Excerpts from Bertha Goudvis (nee Cinamon)

 courtesy of the HSZ

THE HISTORY SOCIETY OF ZIMBABWE FOUNDED 1953 Website: history.co.zw Please right-click on the little red cross, above, to see the HSZ Logo and the photos in the article below   Dear Members Herewith an article kindly supplied to the HSZ Chatline by Mike Tucker entitled " "BULAWAYO IN THE 1890s""   All replies to the HSZ Chatline at:hszcomms@gmail.com   This article is taken from the Rhodes Centenary Supplement published by the Chronicle in Bulawayo on the 3rd of July 1953 and was written by Bertha Goudvis.   In the late autumn of 1894, my mother, Victoria Cinamon, instructed by her husband Jacob, arranged with an elderly Boer transport rider to take us from Johannesburg to Bulawayo.   He had a covered wagon and team of oxen with which he said he could make the journey in six or seven weeks as he would travel by an old hunter’s road through Bechuanaland [now Botswana] which he had already traversed several times.   After many difficulties encountered on the road we actually arrived in Bulawayo after only seven weeks, whereas many trekkers spent three months on the journey.   Mother had her six children with her. I was the eldest. Next came my sister and then four small brothers.   The new town was beginning to take shape by the time we arrived, although only a few buildings here and there indicated the broad streets and avenues to come. Most of the buildings were of corrugated iron, but some were of brick, including our own house in Rhodes Street. My father, who had preceded us by nearly a year, had bought this stand at the auction held in the old township on the site of Lobengula's kraal [Umvutcha] before the move to the new township was made.   Our nearest neighbour was the Argus Company, whose plant for the Chronicle had only recently arrived. The Matabele Times was still set up in cyclostyle as was the Bulawayo Sketch, a weekly gossipy journal with amusing drawings interspersing the letterpress.   People now speak of the ‘Naughty Nineties’ but in manners and behaviour we were models of decorum when compared with the young people of today.   Even in this early Rhodesian days we tried to keep up with the fashion. We wore long skirts which trailed the ground and balloon sleeves which looked extremely funny with our pinched-in waists. The men wore moustaches, but beards and whiskers were seldom seen, although the Prince of Wales. (afterwards King Edward VII) favoured both and Marlborough House was then social centre of London. Bulawayo beaux were greatly worried when the Queen's Club issued invitations for a New Year's Eve Ball and formal evening dress was decreed by the committee. The men made frantic efforts to get their dress suits by post. They had to hurry for the post arrived only once a week in a stage coach drawn by trotting oxen. There were numerous relays on the road but still the pace was slow and the journey from the Rand took eight days or longer.   My father was persuaded to let us go to the ball and we had a wonderful time for girls were scarce in those days. I was only eighteen and my sister Clarice nearly four years younger, but she was a good dancer and much in demand.   Other balls followed and then came the first bazaar. This was in aid of the Anglican Church and the stalls were to represent different nations. Mrs Verey (wife of the Town Engineer) enlisted my sister and me as helpers at her Swiss stall and we had many working parties at her house. It was then a Rhodesian social custom for the men to drop in for morning tea and lively talk was general.   If the Nineties were not so very naughty, they were certainly gay. We danced the polka, schottische and barn dances as well as the waltz, but jolliest of all was the lancers. When the music for the last was a medley of popular tunes the men sang as they danced and sometimes the women joined in. These were happy days, but they were too good to last.   Our troubles began with the rinderpest scourge, which killed nearly all the cattle [90-97% being destroyed -  Marquardt 2005] and this was soon followed by the Jameson Raid. [29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896] One night the Chronicle’s plant could be heard clanging at an unusual hour for no paper was due next morning. Soon afterwards a native came round with leaflets. I opened the door to his knock and read the amazing news that Jameson had crossed the border. The excitement in the town that night was like madness, soon to be followed by chagrin and grief when news came of the failure of the Raid and Doctor Jameson's arrest.   A few months later there were rumours that the Matabele were going to rise against us. These were not taken seriously till we heard of farmers and prospectors being murdered in outlying districts. A punitive expedition set out and I saw the start of the patrol [probably Gifford’s Patrol to Insiza on 24 March 1896 that resulted in the defence of Cumming’s store]     ILLUSTRATION ABOVE The ’96 Reports sketch by Melton Prior of ‘The Matabele insurrection – a false alarm in Bulawayo: Townspeople rushing for the laager’    Before they could return we were all rushed one night to the half-completed premises of the Bulawayo club. Women and children were crowded into rooms still littered with ladders and pails of whitewash. The men stood on guard outside. The few guns left in the town were found and distributed and a cry of relief went up when someone shouted: “The Maxims are here.”These famous machine-guns, so dreaded by the natives, were rusty from disuse, but the fear they inspired probably saved a few scattered communities in laager throughout the country.   Next morning a stronger lager was built on the Market Square and farmers coming into Bulawayo for refuge lined their wagons round the square after the old Boer fashion. Volunteer corps were formed; the Afrikaners had their own for they preferred to fight under their own leaders. One of the most celebrated corps was known as the ‘Guineafowls’ led by Sir Percy Girouad. On returning from a patrol the men shot some guinea fowls and stuck the feathers in their hats.   We were allowed to return to our homes in the morning after spending the night in laager but were warned to hurry back if the bell on the Watch Tower toiled a warning. This tower had been erected by Tom Verey, the Town Engineer and was soon known as ‘Verey’s Folly.’   One afternoon our favourite visitor, Bishop Gaul of Mashonaland, had dropped in for tea. Also a young mother who had wheeled her baby in its pram from her cottage nearby. We were having a gay time for the little bishop, one of the finest men I have ever known, was always good company. Suddenly the bell began toiling. The bishop and the lady set off at once, their steps hampered by the Prem which the bishop was wheeling, but it proved to be a false alarm caused by the approach of a party of ‘friendlies’ as we called the loyal chiefs and their tribesmen.   I need not tell of the arrival of Plumer’s Column and later of Cecil Rhodes himself, who held indabas with the chiefs and soon stopped the rebellion. I saw the great man several times. He dressed badly and was not an imposing figure on horseback, but he looked splendid in evening dress when he opened the ball with the Honourable Mrs Arthur Lawley (afterwards Lady Wenlock) at the fancy dress dance held in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee [officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837] Bishop Gaul in purple three-quarter coat and knee breeches with a gold cross dangling from a black ribbon on his chest, danced in the same set of lancers. I was in the next set but could hardly mind my steps because of my interest in these fascinating neighbours. Mrs Lawley was a real English beauty and in those days ‘nature did it all.’   PHOTO ABOVE The ’96 Reports noted the ‘plucky behaviour of the women and the unselfish services gratuitously given by them in the Bulawayo laager hospital’   I could fill columns with tales of those early days when new mines were discovered every week. (most of them were soon abandoned) but my space is limited.   I must, however, mention a few more of the outstanding personalities of the time. Mrs Colenbrander, wife of the famous scout, was one of them. A handsome brunette who frequently accompanied her husband and Cecil Rhodes to their indabas with the Matabele, she was an excellent horsewoman. When she died, while still a young woman, her horse ‘Bonny Morn’ was led in the procession which followed her coffin.   