When I first arrived in 1967 to work on Kenworth Trucks at Smith & Youngson in Lusaka, I was called into the Forman's office on my first day to get my instructions.. His name was Stuart Littlejohn and he came from Aberdeen. I nodded intelligently as he rattled on but I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
As I left the office, a Zambian followed me who had heard the conversation. I asked him if he knew what I had to do and he replied "Yes, Bwana Steve, he wants you to check out a Kenworth' gearbox which is giving a problem"
The Zambian's name was Tambrush and from then on he became my interpreter until I learnt braw Aberdeen. It turned out that he had been the Foreman's spanner boy for many years and now he was a very competent mechanic.