- I have been meaning to contact the second man from left, Dr. Hosea Macha. I picked up the picture because of him. (6 may 2007: there is now a whole story to tell about Hosea and his son Freddie.)
- After I had this picture in my hand I learned about the two other white people in the picture.
This picture was not in the two picture albums of their time in Tanganyika. It was loose in a box with pictures from all parts of the 20th century. I think it is a copy.I know well the story of the man next to Dad (far right) , Dr Hosea Macha, being my brother Don's baptismal sponsor. He was then a medical student at Bumbuli Medical Assistant School, ten years before Tanganyika's independence. Don met Dr. Macha in 1970 on his first visit after HS graduation. This reunion was a good story as Don is 6ft 6 inches and Dr Macha announced to waiting patients that he held this kid at his baptism. The waiting patients had a good laugh. I have always been intrigued by this student that my father chose to be baptismal sponsor for his son, and have always asked other doctors where he is. So I put the picture aside (okay I stole it without permission).
A few days passed and I picked up the picture one morning and noticed the fine handwriting on the bottom and top of the picture. Mom could write very very small, she did this out of frugality. She didn't want to waste space or ink. I didn't even see the handwriting when I first stumbled on the picture.
If you have good eyes you can read the writing. If not click on the picture, or take my word for it.
The first name is Mrs Friberg. Huh! At first I think it is Dr. Steve Friberg's mother, then I realize it has to be his grandmother! Steve and his family are undoubtedly the family we are closest to as a whole family after Bernice's immediate family. So it took a generation to get back together it seems. I thought that was very cool and now the picture was definitely a keeper. I had no idea that my parents knew Steve's grandmother.
Below in the middle are Mrs Fribergs great grandchildren with their good friends and our neighbor.
A few days later and Don's sister in law Lori (and my friend since High School, and girlfriend in High School) comes around to check out the oak kitchen table. I show her the picture and explain how cool it is that 35 years later Steve and I meet without knowing of any previous family ties and become friends. I show her the small handwriting and Lori says "who is Pastor Cunningham?" I put on my reading glasses and sure enough the old white guy in the middle is another friend's grandfather! So I have a picture that ties two of my friends to another generation.
This is Pastor Cunningham's great granddaughter and her Dad.
And another great granddaughter Nasha.
A year later I noticed that Mom didn't put in one of the two student's names. I ponder the implications of that and came up with they were Dad's students and how could she remember the name. My siblings all know the name Hosea Macha. I know the name Hosea my whole life but not the Europeans in the picture. Sijui.
For fun here is a picture of my family 3 years or so before I was born, taken somewhere in the Usambara Mountains above the village of Bumbuli where Don was born.
And here is the letter mom wrote in 1953 after his birth.
Typical of my parents that my dad have mom administer her own anesthetic.
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