Simon & the abandoned dog Buster (also known as 'Pasta' !) who he loved & fed back to health over 5 years ago - you rarely see them apart !
Simon is a true gem of a person, a simple man who's richness lies within - he could teach a few people a thing or two about the true meaning of life and happiness and I only wish that there were more people like him in this world !
Buster and Simon are inseparable, and Buster accompanies Simon to work each dayI thought that it was about time that I introduced you to Simon – our askari (security guard) who has worked for my husband and I for the past 8 years – he moved to this farm with us from the old one in early 2005 and is an absolute gem. He is one of those *rare* & special people, with an incredible & colourful past (shhhhh …. some of it I cannot tell ;) and an amazing outlook on life.
I think I have waited so long to tell you about him, because his story is a long one – heck, I could even start a whole blog JUST about Simon, there is just so much to tell about him !
Simon is a complete and utter animal lover and call me judgemental if you will, but I firmly believe in the saying ‘A man’s soul can be judged by the way in which he treats his dog’.
Simon is wise, strict, loyal and has a great sense of humour – oh, and did I also mention that he is a complete eccentric ?! Which is probably one of the reasons why I like him so much ;) ha ha … He also plays the harmonica at sunset each day, but is limited to ‘Silent Night’ & ‘Jingle Bells’ … which is great during the month of December, and not so great during the other 11 months of the year ! (His old harmonica broke one day, and I made the mistake of buying him an ‘upgraded’ harmonica when I was in the UK a few years ago – oops ! But you know what ? I did it because I know how much joy it brings him, his harmonica is one of his only little ‘luxuries’ in life).
Most people here have askari’s – they are basically your eyes and ears and you usually have both day time & night time askari. They patrol your property, open the gate for you when you drive in and out, welcome guests who come to visit you & let you know when they arrive, light the boiler for the hot water for your house, warn you of any impending ‘danger’ .. like ‘Mama, the elephant are back on the farm today’ or ‘Mama, the dogs have jumped over the fence & are chasing the tractor’ or ‘Mama, the gardener is sleeping underneath the avocado tree at the bottom of the garden’ … you get the picture ! They may or may not be armed and of course, if anyone tries to break in to your property they are supposed to protect you & raise the alarm.
It’s not that we need 24 hour protection, I think it’s more like a tradition here (most business and shops in the local towns and cities employ askari, too) and it is also a way to provide more people with employment and an income.
Your askari are basically your eyes and your ears, and there are 2 things I have come to realise after working with them for over 12 years now -:
- All askari sleep on duty from time-to-time (no matter what they tell you !)
I think I have waited so long to tell you about him, because his story is a long one – heck, I could even start a whole blog JUST about Simon, there is just so much to tell about him !
Simon is a complete and utter animal lover and call me judgemental if you will, but I firmly believe in the saying ‘A man’s soul can be judged by the way in which he treats his dog’.
Simon is wise, strict, loyal and has a great sense of humour – oh, and did I also mention that he is a complete eccentric ?! Which is probably one of the reasons why I like him so much ;) ha ha … He also plays the harmonica at sunset each day, but is limited to ‘Silent Night’ & ‘Jingle Bells’ … which is great during the month of December, and not so great during the other 11 months of the year ! (His old harmonica broke one day, and I made the mistake of buying him an ‘upgraded’ harmonica when I was in the UK a few years ago – oops ! But you know what ? I did it because I know how much joy it brings him, his harmonica is one of his only little ‘luxuries’ in life).
Most people here have askari’s – they are basically your eyes and ears and you usually have both day time & night time askari. They patrol your property, open the gate for you when you drive in and out, welcome guests who come to visit you & let you know when they arrive, light the boiler for the hot water for your house, warn you of any impending ‘danger’ .. like ‘Mama, the elephant are back on the farm today’ or ‘Mama, the dogs have jumped over the fence & are chasing the tractor’ or ‘Mama, the gardener is sleeping underneath the avocado tree at the bottom of the garden’ … you get the picture ! They may or may not be armed and of course, if anyone tries to break in to your property they are supposed to protect you & raise the alarm.
It’s not that we need 24 hour protection, I think it’s more like a tradition here (most business and shops in the local towns and cities employ askari, too) and it is also a way to provide more people with employment and an income.
