Lisette Moulinie

What a wonderful surprise reading all the memories of school life in Arusha"

The tortoise was my silent witness to all those anxious thoughts and fears of the tacky and the innocent errors in judgement mentioned by Andy Hannah.

I think of an Italian girl (possibly Andrea?) whose cries we heard as we cringed in our beds while she got the tacky for daring to use the toilet after 'lights out.' Where was the logic? So, we wet the bed and that was OK?

Even lovable Miss Jewell, gave the tacky to 3 girls who filled their skirts with the beautiful jacaranda blossoms and lay in wait behind a tree to surprise her with a tribute of showering petals. I missed the punishment only because I was late to the surprise event.

I was in love with Huw Jones ;) and would beg off those Sunday afternoon walks to play cricket with him"Would love to know how he is�His Father was so sweet. I was in Huw's class and I believe his Dad taught French and would ask me to pronounce the words for the class (we spoke French at home).

There was Margaret in the front of the class who had the most infectious giggle" Bryn Jones would say, 'Now, who's tickling Maggie�' leading to another 5 minutes of hysterical giggles.

Who was the strict head matron who always did those frightful tapestries".her houseboy was not to be trusted around little girls and on one errand to her flat I discovered the speed with which I could descend the stairs.

Who was the music teacher with the blue rinse and glass eye who taught knitting?

The beautiful pianist with the perfect french roll hairdo.

The kitchen lady�very stern, who picked up all the bread crusts from under the table one night and had them displayed to us by Mr. Hampshire. What a lecture that was.

I too remember the 3 elephants from the John Wayne film who were brought to the field. A few were chosen to ride then they turned on the sprinklers so that the elephants could play. We also stood along the side of the road to watch the filming in action.

Some names of students I remember: Huw Jones, Birgit Lund of Moshi where I too spent Half Term, Giles Dingwall, Lesley Truesdale and Katherine Tregarthen whose Mum was gorgeous and brought us lollies at the Sanitorium.

Love your website...a healing experience.

I've spent hours discovering the various messages, photos.

I recognized and remembered Jane Holton from her photo, and Marjorie as well.

I remember the school photo, and the discipline it took to get us all to sit still and squeeze in! I am in the 2nd row, 5th from the right with short brown hair.

If Karsten Lund reads this, I would love to have his sister, Birgit's contact information.

Also David Holmes -- a family friend--who lost a shoe out of the train window on the trip to Arusha. I would get on, I believe in Morogwe at 10 pm and we'd arrive at 1 PM the next day. The highlight of the trip was anticipating the bathing villagers in the rivers along the way.

Someone mentioned an earthquake in 1963, after my time. There was another one in 1956 thru 59 because in the long dormitory, with the highly polished floor, when we awoke in the morning our beds had slid across the room and were quite out of order--slippers everywhere. We were fascinated.

I often think of the matron waking us up very early, carrying her little alcohol jar of thermometers as she walked from one bed to another popping in the thermometer, shaking it down, while her shoes squeaked on the polished floor. She always seemed to find one child with a fever.

There was an annual event, possibly sports day, when there was a parents race. One Mum was tall and ran really fast and always won the race.

And later: (4th March)

Lisette Moulinie is the way I was known at Arusha School.

I have gleaned some answers to my own questions from your website since I wrote"

Mrs White was the music teacher with the blue rinse hairdo.

I believe Leslie's surname was Teasdale and she came from Moshi.

I have actually connected with Birgit Lund this past week and look forward to continuing our relationship after 50 years!

I live in California, a long way from Arusha, and work as an Occupational Health Nurse in the semi-conductor industry. Thank you again for maintaining such a wonderful website.