Are you Jewish
מענטש mentsh
My wedding
From Left to Right
Standing: Joe and Sylvia Gaffen, Harold Grill, Joe and Annie Furmanovsky, Ronnie and Avner, Yona and Hanan Elkaim, Eva and Jack Furmanovsky, Ros Gaffen (Israelstam), Jurick Goldwasser
Sitting: Lola Furmanovsky, Dorothy Forman (Fruman), Mina Ayl (Dorfan), Annette Gaffen (Samuelson), David Elkaim
How did I come to Israel for the first time
Zionist
1954 July 16
?What is Parking
Always
SPORTS
Run Ronnie Run