There was much musical and dramatic talent in that early Bulawayo, but I have only space to mention Mrs Verey, a fine contralto, whose brother Harry Neale was an equally good baritone, Mrs Loewenstark, a soprano and Mr Lowinger, the Editor of the Matabele Times, who sang operatic arias and knew something about production, for he arranged an evening of tableaux vivants [a static scene with one or more actors or models who are stationary and silent, usually in costumes carefully posed] which were very beautiful. In one of those tableaux he was Svengali hypnotising my sister who represented Trilby {George du Maurier’s 1894 novel Trilbyfeatures a sinister hypnotist Svengali who attempts to transform a young orphan girl Trilby O’Ferrall into a famous singer through hypnotism]   Most talented of all was ‘Little Pinkstone’ as he was usually called who gave character sketches in the style of Dan Leno. He was so good that people thought he must have been a professional but he was actually a metallurgist in the employ of one of the big mining houses. I never saw Doctor Jim but my fiancé who had come to Rhodesia representing an insurance company, knew him well and insured him for what was then considered a big sum. This was before the Rebellion for the company sent a cable stopping all insurance immediately after the outbreak.   After my marriage to this young Hollander we went to Gwelo where our eldest son was born but financial losses caused us to seek fresh pastures. My family remained in Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe] but moved to Umtali [now Mutare] and later to Penhalonga where they were well-known. In later years, my brother David was manager of the Beatrice Mine for some time. His widow and son now live in Salisbury and my sister’s daughter has settled with her husband in Bulawayo so that she and I, the sole survivors of that early pioneering family, still have family links with Rhodes’ fair country.   Who was Bertha Goudvis? (1876 – 1966) Despite these early and later hurdles, Bertha has been described as “an intrepid woman in the mould of Olive Schreiner, being a pioneering feminist in spirit and a lifelong writer and observer of South Africa.” Her autobiography reveals the life of a woman in the early days of the gold rush at both Barberton and Johannesburg, Bulawayo and the Matabele Rebellion in Rhodesia, early days at Gweru, time spent in Lourenço Marques, Durban and Louwsberg in KwaZulu before moving back to Johannesburg.   Born in in Barrow-in-Furness, England on 6 April 1876; her maiden name was Bertha Cinamon and the family came to South Africa in 1881. Her father Jacob is described as a ‘smous,’ a historical term from Dutch and Yiddish in 19th-century South Africa, that describes a travelling peddler or trader, and she spent her youth trekking by ox-wagon with her family across the country from one small mining town to another.   Kathy Munro describes them as “a growing family that lived a hand to mouth existence wandering between various South African towns… Bertha adored her mother but was both terrified and exasperated by her father, a dreamer and inventor who ruled as a small time autocrat. He was a dreamer who always bet on the next big opportunity but his gambles seldom came off and the family  struggled.”     Although largely self-educated with little formal schooling, Bertha read and wrote widely from a young age, was extremely observant and had a good memory. Her life became the basis for the book South African Odyssey: The Autobiography of Bertha Goudvis edited by Marcia Leveson.   The book contains a good account of life in Barberton; gold had been discovered in de Kaap Valley in 1874 and her father was probably drawn by this discovery. At one point her father held gold mining shares that might have made his fortune, but held on too long, and the dream faded.   Following the gold discoveries on the Witwatersrand in 1886 she moved to the new town of Johannesburg between 1893 – 1894 and her autobiography contains good descriptions of the Market Square, the shopping centre around Pritchard Street and the three theatres that provided most of the entertainment.   In 1894 the family, excepting Jacob who had left a year earlier, travelled by ox-wagon to Rhodesia taking seven weeks. Bertha as the eldest must have been a great help to her mother with five other children to care for. This period of her life is covered in her article above. She describes early Bulawayo, the Jameson Raid that began on 29 December 1895 and life in the Bulawayo laager during the 1896 Matabele Rebellion (Umvukela) as a young woman of twenty-years. She also had her first newspaper account published by the Daily Graphicduring this time.                    1892 photo of Market Square, Johannesburg (Above)   Bertha married young in 1896 to a Dutch Jew, Lucas Samuel Goudvis (26 July 1865 – 17 October 1930) known as Lee; they had two sons, one was killed in a motor accident, and a daughter. She lived and worked in both the English and Afrikaans communities, but never felt integrated as she was Jewish, but she was in a unique position to record early colonial attitudes.   The young couple became hoteliers in Gwelo, now Gweru before moving to Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, although they were not successful ventures. She records Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic (Transvaal), leaving South Africa from Lourenço Marques on the Dutch warship Gelderland for exile in Europe in  September 1900 as the British forces advanced during the Second Boer War. Clearly her sympathies were with the Boers.   At the end of the Boer War in May 1902, Bertha and Lee moved to Durban and she began a new career as a newspaper correspondent and columnist. She loved the theatre and many of her articles include interviews with the leading actors and actresses.   In 1906 the family moved to Vryheid in the northern part of Natal (now KwaZulu) and then to nearby Louwsberg where they were inn-keeping between 1906 – 11. In 1906 the Bambatha uprising broke out in Natal. Farmers had difficulty in recruiting black labour due to better wages being paid by the Witwatersrand gold mines and the local government introduced a poll tax of £1 in addition to the existing hut tax to force more Africans into the labour market. The suppression of the rebellion led to the deaths of 3,000 – 4,000 Zulus and 36 colonial soldiers. Bertha interviewed prominent characters such as Louis Botha, later the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, during this crisis.   During 1911 the Goudvis family moved back to Johannesburg where Lee was hired to run a bioscope, an obsolete term for a movie theatre, in Braamfontein and Bertha became a theatre fanatic, a  journalist for Johannesburg’s The Star and a correspondent for The Natal Mercury.   South African Odyssey details the life of Bertha and her family through the two world wars and her interviews with many people, famous and infamous in politics, literature and theatre and ends in 1964.   During her lifetime Bertha published a novel Little Eden, about life in a little village in the backveld of Natal or the Transvaal and a collection of short stories The Mistress of Mooiplaas in 1956. Also a number of one-act plays, including the extremely popular A Husband for Rachel (first performed in 1917) and The Way the Money Goes, a one-act play about a man named Dick who is a compulsive gambler and the consequences he suffers as a result of his addiction. They first appeared (with The Sergeant-in-Charge and Patriots) in the collection The Way the Money Goes and other plays in 1925 and were  widely published afterwards. The Aliens followed in 1936, which won second prize in an international competition organised by the Jewish Drama League in London. Bertha wrote the libretto for a musical, Sunshine Land. In the 1970’s the SABC also broadcast a TV version of A Husband for Rachel.   Bertha Goudvis (née Cinamon) died on 3 September 1966.     References Bertha Goudvis. Bulawayo in the 90’s The Chronicle. 3 July 1953. Rhodes Centennial Supplement. Kathy Munro. 31 July 2017. Review of 'South African Odyssey: The Autobiography of Bertha Goudvis.' The Heritage Portal. https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/review/review-south-african-odyssey-autobiography-bertha-goudvis ESAT. https://esat.sun.ac.za/index.php/Bertha_Goudvis Bertha Goudvis. South African Odyssey, The autobiography of Bertha Goudvis. Picador (Pan Macmillan, SA) edited by Marcia Leveson The ’96 Rebellions: The British South Africa Company Reports on the Native Disturbances in Rhodesia, 1896-7. Books of Rhodesia, Bulawayo 1975

