India & Africa - the early years
India - Ballet. “Buzz off, little bee’.
Holidays in Kashmir - riding my pony, Chocolate.
The annual Christmas photo in front of the house with six of our eight servants.
India
I was born in India to Austrian and Australian parents, and spent part of my early childhood in what was then the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Birthday parties with elephants and holidays on houseboats are among my earliest recollections of my childhood in India. Colourful and exotic, to me, India was a child’s paradise.
With my big sister, Anne
My father taught me to ride my bike.
Elisabethville - the last picnic
That’s our green Taunus behind the barrier.
The Belgian Congo
Growing up in a French-speaking environment, surrounded by different cultures and landscapes shaped my sense of curiosity and adaptability from an early age.
Moving to Elisabethville in what was then the Belgian Congo (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was a big change.
I remember my first day at school. I couldn’t understand or speak a word of French. I felt a sense of horror when my teacher at the convent gestured that I stand up in front of the class - probably to introduce me. Terrified, I had wound my feet around the legs of my chair and didn’t know how to tell her my legs had gone to sleep and I couldn’t get up. I burst into tears: a universal language that needs no words.
I adapted and learned a new way of life.
During the bloody Independence, we managed to escape to Rhodesia as refugees (now known as Zimbabwe). My father stayed behind. We left the refugee camp when a family generously invited us to stay with them for three months until my father joined us. These were terrifying times.
I loved being tickled by my father.
Sisters
Family portrait.
Dux of my year at Institut Marie-José - accepting my prize from Monseigneur.