What Canadians Could Offer the People of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe got their independence in 1980, and at the time, well we know the history, and at the time it was a (inaudible), a white government, you know. In the air force, it was an all white air force, but there were very few blacks in their air force, you know. And I think at the time nobody knew which way the country would go, so Canada as well as the US, putting out feelers, saying “Well look now, this is the sort of training that we can offer your people.” And in the air force in particular, I think the idea was that we should show them their doctors, they had no doctors trained in aviation medicine. When the pilots had to do that sort of training, like had to do training they’d go down to South Africa, you see. But they had nobody, nobody from Zimbabwe who was trained in aviation medicine. So really I was sent there to assist them in this particular field also assist in the clinical work and more or less show them, well look, this is what we can offer you in Canada. But as always happens, by the time I got there, there was an American air force doctor who out-ranked me, and he was offering them the same training. And in fact what actually happened was that initially some of them did go to the States and get the same training. The Americans, they wouldn’t give them the same training that they would offer their people or that we would get if we went down there, but they got something, you know, they would copy together a course for them. So in that particular fact I was seconded to an organization called Canadian Executive Service Overseas and they then sent me to Zimbabwe under their hospices.