Reconnecting with the Zimbabwe Jewish Community over two weeks Jan/Feb 2026

(2nd draft) February 2026

I decided recently that I really needed to reconnect with my birthplace, Zimbabwe.  That feeling is hard to explain rationally but there were several factors that brought me to that decision.

I have been writing, collecting stories as well as records (e.g. cemeteries) relating to the Zimbabwe Jewish Community for a number of years and there are several people who have helped me along the way.  See my website www.zjc.org.il . I felt I needed to connect with them personally but also to try and be "on the ground" to record the last remaining vestiges of the community. I also had a burning desire to see a few of my favourite nature spots.

After leaving (Rhodesia) in 1973 and returning for a five-year contract with Reuters in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s my connections to the people and the place had strengthened. We had wonderful experiences and made good friends during that stint.

I booked and planned the basic schedule quite quickly and flew from Tel Aviv via Addis Ababa to Harare. First impressions are always the most important - they say.  

I also made a conscious decision to mainly focus on the positive aspects of Zimbabwe and the ZJC.  There would be no shortages of negatives, believe me.

After a very smooth (but long) Air Ethiopia flight to Harare I arrived to the Robert Mugabe International Airport and its immigration bureaucracy a first taste of life in this country.  I had noticed on the flight, which was pretty full, that many of the passengers were Zimbabweans returning home (I spoke to a few) but there were many Chinese. Our plane was the only one on the tarmac. Not many flights seemed to be coming in and out of Harare. It was a real hassle to get my visa sorted out but eventually it was resolved and I was out of the terminal to be greeted by Mathias my pre-arranged taxi driver.

My video clip/view of Robert Mugabe International Airport on arrival

Driving through Harare was my first experience of the significant changes to the country.  There are MANY more cars on the road - traffic can be bad.  There are almost no working traffic lights (I will say that a few times...) when I was visiting. There are very few street lights. Many, particularly side streets, are badly potholed and cars, trucks and buses have to meander around these obstacles.  The wear and tear on vehicles (and the economy) must be horrendous. Read this perspective (Dec 2025) on the subject of poor infrastructure, written by a Zimbabwean.

You can watch this video to get somewhat of an idea of driving around Harare.

I arrived at my Airbnb cottage in the suburb of Alexandra Park - just opposite the Botanical Gardens and was greeted by a smiling Precious who is the live-in house maid. When I first approached her I had a flash of a moment when thought I was looking at a younger version of our own family maid Ivy Moyo who worked faithfully for our family for many years. I did a reset and there was Precious to show me around. Later on the owner greeted me and explained that their property had not had electricity from the grid for "a while" as a nearby transformer had been stolen and not replaced. Not to worry, she said, we have solar and backup generator. She also said they have not had municipal water for "a long time" but their prolific borehole did the job. I heard similar stories from several other people living on large properties with beautiful homes. In Zimbabwe its called "making a plan" or learning to live "off the grid".

This clip is the home on Sandringham Drive where I stayed in small cottage on the premises.

After freshening up I took a walk along Sandringham Drive, turning right on Maasdorp Road to head down to the Belgravia shopping centre to get some self-catering supplies.  As mentioned, the roads are PACKED with cars even in this sleepy neighborhood.  They seem to drive slowly to avoid the an abundance of potholes and there are almost no traffic lights working at intersections (did I say that already?). For those that remember Belgravia centre with its famous Dairy Den and its crazy manager/owner and the Reps Theatre - well today it is half street market in the parking area and half shops. I went into the well known Bon Marche supermarket to find the place almost empty, learning later that the chain was in liquidation and this branch was in the process of shutting down, apparently a victim of a combination of mismanagement and the dysfunctional financial system in Zimbabwe with two official currencies  - the USD and ZiG which I will not explain here (google if interested).

This clip of Belgravia Shopping centre where Reps Theatre is located

The other first impressions were a reminder of the luscious greenery and rich red soil of Harare especially after the heavy rains. The gardens and sidewalks are vervent/tropical green and in Alex Park where I am staying - mostly well kept. It still amazes me how some of the verges of homes are many times larger in area than our garden at home. Numerous former family homes have been converted into businesses. I had a great breakfast this morning at Cafe de Paris (!) on the corner of Falmouth and Churchill Rd. (for those who remember) which is one of these converted houses, that now houses a newly built set of offices (dentist, curio shop and cafe). 

Cafe de Paris - on the corner Churchill St and Falmouth Rd where I had breakfasts.

Later that morning my other trusted driver Julius, whom I am have known for a number of years, picked me up to take me to Honeydew in Greendale for a pre-arranged reunion lunch with my former Reuters staff.  Now Honeydew is NOT typical Zimbabwe. It used to be many years ago merely a market for fruit and vegetables but now it is a huge expanse of shopping mall and restaurants in immaculately kept surroundings.  We met at the Three Monkeys Restaurant owned and run by Ilan and Yaron Weisenbacher and we had a delicious lazy three-hour lunch reminiscing, talking politics and philosphy. We were a very special team at Reuters Harare in those days and I had a very productive and enjoyable stint of five years working there from 1989-94.  I had been based in Harare, had an office in Nairobi as I was responsible for Reuters East and Southern Africa. I travelled extensively throughout the continent including West Africa. Zimbabwe was in a different place during those years - ten years after Independence. I was now returning after 45 years of Independence.

