I feel there is no long term future for the white man in this country unless he learns to live comfortably with the black. To that end, I find myself more and more interested in the education of the black instead of white. Letter from John Hammond, Plumtree, Rhodesia 1935 Beloved African is a powerful love story, tested and strengthened in adversity. John Hammond was one of Rhodesia's great educators - beloved by black and white alike. The pivotal role he played in early African education in that country is woven against a backdrop of increasing tension as he strode an increasingly political stage - fighting for the time he needed to educate his pupils to a point where they would be in a position to lead the new Zimbabwe with wisdom and integrity. The story draws on the author's mother Nancy Hammond's precise memory for detail, on hundreds of letters written and lovingly preserved since the early 1900s as well as on a series of tape recordings with John, the Beloved African, 18 months before his death in South Australia in 1996. The agonies of what subsequently occurred and the effect it had on John are described with candour and clarity. The book gives a not always popular view of what life was like to those who were determined to try and find answers but whose efforts were so often thwarted by political duplicity.
Jill Baker spent her childhood in Matebeleland, daughter of a man dedicated to African education and Principal of three leading African schools. Her adult life on a farm was brought to an abrupt end with the unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) from Britain in 1965 and she worked for the next 18 years as a journalist, news and documentary presenter and producer in television and radio. She emigrated to Australia to run a radio station and open her own business consultancy and her first book, Beloved African, a biography of her father's life, was published in 2000.
