A Rhodesian tale

Una Osborne, née Brodziak, was born in Johannesburg in 1935. Her family moved to the pretty Southern Rhodesian town of Bulawayo in 1947.

Una Osborne

Here she attended various schools before completing the Cambridge School Leaving Certificate at Townsend High School. She subsequently completed a secretarial course and started working for a local estate agent.

She and Roy Osborne were married in 1956. He worked in his father's car dealership in Bulawayo.

The couple moved to Salisbury (now Harare) in 1958. Here Una gave birth to their son and a daughter. They set up a furniture refurbishment business and later sold it to start an antique furniture shop.

After the Southern Rhodesian  general election in February 1980, which was won by the ZANU-PF party, the country was renamed Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe became the Prime Minister and his government mismanaged the economy to such an extent that their inflation rate eventually reached an astronomical 80 billion percent!

This had a devastating effect on their savings which, to all intents and purposes, soon became worth virtually nothing.

They sold their property in Bulawayo and, after a brief stay on a game farm in the Messina district, the couple moved to Bela-Bela where Roy became ill and passed away in 2009.

"With the Lord's guidance," Una said, "I was able to rent unit 24, Warmbad Renaissance, and moved in in 2009. I have made many good friends in the village. People here are very warm and friendly."

Una plays bowls three times a week and is involved in the activities of the local Methodist Church.

Her son lives in America and her daughter, in Australia. She has 3 grandchildren.

"I have had an ordinary, but eventful life," this charming woman said cheerfully, despite experiencing heartbreak and missing her children and grandchildren very much.