Some of the original local Reuters team from the 1990s.

Julius took me back to my cottage via the Milton Park Jewish Community centre where we had a quick view of the Sharon School, old youth centre (now a nursery school), the former Harry Margolis Hall and the outside of the Ashkenazi Shul.  The gardens are lush and green and everything seems to be kept in good shape.  There are only 1 or 2 Jewish kids at the school but it is still run as a Jewish Primary School with some 200 students and the nursery school owned by the community and its Chairperson is Gwyneth Kably, representing the Jewish Community.  Of course memories came flashing back from my teenage years of the many hours spent at Habonim meetings at the Youth Centre. 

Another special memory was the first wedding held at the Harry Margolis Hall in December 1965 of my sister Ann to Benjamin Schaffer (ex CT). That hall is now owned by the POAZ Christian Church.  Of course another sequence of memories remains the five years we spent in Harare in the early 1990s during which our daughters Orli and Liat attended Sharon School and we attended Shul at the Ashkenazi Synagogue.  All good times and fondly remembered.

An additional strong impression of Harare in 2026 is the dominant presence of the Chinese. 

I reckon that half of my flight from Addis Ababa were Chinese nationals and many of the homes and businesses I encountered in Alex Park are also Chinese. I went to visit our old family home on Downie Ave Avondale and was told by the gardener that the place was occupied by Chinese either renting or owning the place. There were a few large containers in the yard next to the house indicating some sort of commercial activity. I was later told by several people that there is an estimated 280,000 Chinese nationals living and working in Zimbabwe which is more than the total (so called colonial) white population at its peak in the late 1960s.

The house where I grew up - 44 Downie Ave Avondale.  Now owned or rented by Chinese.

On one of my early morning walks along Sandringham Drive to Downie Ave and down to 2nd St (now Sam Njoma) and then back up Maasdorp - I saw one former home had been completely erased and replaced with a kind of Chinese shopping mall including two restaurants, a kiosk selling Chinese products and a full-blown supermarket that also had mainly Chinese products.  There was also a casino on the property.  It feels like Zimbabwe really has been colonized by China. I also heard from more than once source that the Chinese often bring their own workers and Zimbabweans are not gaining at many different levels from their “operations” in Zimbabwe. I also heard from several people that the Chinese do not have a good reputation as decent employers, many don’t speak English and they both exploit and treat their local Zimbabwe workers quite badly. To the best of my knowledge there is very little inward investment by the Chinese in Zimbabwe. They are exploiting the country, mainly for its natural resources which includes minerals for the lithium batteries in the western world's EVs.

 

A former home on Maasdorp Ave now replaced by a series of Chinese restaurants, supermarket and Casino

On Saturday morning I went to Shul at the Ashkenazi Shul in Milton Park which is kept immacuately both inside and out. The service was well run by Arnold Joffe (President of the Harare Hebrew Congregation) and Yossi Kably. There were 11 men and 5 women in Shul and this is a combined complement of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi congregations.   The service alternates between each shul. There is no Friday evening service because many do not like driving at night with no street lights and ever-present potholes (a common theme in this report). Driving down Lezard Ave and turning the left corner at the end is a nightmare and especially after the rain you cannot see how deep the potholes are. 

The communities are a shadow of their former self as in the late 1960s early 1970s the combined Jewish population of Harare was approximately 3,500.  After the service there was a kiddush in the foyer with some cakes, drinks and the traditional whisky. In the early 1990s there were still a few hundred in Harare. Arnold said a few words and kindly welcomed me to Harare and reminded members that I was hoping to interview people and collect their stories.

The night before I was warmly invited for Friday night dinner to Victor and Ilana Hasson's home in Gunhill which I remember well from the time we were in Harare in the early 1990s. Their garden and home is immaculate and we had a wonderful Shabbat dinner together with Charlotte Bernstein, Henry and Lorraine Goldenberg. Lots of reminiscing, good company and excellent food.

 

Left to right - Ilana and Victor Hasson , Lorraine and Henry Goldenberg and Charlotte Bernstein

Later on that Saturday I asked Julius to take me up the kopje overlooking Harare but we were unsuccessful as the army have closed the road going up the hill "for security reasons", I am guessing a long-standing paranoia by the Zim government. We then proceeded along Rotten Row (yep that's the name of the street) towards the working class Mbare suburb and the original Jewish cemetery known as Pioneer St cemetery.  We passed the many vendors in the area and saw the workers apartment buildings which were built in the 1960s to accommodate employees in the nearby industrial area of Harare.  

This image was sourced from a Newsday website

Julius told me that the buildings were designed with three or four floors of 10 rooms on each floor where each room originally had a single worker living in it. On each floor is a shared bathroom with a shower and toilet. He said that in 2026 these rooms are now occupied by whole families averaging 4-6 people and so each floor could have up to 60 people sharing the same bathroom facilities.  Hard to imagine these living conditions but according to Julius they are actually considered lucky people to have a proper roof over their heads and any kind of access to a bathroom.  

Many people in the suburbs of Mbare and Chitungwiza (further out of town) and other working class suburbs live in tin shacks with no running water or toilets. It is also true that much building of standard brick homes has also been done since independence but the huge problem remains the lack of infrastructure including poorly maintained (if at all) roads, no running water, poorly maintained sewage systems and erratic electricity supply.

A view of the Mbare street market opposite the Pioneer St Jewish Cemetery

The Pioneer St Cemetery Jewish section was quite overgrown with high grass but there were workers from the city council working in the grounds and I did receive pictures a few days later to show how the grass had been cleared.  A few of the workers helped me to locate the tombstones of both my grandparents Phil and Annie Bloom z"l and it was quite emotional to re-connect with them even though they both passed away before I was born. One guy in the group offered to fix up the lettering on the gravestones (for a fee of course) and I happily agreed to that.  If anyone wishes to have a grave fixed up - let me know and I will send you contact details.

It is clear that they are probably paid minimal wages by the city council - which is today approximately USD 265 per month.  A 10 kg bag of mealie meal (ground cornmeal) is around USD 9 and a family of four needs about 2-3 bags a month. Renting a room in Mbare apparently costs about USD 30-50 a month. There are school fees and other basic utilities. Life is tough for the working class and many people have turned to the informal sector to hustle for more income. At most major traffic intersections in Harare there are people selling everything from fruit to toys and much more. A common activity is selling cellular air-time as most people pay for the usage "on the go" and do not have bank accounts for monthly payments. Another common activity today in Zimbabwe, particularly in the rural districts is mining, particularly for gold, and I will describe that later.

