Basic HTML Version
to get a Little sleep and to write a co–
worker letter and part of an article.
Mr. Rader had needed to be in
Washington, D.C., and so had gone
on ahead by commercial fught. He
and Mrs. Rader were already in
Rome awaiting us. With me on this
long, overnight fught were my
daughter, Beverly (Mrs. Gott), and
Ramona Martín.
We spent Sunday in Rome and
Monday drove out to a hotel and
spa, about 2'h hours' automobi le
drive north of Rome in a va!ley sur–
rounded by mountains.
It
is one of
the oldest spas in the world, 2,000
years or more, with sulfuric springs
providing an excellent location for a
health and weight-reducing spa.
Beverly and
J
were each about 10
pounds overweight and Ramona
somewhat more than that. M
r.
and
Mrs. Rader remained in Rome, and
before we left for South Africa Mrs.
Rader flew commercial back home.
From this spa I continued writing
and telephoned in a co-worker letter
and possibly an article for
The P/ain
Truth.
Ramona remained at this
spa. Beverly and I joined Mr. Rader
in Rome and flew on to Johannes–
burg.
Our schedule called for leaving
Rome a few days after arrival there
on October 22, but the summit
meeting with heads of state at Ge–
neva required the presence of Jan
Smith, the prime minister of Rho–
desia, so the four- or five-day sched–
ule for Salisbury, Rhodesia, was
canceled, and Beverly and
J
stayed
on at the spa during those days.
Mr. Rader, Beverly and
J
made
the long flight from Rome to Johan–
nesburg, making fuel stops at Cairo
and Nairobi on Sunday, November 7.
I was able to get more writing
done on the flight. We arrived Sun–
day night at Johannesburg and were
met at the airport, worn and fa–
tigued, by staff members from our
office.
Monday we had an open day to
rest up for a very arduous four-week
schedule of meetings, campaigns,
speeches, dinners, etc. , all over
South Africa. Also, I managed to get
more writing done at the hotel on
articles, leaving one .long article at
our office to be Telexed or tele–
phoned in to Pasadena.
On Tuesday, November 9, we
24
fiew over to a country we had never
before visited, Swaziland. Luggage
call was at 7:30 a.m. (our crew
picked up our luggage about 2'h
hours before actual takeotf time at
the airport). We (passengers) leave
an hour or so later after we arrive at
the airport , go through immigration
and a re taken to our plane. All is
ready for takeotf as soon as our pi–
lots receive the call by phone "No–
vember Triple-One Alpha Charlie
cleared for takeol:f."
At the airport in Swaziland we
were greeted by many offi.cials and
loaded into waiting cars and driven
to a very nice hotel, the Royal
Swaziland Hotel and Spa. O ur
takeoff time at Johannesburg that
morning was 9:45 a .m., arrival in
Swaziland 10:30.
At 12:30 we departed for the pal–
ace. We drove through two sets of
armed gates manned by bright ly
uniformed guards which opened for
us upon identification and drove
along a beautiful , tree-lined prívate
roadway to the palace. At a simple
frame building
1
was ushered in, the
others following behind me into the
throne room, which would have
been the parlor if it were a resi–
dence.
King In Tribal Dress
The king is now 76, has been king
(Sobhuza) 55 years - since age 21.
He was in native tribal costume,
bare feet, a wraparound sort of
shawl and a pair of feathers stuck
into his hair at the back Qf his head.
It is a small country of only
454,000 population wedged in be–
tween northeast South Africa and
southwestem Mozambique.
Tt
is not
one of the world's richest countries,
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977