Dr Howard & Mrs Fiona Moffatt
Sandy sometimes uses real people as characters in his books, with, he says, their permission. He first met Dr Howard & Mrs Fiona Moffat when they were not Dr and Mrs. They were all adolescents. Howard was principally Sandy's friend, and Fiona went to school with Sandy's sisters.
Sandy visited Howard and Fiona in Botswana from Swaziland when he was teaching at the university in Swaziland. They welcomed him and enjoyed introducing him to the delights of Botswana, helping to start developing that love of Botswana and its people which is so characteristic of Sandy all these years later.
Fiona Moffat was a librarian, she is now retired, and her husband, Howard, is a medical practitioner of missionary background. Indeed, in a source some eleven years old at the time of writing (making it around 2004) Howard is not only a medical practitioner, he is also a preacher who sometimes takes the services at the Gaborone cathedral. Being a medical missionary runs in the family. His grandfather, Robert Moffat, was an early missionary in what is now Botswana.
One of Robert's daughters, Mary, married the famous/infamous missionary doctor David Livingstone, who then put her and their children through hell. Several of their children died as a direct result of his obsessions. Eventually, she was left alone in England and Scotland and appeared to lose her "faith". Livingstone dragged her back to Africa where she finally died. She wasn't yet forty. Another of Howard's relatives, Howard Unwin Moffat, was the Premier of Southern Rhodesia.
Sandy apparently has said that Howard is the closest he has ever come across to a saint. Eleven years ago, he was the medical superintendent at Gabarone’s main hospital and personal physician to Botswana’s president, but those were the least of his work in the country with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. Howard's work load was absolutely stunning, and his commitment to his patients and the people of Botswana is absolute. His name can be found on many research papers as he struggled to help the Batswanans fight their way out of this frightful plague.
Howard treated Obed Ramotswe when he was dying in Mochudi, and since having moved to Gaborone, he looks after Mma Ramotswe's medical needs. He had a speaking role in the first novel, but Fiona didn't. After she "mentioned" this to Sandy he's made sure Mma Ramotswe has a chat to her in every novel since.
We've found one undated source which says Howard has retired to Exeter, England. If it's true it must have come as a heck of a shock to him, as he's lived in southern Africa effectively all his life. We suspect, though, that he wouldn't be allowed to retire if he stayed on in Botswana. We don't know if this source is correct. We have no information on Fiona. If anyone knows more, please let us know by way of the Contact page.
Sandy visited Howard and Fiona in Botswana from Swaziland when he was teaching at the university in Swaziland. They welcomed him and enjoyed introducing him to the delights of Botswana, helping to start developing that love of Botswana and its people which is so characteristic of Sandy all these years later.
Fiona Moffat was a librarian, she is now retired, and her husband, Howard, is a medical practitioner of missionary background. Indeed, in a source some eleven years old at the time of writing (making it around 2004) Howard is not only a medical practitioner, he is also a preacher who sometimes takes the services at the Gaborone cathedral. Being a medical missionary runs in the family. His grandfather, Robert Moffat, was an early missionary in what is now Botswana.
One of Robert's daughters, Mary, married the famous/infamous missionary doctor David Livingstone, who then put her and their children through hell. Several of their children died as a direct result of his obsessions. Eventually, she was left alone in England and Scotland and appeared to lose her "faith". Livingstone dragged her back to Africa where she finally died. She wasn't yet forty. Another of Howard's relatives, Howard Unwin Moffat, was the Premier of Southern Rhodesia.
Sandy apparently has said that Howard is the closest he has ever come across to a saint. Eleven years ago, he was the medical superintendent at Gabarone’s main hospital and personal physician to Botswana’s president, but those were the least of his work in the country with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. Howard's work load was absolutely stunning, and his commitment to his patients and the people of Botswana is absolute. His name can be found on many research papers as he struggled to help the Batswanans fight their way out of this frightful plague.
Howard treated Obed Ramotswe when he was dying in Mochudi, and since having moved to Gaborone, he looks after Mma Ramotswe's medical needs. He had a speaking role in the first novel, but Fiona didn't. After she "mentioned" this to Sandy he's made sure Mma Ramotswe has a chat to her in every novel since.
We've found one undated source which says Howard has retired to Exeter, England. If it's true it must have come as a heck of a shock to him, as he's lived in southern Africa effectively all his life. We suspect, though, that he wouldn't be allowed to retire if he stayed on in Botswana. We don't know if this source is correct. We have no information on Fiona. If anyone knows more, please let us know by way of the Contact page.
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