Zimbabwe is very much a cash market. From luxury homes in the northern suburbs to the vendor on the street selling bananas - everything is done in USD cash.

Speaking to people during my visit it is clear that the financial system in Zimbabwe is still a complete mess.

For example it is not possible to obtain a mortgage to buy a house - all property transactions are in cash. I witnessed in Harare many plush new homes in suburbs like Borrowdale and Borrowdale Brook apparently worth well over USD 1 m and even some in the USD 10 m range.  There is definitely a property boom in the country as the wealthy seek to protect their money in the form of physical assets.  They have no trust in the financial system as the government has switched currency from Zim Dollars to USD and back again some three times, basically robbing people of their well earned money. Pensions and savings accounts have been wiped out, either by super-high inflation or the currency scam. Property and fancy cars appear to be the way wealthy Zimbabweans protect their money. They have been robbed too many times by the government to trust any official or financial institutions. You can read this item published by the opposition party describing the reality of the Zimbabwean Economy.

One person told me how her hard-earned USD account was recently completely cleared by the bank on the grounds that she had allegedly not paid her 2023 income tax.  The amount cleared had nothing to do with her actual income tax for that year - they just cleared everything. With much effort and paying her accountant, she proved to them that they were mistaken, she had paid her tax and eventually the bank agreed to give her a credit - but not to reimburse to her account. I heard other hair-raising stories of government scams to cream money from people - especially those that have liquid assets in USD.  The story of the white commercial farmers is well known and I heard many stories of how the government stole land (supposedly for distribution to the masses) but basically ensured that those in power and with political connections were given prime properties.  Of the over 4,000 white commercial farmers in the early 2000s there are now only about 300 left on their land. Another person I spoke to had his small (350 acre) property "listed" for acquisition by the government but he was allowed to stay on the farm. In other words his property, purchased lawfully in the 1930s, no longer belongs to him and he continues to live there at the grace of the government and can be kicked at any moment.  Why would a person invest to improve such a property under those uncertain conditions?

Another farmer told me that he had been paid two installments under an agreement with the government whereby compensation would be given only for "improvements" to the property but not for the value of the land itself.  Despite the loss of a huge asset that belonged to his family for nearly 100 years, he considered himself fortunate. That is how the government continues its war of attrition for over 25 years against mainly white farmers, some of whom were killed during violent land takeovers.

Back to my visit and staying positive !

My next encounter was truly remarkable. 

I had heard the story of Dr. Solomon Gurumutunu and had met him in the early 1990s but very much wanted to meet him during my visit and get the full story directly from him.  A friend gave me his number and I reached out to him to explain my interest and he immediately responded and we arranged to meet at his home in Borrowdale Brook outside Harare. His home sits at the top of hill overlooking the suburb's lush and rolling hills.  Driving through his large iron gates I was immediately struck by the size and beauty of the propery with a long driveway meandering up the hill to the home.  Wow - I thought to myself after having just witnessed some of the living conditions in Mbare. 

He greeted me warmly and proceeded to tell his story to my camera. I will provide a link to the full interview after editing. In brief I had the most amazing and inspiring interview with Dr Solomon Gurumatunu - Zimbabwe’s top ophthalmologist who grew up on a farm in Inyazuru, Eastern Highlands owned by a Jewish family. The Buffensteins (Ida and Louis) facilitated him going to a private school in Swaziland and he went to study his specialty in Scotland. He spoke very warmly of  the support given to him by the Buffensteins and Fanny Mcgregor (also Jewish). He was the chairman of the National Art Gallery in Zimbabwe and formerly president of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. Really impressive and lovely guy. If you look at the background of this picture of him you can see some of the massive Zimbabwe sculptures on his magnificent property that he has collected. He has become a huge philanthropist in Zimbabwe and talked about his own need to "pay it forward". Here is the link to my interview with Solomon

Dr Solomon Gurumutunu with the background of his expansive garden and huge soapstone sculptures

So my first weekend in Harare passed quickly with a wide-range of experiences and emotions - ranging from the very familiar to the unexpected new developments and the seriously bad elements of poor infrastructure.  I was pleased to have a driver in town and not have to tackle the traffic and potholes (have I said that before?).

I booked a car for the Monday morning and commenced my self-drive adventure from Harare to Penhalonga in the Eastern Highlands.  There are a few tolls on the way at $4 each and one of the cashiers actually thanked me with a big flashing grin for providing fresh US$ notes. The inter-city road was in good shape and driving went very smoothly bar the few places where large trucks carrying all sorts of goods struggled to climb hills and some even broke down causing some chaos. 

So this is another dominating feature of the Zimbabwean economy.  The railway system has been broken for many years and all goods are transported by truck. The fallout is the trucks cause huge stress on the road system both in terms of traffic and in the damage they do to the actual tarmac.

An example of the quantity of haulage trucks on Zimbabwe's highways. I saw several trucks that had broken down on hillsides causing traffic to slow. These trucks have replaced the railways.

En route to Penhalonga I stopped for refreshments at the half-way house restaurant which we knew and visited on many occasions during our childhood and later in the 1990s. Built in the old dutch gabled design - the place is clean and well maintained. I bought my first packet of biltong. Yummy.

 

Half way house between Harare and Mutare - built in 1891

I arrived at the home of my good friend Simon Goldberg in Penhalonga after about a 4.5-hour drive and entered his most beautiful grounds surrounding the old family homestead (built by his uncle Mick and his siblings for their mother).  We had a delicious lunch together with his neighbor Sue on the home's expansive verandah and it really felt like a real blast-from the past.

 

The verandah at Yardley

I stayed for three nights at the old-world La Rochelle in Penhalonga which was originally built by the Courtauld family as their home and has been preserved in pristine condition. The Courtaulds were tremendous benefactors to Mutare (Umtali) and the surrounding area.  They founded the construction of the Courtauld Theatre in Mutare. The home, built in a French chateau style, became a renowned botanical site and features extensive gardens and a world-class orchid collection which is still maintained. Unfortunately the orchids were not flowering during my visit.  The estate was bequeathed to the National Trust of Zimbabwe in 1970 for public and educational use. The Courtaulds were also primary benefactors of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare and Zimbabwe College of Music. They were known for their progressive liberal views.  There were not many visitors but a few young couples and a few businessmen were staying there. The one night I was the only visitor. I sat having breakfast on the verandah, overlooking the expansive gardens and was washed with so many mixed feelings of a bygone era together with the reality of a totally new Zimbabwe and its many challenges. 

