When I visited the old site of the Tengeru Polish refugee camp and
the cemetery recently, I met with two Polish people who stayed
behind in Tanzania, namely Sabina Szeliga and Edward Wojtowicz.
They are both around eighty years old.
Edward supervised the vegetable gardens that provided the camp with
food, making it into a self-reliance operation.
Later he and Sabina ran a successful butchery which was expropriated
by the central government in a wave of nationalisations in the late
sixties. They have continued to trade from their private home in
nearby Arusha until today.
They were left in charge of the Polish Association which was forced
to close down after nearly all Poles left Tanganyika. The Polish
Association owned a house not far from Tengeru, which was handed
over to the R.C. church some 35 years ago and is now occupied by
nuns.
Edward and Sabina also looked after the Polish cemetery at Tengeru
before the Polish embassy in Dar es Salaam took over.
They have quite a few photographs of life in the Tengeru camp,
which, hopefully one day, they will donate to the new museum at
Tengeru.
Sabina has a great knowledge of the Tengeru camp. I have recorded
her story both on audio and video.
Edward pointed out the existence of three interesting books on
Polish deportees, namely:
"Tutacze Dzieci - Exiled Children"
with a foreword by Cardinal Jozef Glemp
published by Fundacja Archiwum Fotograficzne Tulaczy, Warsawa in 1995
ISBN 83-77079-436-X
and-
"Journey Without A Ticket"
by Zdzislawa Krystyna Kawecka in 1998
published by Fine Print (Nottingham) Ltd
ISBN 0-9515883-0-3
and-
"To England thru Siberia"
Z Kresow Wschodnich Rzeczpospolitej
published by Ognisko Rodzin Osadnikow Kresowych in 1992
ISBN 1 872286 33 X
Last but not least:
Edward has lent me an official list published by the Polish Red
Cross in Kenya containing the names of all the Polish refugees who
were sent to Africa, i.e. Tanganyika(Tanzania)-Kenya-Uganda-Northern
Rhodesia(Zambia)-Southern Rhodesia(Zimbabwe) and South Africa, as
well as Palestine, Mexico, and Panchgani, India.
The list contains some 14,300 names, most of them complete with year
of birth and often with the full date.
The list is fragile but the names are perfectly legible.
Because of its size (50 x 31cm) I am unable to scan it.
Can anybody help?
In the meantime, I'll be most willing to check if any person is
mentioned in the list.
When I was in Tanzania, I was told that the Pope had a close
relative in one of the camps in Uganda and when he visited the
country made a special pilgrimage to a grave there.
Can anybody shed light on this?
