Aba, Belgian Congo - January 8, 1946

This letter is just a fragment, from Coralee to the girls. We are missing any pages beyond the first...  

Dear girls,

I'll send some Bangala letters along and also one I received from Frieda.

Daddy, Mary and Miss Lutz left this morning with Mr. Brandt for the Bangala Conference. So tonight I am all alone on the hill. Even the strong gara[1] wind died down this evening and it seems so still and sultry.  Maybe it will rain.

Orange bougainvillea
watercolor by Sydney Parkinson, 
1768, in Brazil while traveling with
Captain Cook on the Endeavor. 

Some odd details you'll be interested in.  The dead branch is still hanging in the eucalyptus tree, the one Eddie and Daddy tried to get down.  Nearly all my rose bushes have died. I brought cuttings from Rethi and I think one or two will grow.  Oh, yes, the first night after we left Orlando we stayed in a tourist home where the lady had a lot of cactus. She gave me slips of several... I passed them on to Mother Schuit. But one called an ice plant I brought. It suffered much enroute but it is growing. It makes me think of you and Florida. I was so interested in what you wrote about the orange bougainvillea. Wish I had one. I'd especially like a white one. The gold shower is simply beautiful these hot days.  There is a bouquet here on the desk...















FOOTNOTE
1.  The gara wind is a strong north wind from the desert, very hot and dry.  Mom also remembers the east wind, which is the one that brought the locusts. She remembers seeing a great dark cloud of them coming relentlessly towards Aba.