 

A view of La Rochelle - the house built by Sir Steven and Lady Virginia Courtauld in 1953

Simon took me into Mutare to meet some of his friends and colleagues and the town is in relatively good shape but again many roads leading to the Mozambique border were in shocking condition due to the heavy trucking. 

A view of Mutare from the famous Christmas Pass entrance to the city.

We visited the small Jewish Community cemetery of Mutare which Simon has looked after for many years. It has a surrounding wall built some 40 years ago by John Cinamon z"l and is in excellent condition.  See below.

Simon Goldberg at the entrance to the Mutare Jewish Cemetery

We also visited the tiny Penhalonga Jewish cemetery with its two graves, again meticulously maintained by Simon. The walls were built by John Cinamon z"l. See below.

The Penhalonga Jewish Cemetery with two graves

Simon and I went up to the Inyanga area for the day and had the privilege of being shown by Ferai Bvirakare the Works Manager for the Nyangani Renewable Renewable Energy Company - a relatively new hydro electric power scheme on the Tsanga River, north of the Troutbeck Inn.  We drove in his powerful Toyota 4-wheel drive through some rough (really rough) tracks to get down to the three stations we visited along the river's gorge. They are really impressive, top class installations with a combination of dam walls to build heads of water and large pipes to drop the water through the turbines. We visited three installations on the river (Tsanga A,B and C) which together produce some 10 mw of power to the grid of Zimbabwe. This is a privately owned company which seems to have tremendous vision, deep pockets and cares for the surrounding communities by electrifying over 50 district schools and providing reliable power to the area. The company even had to help ZESA (Zim power company) to replace a couple of its transformers to enable the transmision of power from the hydro scheme.

Inside one of the hydro-driven turbines on the Tsanga river - immacuately maintained - each produces about 3-4 mw of power to the main Zimbabwe grid.

I was impressed at the extensive effort to landscape the areas around the power stations and plant trees for a "hikers trail" down the gorge.  We met Brigitte who was working with her team to plant and beautify the areas around the power stations and create the trail. Watch this clip.

It felt to me that if this scheme was so successful - Zimbabwe could perhaps adopt it as a model so that the country could potentially be in a much better shape and indeed may (or could) turn the corner from (literally) a dark place. It felt hopeful for better days. For more background on the company's many activities - see   https://www.nrezim.com/

One of the several sections of the Tsanga Hydroelectric power scheme showing the large pipes which drop water from the river to the turbines below.  Note the landscaping on the right of the pipe.

The next day Simon and I drove south of Mutare towards the Vumba mountains and headed to the well-known Leopard Rock hotel.  The immediate impression was of yet another property that is being maintained to a really high standard.  The lobby area and the verandah overlooking the golf course were in pristine condition and surprisingly the main doors had mezuzoth on them as the owner is a Jewish man. I ordered my favourite fish - what else in the Vumba - grilled trout. Delicious.

We walked around the property's lake immediately in front of the hotel and could see that the golf course is also well looked after.  We did not, however, see any players. Note the mezuzah on the entrance to the Leopard Rock Hotel.

The entrance to the Leopard Rock hotel - note the Mezuza on the front door

Simon in front of the main hotel complex - immacutely kept

Above the hotel is another small property called (in its day) The Vumba Castle. Gail and I stayed at the Castle during our stint in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s. It can accomodate up to 8 guests in one booking and has a unique set of rooms overlooking the hotel and its golf course plus an unusually built toilet installed on a raw outcrop of rock on which the castle is built. See below.

The Castle guesthouse perched above the Leopard Rock Hotel

We talked for many hours about the country. The Goldbergs became prominent farmers and were always supportive of the communal farmers in the district and played their part in  regional and national affairs. Bennie Goldberg was the Minister of Health in the Federal Government and was instrumental in setting up the medical school at the University of Zimbabwe.  Simon's eldest uncle Mick was a member of the first Council of the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe Tobacco Association when it was established, which played a major role in the development of the tobacco industry in the country. On Mick's retirement Simon's father Jack was elected to succeed him by the farmers in the Odzi district.  There is a book called the "Goldbergs of Leigh Ranch" which describes in detail the family's odyssey.

The garden at Yardley

One other strong impression of my visit to the area is the enormous amount of mining activity.  Simon pointed out the huge scars on the mountain sides and looking carefully one can see many hundreds of blue plastic coloured "huts" scattered throughout the region, indicating the location of small mining activities.  Large trucks drove backwards and forwards along the already damaged roads hauling all sorts of material for and from the miners.  It really does feel like an uncontrolled gold-rush.  With world gold prices at record highs, everyone seems to be trying their luck and hoping for a bonanza. I did not see any of the larger commercial mines which are apparently worked by the Chinese.

Mining in Penhalonga, Zimbabwe, is a, deeply rooted, primarily gold-focused industry, centered around the major Redwing Mine and extensive, often illegal, artisanal mining activities. Located in the Mutare-Odzi greenstone belt, the area faces severe environmental degradation, including cyanide-contaminated water, land destruction, and significant conflict between community members, small-scale miners, and large-scale operators.  You can read this report from the Daily Telegraph about the illegal mining in the area of Penhalonga.

It was hard to leave the beauty of the Eastern Highlands with its magnificent vistas and raw outcrops of rocks alongside rolling hills of soft pine and fir forests but my schedule required that I return to Harare before catching a plane to Bulawayo. Simon was a wonderful host and it was really great spending time with him, meeting his friends and learning and appreciating why he continues to live at beautiful Yardley.

I decided to break my return drive and stay one night at the Imire Safari Lodge not far from Marondera (Marondellas).  Gail and I had taken the girls there in the early 1990s and it is still going strong. Since that time Imire had built a series of lovely bungalows, a pool and dining area surrounded by immaculate gardens and amazing trees. I arrived just before the first game drive and we were shown around the 10,000 acre property. The guide was fantastic and I learned for the first time that the reference to black and white rhinos is a myth and there are only Wide-mouthed rhinos and narrow Hook-lipped Rhinocerous. They are both grey in colour. In the afternoon we went for another safari and encountered, buffalo, giraffes, warthhogs and the few elephants they have on the estate.  Two of the elephants are very used to humans and enjoy being fed by visitors...quite an experience standing next to a huge tusker and dropping appropriate food into his trunk. These kind of experiences are a bit contrived but neverthless - wonderful encounters with the animals and Imire does a great job protecting Rhinos from extinction.  I highly recommend a visit to Imire.

