Zambia World Wide

Again they motioned us back to the car, and I realized then from the language they were speaking, that they were Congolese. While we were walking towards the car, I took Mrs. Engelbrechts hand, and she said “Oh Mrs. Gammon, what can we do?” and I said “There is nothing we can do but pray Mrs. Engelbrecht, because they are going to kill us”. I suddenly realized that the children would be wondering why I hadn’t come back to the house, and I pleaded with them to let me go back to my own house as there were two little ones there and they would be frightened, and all the time I was trying to talk as loudly as I could hoping Lyndy would realize something was wrong and would try and get help.

By now all five men were with Mrs. Engelbrecht and I and were pushing and shoving us towards her back door, the language they were all using to us was appalling, and appeared to be the only English words they knew well. There was no sign of the two dogs and I thought they had both been killed already. All five men accompanied us into the house, through the small kitchen and lounge, and along the passage into the main bedroom. Two of the men then smashed the lock on the built-in cupboard and pulled everything off the shelves and the hangers. We were both made to sit on the floor with our backs against the tallboy. As we came into the bedroom, the T.V. in the room was on and a Zambian announcer was giving the news. The big man, who appeared to be the leader, walked up to the T.V. and pulled the plug out, saying as he did so “Shut up you Zambian Bastard”. He kept on saying to us “Money, big money” and eventually I told him that I never kept money in my house, and that pay day at the Mill was only on the 28^th, but he ignored me and kept asking Mrs. Engelbrecht. She eventually told him where she kept the key of her safe, and he opened it and took out a wad of notes. I believe about K600, and there was also some jewellery which he took too. He had already taken her gold watch off her arm, and the silver watch, cigarette lighter and glasses from Mr. Engelbrecht. My Mothers ring was on my wedding finger, but as it had slipped around to the back of my finger it looked as if I was wearing a broad wedding ring, and they made no attempt to remove it from my hand. I was not wearing my watch as the strap was broken.

After they had piled all the clothing and linen onto the double bed and had wrapped it up in the bedding, all of them left us and went back into the lounge, and I decided I would try and get away to my own home and raise a warning. I ran along the passage and through the lounge, but one of the men saw me go and chased after me. In my confusion I ran straight into the garden hedge and he caught me up. He hit me with the barrel end of his gun over my left eye and threw me to the ground. He tried to kick me in the stomach but I rolled over and instead I was kicked in my right side. I then heard Lyndy calling in the distance “Mummy, Where are you, what’s wrong?” and I shouted out as loud as I could “Run, Lyndy run”. I then heard guns going off and several shots were fired and I thought that they had shot my child.

Two men brought Mrs. Engelbrecht out of her house, and then one disappeared and she and I were taken over to my house by the two men who were left. I didn’t know what had happened to the other two men, but I thought they were still in the Engelbrechts house. We were taken along the road around the circle and up my driveway towards my back door. The kitchen door was open and the light streaming out lighting up the breezeway and the car, and they must have thought that someone was waiting in the kitchen for them, as they suddenly pushed us into the garden at the left side of the house and along the path around to the front entrance.