The Last of the White Ants

About the Book

The book opens with a young man applying for and obtaining a post in the Colonial Civil Service in Nyasaland (now called Malawi) a few years after the end of the Second World War. The long and memorable journey from Britain by boat, train and truck was shared by three other recruits destined for employment in Zomba, Nyasaland. Before he left Britain, the main character in the book, Sinclair Brown, had some doubts about the value of colonialism. These doubts increased as he worked, played and loved through the ten years leading up to Independence. The story is focused on the British Overseas Civil Servants who made up 99% of the white population of Zomba . It is about relationships, the work arena and social events that are woven into the relentlessly growing and threatening political power of President Banda. It is a light, easy-to-read book but it has been written as a public acknowledgement and perhaps memorial to the magnificent British Civil Servants who carried the Union Jack into the heat and dust of Africa. Was it all worth it? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the dedication and belief of those valiant men and women must never be under-estimated or forgotten.

About the Author

Patricia Shelagh Pink, born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, was educated at a variety of British schools during the Second World War. Her hopes to proceed to University were thwarted by the priority given to returning soldiers, and instead she studied at a secretarial college, and then the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, where she studied typography and layout. She then worked for A & C Black, publishers in Soho Square, for five years and eventually ran their education department's advertising and promotions. She married Ken Bean in 1952 and had two sons, and together they travelled to Rhodesia in 1958. Three years later, her husband's work took him to Nyasaland, and the family moved with him. Pattie was appointed Publications Officer to the Ministry of Information and was seconded to the Extension Aids Branch of the Department of Agriculture, where she became responsible for the technical production of the monthly magazine, Farm News, together with leaflets, posters, technical books and grass roots training material. She also designed mobile puppet theatres and carried out visual perception research in collaboration with Kenya and the Audio-Visual Aids Centre in London. She was also responsible for the design of the Ministry of Natural Resources show stands at the 1963 Lilongwe Agricultural Show and the 1964 International Independence Trade Fair in Blantyre.

After leaving Malawi in 1969, now with four children, she returned to Salisbury, Rhodesia and worked as a Production Manager and Account Executive in three major Advertising Agencies. In 1982 she opened her own Public Relations business and for the next twenty years she specialised in scripting, producing and presenting film series for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and corporate films for industry and commerce. She also produced and presented a number of radio series and programmes.

Pattie married Norman Pink in 1983 and they now live in Verwood in East Dorset. Between them, they share six children and twelve grandchildren, spread over Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland, France and England.