On the quite long drive along dusty and bumby roads from Imire to the main highway and in the middle of nowhere (literally) I saw in the distance two small boys holding spades that looked taller than them and showing me how they were filling the potholes. They could not have been more than 10 and I stopped and gave them a $1 each.  They were ecstatic. That scene will be etched in my mind forever.

Mother Rhino (wide-lipped) at Imire with her calf

From there I drove directly to Harare airport to catch my plane to Bulawayo - only a 50 minute flight.

Raymond Roth kindly met me at the airport and took me into town where I stayed at a lovely B&B run by Claire Einhorn called "The Lavender". 

 A quick view of the Lavender B&B run by Claire Einhorn

Bulawayo is much calmer than Harare. It does feel as if it is frozen in time. Less traffic, much wider streets with their trademark dips for storm water drainage and as I mentioned before (!) - most of the traffic lights actually work (am I obsessed with traffic lights?). In Bulawayo the Shabbat Shul service takes place on Friday night and is run by Raymond.  There were seven men in Shul.  I was told that most times there is a minyan. After the service there was a kiddush and I got to meet and talk with the those who attended the service.

I managed to arrange schedules to interview several members who were keen to tell their stories.

After Shul I was kindly invited for a wonderful Friday night dinner at the home of Judy and Raphael Chitrin along with Raymond (his wife Elsa was out of town) as well as the Ross family and Ivor Rubinstein with his daughter Zara.  We had good conversations and I continued to learn about the challenges facing the 30 members of Bulawayo Jewish Community.

Saturday and Sunday was a mixture of interviews and visiting the Shul (previously the Progressive Shul) and taking pictures.  I had morning coffee with Valda Cohen and Judy Chitrin at a cafe which was previously a large Bulawayo home. That was another feature of my visit - discovering how many of the old homes we knew have been converted into businesses (both in Harare and Bulawayo). Some of the homes have been taken down and more modern buildings, mostly offices have replaced them.

Inside the Bulawayo Shul (formerly Progressive Shul) 

I was also fortunate enough to have Ray take me for a few hours to visit Motopos national park which is about 25 kms outside Bulawayo.  What a magic place it still remains.  The majestic outcrops of granite rocks balancing precariously in an apparent "forever" frozen state.   We walked up to see the famous "Worlds View" and the grave of Cecil John Rhodes who founded Rhodesia in the 1890s. The 360 degree views are stunning and excellent summer rains had added a hew of dark green foliage to the white and grey granite rocks.  Memories of previous visits in my childhood and later when we lived in Zimbabwe in the 1990s, came flooding back in warm waves.

Raymond Roth and I at Rhodes's grave - Motopos Feb 2026

On the Monday I visited the Carmel Jewish Primary school and briefly encountered the well mannered students and saw how well the buildings and grounds are kept.   The road leading to the school, however, is in horrific shape with huge potholes and jagged rocks sticking out of the ground. I managed to get a small group of girls to sing a Hebrew song and they chose Hatikva - a rather symbolic choice,  I thought. I was told that the Jewish Community merely rents the building to the board that run the school and that they have chosen to retain its Jewish character to maintain the prestige of the place and differentiate it from other private schools.  Carmel and Sharon (in Harare) are still considered to be amongst the top primary schools in Zimbabwe - a real credit to the ZJC visionaries who built them in the 1960s.

 

Ray took me to the Athlone Jewish Cemetery in Bulawayo with its over 1,250 graves. He rightly takes huge pride in how well the cemetery is maintained.  He showed me the relatively "new section" that had been opened and also a section especially put aside for those who were not Jewish but had strong connections to the Jewish Community e.g. spouses of Jews.

 

Walking through the well kept Bulawayo Jewish Cemetery

I managed to interview several people in Bulawayo and will be editing and publishing those separately.  I met with the President of the Community Josh LePar and was encouraged to see young blood running the show.  We met at his family's well known Arenel sweets and biscuits factory which had been started by his grandfather.

Even with a tiny community of 30  - the Bulawayo community projects resilience and a strong desire to keep things going as best as they can. They certainly convinced me.

I had a couple of hours spare on the Monday morning before leaving Bulawayo and walked down Townsend Rd to visit the Matabeleland Animal Rescue & Equine Sanctury run by Claire Einhorn (my hostess at the B&B). What an inspiring place to visit. She has created an amazing place to house and feed over 120 donkeys, nearly 100 street cats, several horses and other animals. Many of these animals had been saved just before slaughter, found sick or wounded and several donkeys were blind. She has built a very special place to protect these animals and let them live in dignity. Other organisations such as SPCA tend to have a policy of keeping animals for short periods until they are found homes and if that does not succeed they kill the animals. Claire cares for her animals for the span of their natural lives. I will publish a short video I took of the place for you to get a sense of the unique work she and her staff do.

Claire Einhorn explaining the background to her animal shelter

Back to Harare

On the Monday evening I flew back to Harare (FastJet - excellent service) and commenced another round of interviews over the next few days. Those will be published soon.

One afternoon I went out to Wingate Golf club to find it in excellent condition and after some significant alterations.  The main plaques in the entrance continue to provide an important record of the Jewish founders of the club.  Mathias and I had a drink and a plate of hot chips with vinegar which was a real throwback for me to the days when there was also an active tennis and bowls section and even a cricket pitch.  I drove with Mathias to see the old clubhouse to find it still standing but people living in it.

View of the Wingate Golf Club (above) and the original main clubhouse below.

I went to the B.S. Leon Trust home for the retired where I met with Jeanette Kaplan (86) who was my nursery school teacher at the Salmon Margolis Jewish Nursery school in the 1950s. She was a teacher to many generations of young kids in Harare both at that school and the later merged nursery school next to the Sephardic Shul. We had a wonderful chat and I did a short interview with her. The home is kept immacuately and she felt secure and well looked after. The B.S. Leon home is yet another wonderful institution founded by a Jewish philanthropist.

Entrance to the B.S. Leon Retirement Village off Princess Drive.

At the Sharon School I met the headmistress Kim Bizedenhout who told me that the majority non-Jewish board of governors made a choice to retain the Jewish Character of the school as it a) helped to differentiate them in a competitive market of private primary schools b) projected a high standard of academic excellence c) maintained a 60-year legacy of high standards, She said they celebrated all Jewish festivals but no longer taught Hebrew in the school. They did have a Shabbat service every Friday morning.  She invited me to attend the service on the upcoming Friday. The school and its facilities are maintained to immaculately including the swimming pool, tennis courts and the next door Sharon Nursery school which used to be the Youth Centre many years ago.

Kabbalat Shabbat at Sharon School with Yossi Kably talking about parashat hashavua - the giving of the ten commandments.