Your askari are basically your eyes and your ears, and there are 2 things I have come to realise after working with them for over 12 years now -:
- All askari sleep on duty from time-to-time (no matter what they tell you !)
- Your askari know all your secrets, & know lots of personal things which go on in your life – whether you think they do, or not (like how many nights ‘bwana’ was made to sleep on the veranda with the dogs in our pre married, pre children days when living in the city of Arusha & he came home at 3 am in the morning after being out on a ‘boys night’ ….ha !)
Simon first started out as a farm askari when we were running an 11 000 acre (no, that is not a typo !) farm in a very remote part of Tanzania. Hubby came home one day & said to me ‘I’ve found a guy who I think will make a good askari. I asked him to start work at 5 pm, but he said he would have to make it 6 pm as 5 pm is when he feeds his chickens & settles them down IN HIS HOUSE for the night ! Well, I knew then and there that Simon and I would get along just fine !
A few weeks later, hubby was called out in the middle of the night as someone was trying to steal diesel (which is more valuable than gold here in Africa) up at the workshop. Simon had caught the culprit and was in full camouflage gear … complete with painted face, tree branches attached to his hat & leopard crawling along the floor. Over the years he continued to do this out in the farm fields at night etc – catching people siphoning diesel out of the combines parked in the fields at night … always in full camouflage and always leopard crawling, working alone and catching the thieves one by one.
When we moved to this farm, there was no question that Simon was going to let us go without him. We left him on the old farm and a few weeks later he arrived at the new farm (with all his chickens in a huge box beside him !), saying that he’d transferred himself here and which house at staff quarters would be his ? When hubby explained that the farm already employed it’s own askari, Simon simply said ‘Oh well, then I’ll just have to become your house askari, then’. And so he did !
Simon and Justin (who you can read about over here) have a ‘love hate’ relationship. Justin was devastated a few years ago, when he popped back to the house at around 10 pm one night as he needed to urgently tell me something, and Simon refused to let him in the main gate ‘Because Bwana said that I must let NO ONE into the garden after dark’ and proceeded to point a gun at his chest ! (Goodness, it took me a while to smooth THAT one over !) Oh my, I could write another blog all about the Simon & Justin love/hate thing as they are always accusing each other of things – but when the chips are down, they stick together and put on a united front.
When we first moved to this farm, I found a hungry, sickly dog living off the rubbish dumps on the brink of starvation. Imagine my shock to learn that the dog had belonged to the previous farm manager here, who had simply left him behind when he moved. I was LIVID …. especially since the previous farm manager was a self proclaimed devout Christian and had left farming so that he could focus on his religion full time – and sorry, in my book that is NO way to treat a dog, and at the very least you should 'practice what you preach' ! (Said manager returned to visit us several years later and I gave him a piece of my mind about the dog – in front of a dinner table full of guests - as hubby kicked me under the table whilst almost choking on his food he was so embarrassed at my little outburst/lecture– but I have never been one to keep my mouth shut !)
Anyway, the dog’s name was Buster and we took him under our wing and fed and loved him back to what he is today, and Simon decided that he would ‘adopt’ Buster & although I help him with medicine, some food etc Buster lives with him and is cared for by him and comes to work with him every day and now – over 5 years later – is as happy and healthy as can be and the two of them are inseparable. Simon has never been able to get the name ‘Buster’ though, so he calls him ‘Pasta’ and I’ve had several people talking to me about ‘that sweet dog Pasta who belongs to your askari, Simon’ and I always have a little chuckle at that !
Buster was sick a while ago and was at the vet’s for a few days & Simon was beside himself, the staff were teasing him and saying ‘You don’t have a wife old man, that is your problem – how can you miss a dog ?!’ Simon does have a few children and his youngest, a daughter, we have helped with school fees and things over the years and Simon has been eternally grateful to us.
Simon now does a lot of work for my husband on the farm in a more senior position (he is in charge of issuing diesel, for example and also oversees the farm chemical/insecticide stocks) & generally bosses all the other staff around and catches anyone caught stealing.
He has more than proved his worth over the years & he is just such a character, the things he says and does often have me in tears (of laughter or frustration, or both !) and I could honestly write a whole blog about him. But one thing’s for sure …. he is one of those rare gems one finds in life, a really wise man with a heart of gold - and my life is all the more richer for knowing him. (Even with 12 months of ‘Jingle Bells’ each year !)
