This house, Shiwa Ngandu, was built by Stewart Gore-Browne, a British colonial who came to what was then Northern Rhodesia to fulfil a dream, and ended up playing a major role in the territory's peaceful transition to independence as the nation of Zambia.
The introduction to The Africa House tells how the author, Christina Lamb, came to visit Shiwa Ngandu, and how she pieced together the story of the man who built this bit of England in Africa. It's a fascinating start to a fascinating tale.
The story of Gore-Browne's life is divided into two parts -- 1914 to 1927, the year he married the daughter of his first love, and 1927 to 1967, the year of his death. It's not an A to Z of Gore-Brown's life, rather a collection of the most interesting or significant events. This is frustrating in places as it leaves you wanting to know more; but it also means you don't have to plough to the meaningless minutae of Gore-Browne's life.
Gore-Browne first came to Africa to work for the Britain's Border Commission, which he found "far too bureaucratic and tied up with the petty egos of other officers." He was dismissed from the Border Commission for "'wilful disobedience', after he had complained about Major Steel, his superior, cheating the natives out of their final wages and refused to do the same." He then headed into Northern Rhodesia, where he'd heard the British South Africa Company was making land available cheaply to white settlers. At Shiwa Ngandu Lake he found "the loveliest thing in all of Africa, my own personal paradise," the place he would make home.
The First World War held up his plans for a while, but in 1920 he started building his dream house, a three-week trek away from the nearest railway station. In 1927 he returned to England to find a wife, then settled down to build his estate and make it profitable. He gradually became more and more involved in the region's politics to the extent that, when he died at the age of 84, he received both a state funeral and a chief's burial by the local Bemba elders. The service was attended by President Kenneth Kaunda and other government officials and broadcast to the nation on state television and radio.
In the National Museum in Lusaka, Zambia, there's a battered bowler hat, walking stick and ink-bottle on display with the label "Stewart Gore-Browne: A White Man who supported the Independence Movement." This book will go a long way to ensuring that the significance of his life is more widely appreciated.
The Africa House is published by Penguin, ISBN 0-140-26834-0.
