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Gerald Raath
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Gerald Raath
| House: |
Nicholson |
| Year: |
1964-1967 |
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I grew up on several farms close to Eldoret, Kenya where I was born and had my primary school education as a border at the
Hill School, Eldoret. My father was a farm manager and moved around several times with his work. Attending Prince of
Wales was daunting for me as I was rather small for my 13 years of age and the other guys were not exactly friendly to
anyone. I remember being told I would serve as rabble first to Ian Silver then to Thande who were 6th form prefects.
Silver was as mean and unreasonable a person as I have ever met. I had to run his bath, wash and iron his clothes,
make his bed, etc. He would often mistreat me after drinking in the prefect’s common room so I was glad to be transferred
to rabble for Thande for a couple of years as he was more human. The Housemaster, Rev Peter Davies, heard I was good
with horses so he asked (ordered?) me to train and check out their Shetland Pony for suitability for their kids to ride.
Needless to say I am convinced the animal was completely psychotic as it took off with me hanging on bucking wildly and
crashing through a barbed wire fence before depositing me on the ground. Rev Davies I was convinced hated me and one
day called me into his office for cuts (again). He threatened me with my life if I didn’t knuckle down and work hard
as in his opinion I was slacking off. It worked and that year I got a cup for my improved Latin marks.
I left Nairobi School prematurely to help my father on the cattle ranch. I subsequently worked as a trainee ranch manager
for the East African Wattle Company at their Soy Estates cattle ranch which I enjoyed thoroughly. Learned much about
cattle as I personally had to learn to dehorn, brand, castrate, vaccinate, medically treat and even perform minor
surgical operations among my many duties. As a young 21 year old I decided that cattle farming would trap me and as
I had an adventurous spirit I needed to be free to travel so I decided the time had come to move on.
I left Kenya in 1971, emmigrating to South Africa where I lived until moving once again to Canada in 1999 with my wife,
Glynda, and four children. In Canada we have worked in a franchising business since 1999. See
www.sureslim.ca
We were able to make several trips to Kenya over the past years mainly as a tourist to the wildlife areas of Masai Mara,
Samburu and Tsavo. My son Rowan and I hitch hiked (mainly using public transport) to Kenya from South Africa over a
3 month period in 1992 and afterward I did 2 more trips in my Land Rover via Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia & Tanzania.
Taking photos on the Tazara train in Dar es Salaam was a scary moment for my 12 year old son Rowan when he was stormed
and roughed up by a dozen Tanzanian soldiers being accused of spying for South Africa. My still fairly fluent Swahili
allowed a suitable bribe to be negotiated for his release.
We have been privileged over the years since leaving Kenya to travel to numerous countries around the world and
had too many adventures to count. I will relate two of the more exciting trips here:
In 1992, our Landy caught fire in the Kalahari near Nxai Pan, Botswana. Being miles from any used roads and having
used all our water to try and extinguish the fire my 2 children and I were forced to walk 35 km in search of help and
water. In a severely dehydrated state after 1½ days we eventually came across a safari vehicle who rescued us and
took us to a village at Nata 200km away.
A few weeks later the small mono hull yacht we were in was knocked down in a 70 knot hurricane 30 miles off the
Mozambique coast. Having lost our steering, sails, rudder and all electronic navigation equipment we were battered
around relentlessly for 3 days bailing the water which almost sunk us before being able to limp to Richards Bay.
Visiting Nairobi School in 1996 was quite something. It was strange to see the old Nicholson House buildings, classrooms
(with the temporary prefab ones still going), chapel and sports fields that seemed less grand than I remembered them.
It seemed that the honours boards in the main School entrance hall recording the Heads of School from my day
seemed so far back. I guess 40 years later is 'far back'!
I would like to thank Roderick Butler, Dave & Hettie Tooley, Vic Baxter, Stephen Njiro, Jules Sylvester and the
others from my time at Prinso who took time to exchange emails with me. I would like to know what happened to
Dave Masheder, Reed, Oguk, Mike Orphee, James and Charles Wheeler and many others whose names are dimmed by time.
1972 - Gerald Raath newly arrived in South Africa
1991 - Gerald Raath game viewing in Botswana
1992 - Gerald Raath lost his 'Landy' in a fire in Botswana
1994 - Gerald Raath with AK47, Mozambique
2001 - Gerald Raath and son, Rowan
2005 - Gerald Raath rafting in Utah, USA
2005 - Gerald Raath on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
2005 - Gerald Raath on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
2005 - Gerald Raath
2006 - Gerald Raath on the Jasper Ice Fields
2006 - Gerald Raath in Alaska
2007 - Gerald Raath with Rhino horn and dart gun, south Africa
(Registered - 15th January 2003 & updated 20th February 2007)
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If anyone wishes to contact Gerald, please e-mail webmaster@oldcambrians.com
to obtain his contact details
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