General experiences

In between various scheduled meetings I had meals and coffee at Cafe de Paris and Nush Cafe (Borrowdale and Avondale) who operate to a high standard of service and could stand anywhere in the world.  Other well known brands such as Nandos, Three Monkeys, Mcdonalds and several Chinese restaurants offer a range of foods. In Bulawayo there are number of cafes and restaurants mainly based in old homes in suburbs such as Khumalo and Suburbs offering an excellent standard of menus.

A quick pan of the Nush Cafe in Borrowdale to get a sense of the restaurant and its clientelle

   February 2026

Zimbabwe is full of contradictions.  You can see people (mostly black) driving around in fancy SUVs, Porches, Jaguars, Mercedes and even a few Feraris; well dressed and eating in top restaurants. Their homes sit on properties of several acres with rolling lawns and beautiful flower beds and they may have several domestic staff living on the premises to see to their every need.  On the other hand, the official unemployment level is around 70-80 percent with the vast majority of people in the informal sector, hustling for a few dollars a day.  At every traffic intersection their are MANY people standing along the lanes trying to sell their wares - from toys to toilet paper. A common feature at these intersections will be a blind person being led by a seeing youngster begging for money.  I mentioned the Mbare "high density" suburb where there are bustling markets selling fruit and clothes. Because Zimbabwe is a USD-based economy - the lowest item you can buy is always linked to 1 USD.  There are no coins. If you want change from a small purchase - the vendor or even a supermarket will offer you another small item in lieu of change.

If you visit Zimbabwe bring lots of small denominations of USD.

I did not engage with any serious political discussions but it is clear that the main ZANU-PF party is still very much in power (since independence in 1980) and the culture strongly remains that those who show allegiance to the party tend to benefit in many ways for their loyalty. I read that parliament was seeking to pass a law that would enable President Mnangagwa to stay in power until 2030. I heard from several people that they are terrified of the CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) that is known for its brutal tactics and intimidation of those who dare to criticize the government. The main newspapers are sycophantic and only the very daring will criticize the government.

Chapungu

I did manage to spend a couple of hours at the Chapungu Shona sculpture garden at Msasa in Harare. I was the only visitor to the expansive gardens with their huge stone sculptures. The managing artist who showed me around said that business was slow, very few tourists and those that came were not buying (including me). The founder Roy Guthrie has passed away and his wife continues to manage the business. It is still a magnificent exhibition of Shona stone culture and creativity and well worth a visit. I was showen a piece he had made which, he said, took a month to make.

A beautiful example of Shona stone sculpture at Chapungu

The Lemba

On one of the last days during my trip I arranged to go out to the Mabelreign  suburb of Harare to meet with the head of the Lemba Community - Moderick Maeresera and I learned of their activities in Zimbabwe. Moderick underwent a Conservative Jewish conversion in the USA and he heads a small community of people who attended Shabbat services. They have siddurim and a Torah (see images below) and at their last service they had 40 people. He told me how the Lemba have a couple of main “factions” - the messianic congregations and his community who are more “orthodox”. There are apparently numerous congregations of both around the country including Masvingo. His community received financial support from Kulanu - an American Jewish organisation that reaches out to and supports “lost tribes”. Moderick makes a living as a building contractor. The house in the picture below is their Shul and Moderick’s family home.

For more background on the Lemba - see https://zjc.org.il/history/lemba/

Moderick proudly showing his Torah donated to the LEMBA community by Kulanu

My last few days were centered around further interviews and visits to ZJC sites like the Sephardic Shul in the "Avenues" and it too is really well maintained by a tiny community. I photographed many plaques recognising key members of the community over the years.  Next door is the Rhodis Community Hall which has held many community events over the years. The pristine kitchen at the hall was the "home" of the famous WIZO ladies like Babs Naim, Anita Price and Rose Leon z"l who volunteered to cater for many events/chaggim.   I could not help but feel a tug and lump in my throat when viewing these places.

View of the Sephardi Shul (above) and the Rhodis Hall kitchen

I also went back to the Pioneer St Cemetery to check on the work done to fix the lettering on my grandparents tombstones and that the grass had been cut.

                                                       

I attended Shul again on the Shabbat before leaving and there were 12 men and 6 women. I felt another lump in my throat as I was called to an Aliyah for the Torah Reading...recalling my own barmitzvah in the old Salisbury St Shul....Rabbi Konviser teaching me to sing my parasha...the Guild Hall...learning to lay tefillin with Julius Melman and Mr Bamburger....my father also had his barmitzvah in the same Shul .....my grandparents Philip and Annie Bloom donated a large library of books to the Shul (I photographed some in the corridor) and had been prominent members in the 1920s-1940s. 

I also managed to spend a few hours at the National Archives in Gunhill to look for records of the Jewish Community.  There were many and I only had time to extract and view a few random examples - one of which I had photocopied. Does anyone recall a small Reform Jewish Community newspaper in the 1970s called Sinai Synagogue Quarterly ? There are copies in the National Archives.  Visiting the archives and finding records was quite an experience in its own right.  Everything is still based on card-based indexing and although I was told they are in the process of computerising it seemed that there were many staff sitting around without much to do. Each time I wanted to extract or copy material I had to go through several clerks, re-enter my name on a form and then proceed to the "accounts" department and pay $1 for each copy to a totally bored woman who was more interested in her smart phone. 

View of the entrance to the National Archives at Gunhill Harare

Wrap up

It was a whirlwind visit of two weeks and I achieved much of what I set out to do.  This summary hopes to give you a sense both in written and visual form of what my experience was like. The Zimbabwean people are lovely and friendly.  I never felt any aggression or heard a raised voice - except from one rather large policewoman who tried to convince my driver Julius that his license is not stuck on the windscreen "correctly" and he should pay a fine. He managed to push back and avoid the fine.

I will post a full Google Photo Album for you to view many other images and will also be publishing the many interviews I did with members of the ZJC (after editing).

The two tiny Jewish Communities in Harare and Bulawayo are proud and resilient.  They are doing the best they can to maintain Jewish life.  They look after the less fortunate, maintain their cemeteries and hold regular Shul Services.  They were also welcoming and warm in receiving my visit and I thank them for that.  We don't know what the future will bring for the ZJC in Zimbabwe but we wish them well and continued strength. 

To see a draft photo and video album of my trip to Zimbabwe - click here. 

I will add and edit more in the coming days and apologies for any typos.

To watch the many interviews I did with members of the ZJC in Harare, Penhalonga and Bulawayo. Go to this link

Please also visit the ZJC facebook group for additional postings and comments from the community.

You can also post a comment at the bottom of this blog.

Dave Bloom

12/2/26