Mahomet Chalenga hailed from somewhere near Monkey Bay in Malawi. Although employed as staff member and cook, was an integral part of the Chudy family for around 20 years – in much a of a similar way as Eugenie was to the Bad Homburg Rothschild family – in her case acting as nanny in Ellen’s childhood and later in providing her continuity in linking her to her place of birth.. His deep personal stability and equanimity – which was not based on European culture or standard Western cliches – set an example for Philip and Naomi in their formative years – ensuring that their outlook was not solely shaped by the white colonial monoculture of the day.
He was a member of a migrant minority in Rhodesia (Zambia) some 800km (500 miles) from his origins. In those days with unpaved roads which were often closed, this was a world away. As a young man during WW2, Mahomet was a soldier in the Kings African Rifles and served and fought in Ethiopia and later in Italy. He had a watch given to him by a captured Italian soldier in respect for his kindness to his captor in wartime. Mahomet was a Muslim in the older Black Africa tradition – meaning that he represented the virtues of tolerance, honesty sobriety and reliability in a entirely non radical way. He was unique in black culture of the day – he kept domesticated pigeons solely a hobby – never treating them as food. Over time he convinced his friends to do the same and they would trade fancy pigeons. His cage can be seen in one of the photos below. Mahomet maintained links to Malawi despite the massive distances involved and never owning a vehicle. He visited home and his ‘other wives’ quite a few times during the years, travelling by bus.
Mahomet accompanied David and Ellen and American couple on a 6 month Land Rover safari to Equatorial Africa and across to Zanzibar in the east. Other images from this trip are here
He had worked as house staff to another family before working for Ellen and David and though he never ate any of the food he prepared (for preference rather than any religious dietary reasons) he came to the job with a number of incredibly laborious memorized (or invented) desserts quite unlike anything elsewhere. One for example started with condensed milk in the unopened cans for 8 hours before moving to further stages. This became a stunningly fine fine mousse. This all the more surprising in a country which had zero fine culinary tradition in any quarter.
Mahomet died in the mid 70s of an undiagnosed condition according to Western medicine at the time. Some said he was the victim of a tribal doctor’s curse.
There is snippet of a reel to reel tape message from him to Philip in 1971 in London – in the gallery below or in EARLY AUDIOVISUAL
