Chapter 715: Brief Reunion
After chatting with the old man, Wells learned that he was a veteran who had retired from the army. This was very common in East Africa, especially the resettlement of soldiers, which was also a characteristic of East Africa.
Just as the two were about to continue chatting, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from behind Wells.
“Brother!”
Wells turned around and saw a young man who was about 1.7 meters tall standing behind him.
"Are you Mel?" After being away from home for so long, Wells was a little dazed by the changes in his family.
"Brother, it's me. I haven't seen you for so many years, and you haven't changed much, but I can see the difference in your temperament. Are you doing well in Germany?"
Wells was greeted by his second brother Mel.
"Your voice sounds a little different than before. I didn't even dare to think it was you. If there were no one else around, I would definitely not think you were calling me." Wells said.
After not seeing him for so many years, Mel's appearance and voice have changed to some extent.
Meier Han smiled and said, "Have I grown up? When you left home, I was just in primary school, and now I am about to graduate from middle school."
"Really? How are your academic performance?" Wells came up with the winning answer.
Meier's smile froze for a moment and he said, "That's definitely not as good as you, brother. You are the only college student in our village."
"That's why I hope you can make progress in your studies. I gave you a lot of tutoring back then."
"Oh, of course I know that, but thinking about it, it's probably very risky for you to study abroad. You'll probably have to go to a technical school or university in East Africa. I originally wanted to work directly, but our mother values education so much, so I can only study hard."
"Mom is right. The benefits of going to school cannot be described in a few words. If you are in Europe, you will understand that in East Africa, people also respect knowledge. The country will need more highly educated people in the future."
Because East Africa has directly popularized secondary education, Wells can only talk about highly educated talents. At present, there are three types of high-level talents in East Africa. One is the scholars and technicians who are famous in Europe, one is the overseas students, and the last is the talents trained by local higher education in East Africa. From the current situation, this is definitely the case, and it may be improved in the future.
When Wells was chatting with his brother, Mary also noticed it, so she brought her son Wiggins out to inquire about the situation.
"This is your sister-in-law, Mary, and this is your nephew Wiggins," Wells introduced to his brother.
"Hello, sister-in-law! And my cute little nephew." Mel picked up Wiggins. Little Wiggins is only three years old and is not heavy at all. When at home, Mel often hugs her younger brothers and sisters.
"Hello, Mel." Mary also greeted Wells's brother.
"By the way, where are mom and dad?" Wells asked.
"They were outside the station, and I came to the platform specifically to meet the car," Mel said.
Adlis also came back and said, "Mr. Wells, this train will leave at 8 o'clock tomorrow, so you should spend some time with your family first! You can leave your luggage there temporarily, and I will lock the door of the compartment."
After making the arrangements, Adlis slipped away and didn't bother them anymore.
…
Outside the station, Wells met his parents and two other siblings. The youngest sister was not even older than his son Wiggins.
"Wiggins will have to take care of his aunt in the future!" Wells' parents joked.
Wells' mother was from the Far East, so she enthusiastically pulled Mary aside to chat. On the contrary, Wells' father was more taciturn and did not seem like a traditional German.
"Let's go. We are staying in a hotel temporarily. It is arranged by the government. Brother, I will help you with your luggage." Mel said.
So the family got on a carriage and headed towards the hotel next to the Iringa City Government. This was also one of Wales' treatments. Generally, such inland hotels are provided to civil servants.
Along the way, Mel, a middle school student, introduced his elder brother to the development of his hometown over the years.
"At present, the urban area of Iringa has a population of only more than 4,000 people. Together with the surrounding areas, it has become a distribution center for tobacco, grains and livestock. Tobacco is a special crop grown locally and it is also our most important production area. There is no clear difference between other industries and the entire Plateau Province."
"When I left Iringa, there were only about 2,000 people in the entire city. Now the population of Iringa has tripled and it looks more prosperous than before," said Wells.
"After more than a decade of development, all cities will develop. For example, all necessary buildings and facilities are accumulated slowly. Therefore, this kind of development is very common in small and medium-sized cities in East Africa, unless there is war and these are destroyed. But this obviously will not happen. As long as there is peace, the development of a region will always accumulate slowly."
"Many old houses have been demolished and rebuilt. Now the city government and other government agencies have been converted into brick and stone structures. The public facilities in the city are much better than those in the countryside, but the village has also changed a lot."
"Now the main crops we grow are wheat and tobacco. Compared to wheat, tobacco planting is more complicated, especially during the harvest season, when you can easily get greasy all over. But the salary is higher than wheat, and we can get more daily necessities."
"The roads in the village have been widened and renovated, and a reservoir has been built at the west end of the village, which has greatly solved the water problem."
Wells listened with great interest to the changes at home. Generally speaking, the situation was stable and improving. The living standards of the people in East Africa were further improved. This was a common phenomenon. Of course, the most important thing was the industrial development in East Africa, which provided more consumption channels for the citizens.
This can be seen from the family's clothing and mental outlook. Maybe it's because they came to the city, even my father and mother changed into new clothes. Both my father and mother are very frugal.
Of course, Iringa City is not a place that discriminates against the poor and favors the rich. The facilities in the urban area are just better than those in the countryside. In fact, the income gap between rural and urban areas is not that big.
Of course, East Africa cannot currently take into account the development of rural areas, because the urbanization rate in East Africa is too low, and decentralized construction will easily lead to waste of resources.
When the level of mechanization is improved in the future and villages and towns can be merged, East Africa will basically be able to carry out major transformation of the infrastructure in rural areas, which is unimaginable in the current East African society.
The family arrived at their temporary residence happily. Wells brought back some specialties from Germany, especially food and industrial products from his father's hometown of Bavaria, which were difficult to buy in East Africa.
However, international cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa should also have sales. After all, Germany is one of East Africa's main trading partners, and East Africa is also culturally inclined towards Germany. Many things have a market in Germany, and the same is true in East Africa. Moreover, it is more convenient to write letters or send telegrams in China.
This reunion is a rare occasion for Wells, but the only pity is that they can only stay here half a day and one night, so the family did not sleep but chatted all night. Tomorrow morning Wells, his wife and son will go to the station and head to Bulawayo. Of course, they can take the railway during the holidays and reunite again, which is something that cannot be achieved while studying or working in Europe.
(End of this chapter)
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