HARARE – Hamilton-based Chris Foot recently celebrated 20 years of service to the St Paul’s Collegiate School community – before that, he was serving crocodiles their lunch.

Foot immigrated to New Zealand with his wife Claire and three daughters in 2004.

They left behind friends and extended family in Zimbabwe to start a new life.

Foot took over running the family farm in the 1980s. The farm was in the Mazowe district, north of the capital city Harare, and had 120 employees who all lived on-site.

“In the late 80s, the Zimbabwean economy was starting to deteriorate and the local currency was losing value,” Foot said.

“To keep afloat, our farming business needed to generate US dollars. In order to do this, we diversified from our maize, tobacco, soya beans, cattle and pigs, to include exporting horticultural produce and crocodile skins.”

Exporting skins to France, Hong Kong and Japan enabled them to generate US dollars, to keep up with the devaluation as well as to purchase fertiliser and other imported inputs needed for the next season.

“We had approximately 2000 crocodiles, which by Zimbabwe standards is pretty small but it meant we were selling 500 skins a year.”

The reptiles were kept in concrete ponds with heated water, as the farm was at a high altitude and the temperature was cooler than their natural habitat.

“Wild crocodiles inhabited low-lying, hotter parts of the country, like the northern [Zambezi River] and southern [Limpopo River] boundaries. We did our best to simulate these conditions by heating our pond water to 32C,” Foot said.

“Our crocodiles came from two sources: we had an annual quota to collect eggs from the wild, but we also had breeding stock. We kept them in natural ponds, behind very secure fences, understandably as they were anything from 3 to 4.5 metres long. We then incubated both the wild and domestic eggs. Interestingly, the sex of a crocodile is determined by the temperature at which the egg is incubated. Below 30-31 degrees, are all female and above 32-34 degrees are all male.”

In the early 2000s, the Foot farm was one of the many taken over by the Robert Mugabe regime and his government.

“The tragedy of this development meant both we and all of our employees lost our livelihoods and homes. We were all forced to find alternative forms of income. Fortunately for me, I had been coaching rowing at a local secondary school. They asked me to stay on as a coach and teach chemistry – despite my lack of teaching qualifications.

“A year and a half later, the Zimbabwean economy was in freefall and we weren’t making ends meet. We had to do something. Despite my lack of teaching experience, I felt confident enough to offer my services overseas. A job offer from St Paul’s Collegiate School in Hamilton, New Zealand, as a science teacher/rowing coach, enabled us to leave the country – albeit with heavy hearts.”

St Paul’s Collegiate has provided Foot with countless rewarding opportunities over the past two decades, including finally gaining his teaching qualification through the University of Waikato.

As well as heading the rowing programme, managing the First XV rugby team and running the Clark boarding house, Foot was involved with helping launch the Agribusiness initiative.

“My farming background has enabled me to teach both Agricultural and Horticultural Science and now Agribusiness – which are such important subjects in the context of New Zealand, where the bulk of our export revenue is derived directly or indirectly from agriculture,” Foot said.

“The school has always been open to me trying different things – which has been very special and invigorating.”

Although the move to New Zealand was hard in many ways, the Foot family have been made to feel very welcome by everyone.

“The people of New Zealand are so warm, kind and generous of spirit.

“Our three girls all loved their time at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, where my wife Claire has taught French for 18 years – she was also unqualified when we arrived. We have made some real lifelong friends here, and now know a lot of amazing students and their wonderful families through our farming and school connections.”

The family still has strong family and friend ties to Zimbabwe, visiting when they can.

“Our middle daughter now lives there and is married to ‘the best safari guide in southern Africa’ [Adam Jones – for anyone planning a trip].”

One of Foot’s dreams has been to take students to Africa, as they would benefit hugely from seeing a different perspective and way of life.

Although that hasn’t been possible for various reasons, he has been part of two service trips to Cambodia with the school.

“They were incredibly powerful learning experiences for the students to witness first-hand so many day-to-day struggles that the Cambodians deal with and observe their cheerful resilience that we take for granted in New Zealand,” Foot said.

“We even visited a crocodile farm while in Cambodia.

“Being able to have some input into trips like that, makes teaching our young people so worthwhile. I am very grateful to both St Paul’s and New Zealand for the last 20 years of fulfilling opportunities for me and my family.” NZ HERALD