A Lifetime in Brazil

By a Member of the São Paulo Branch of  the Royal British Legion

My name is Norah Zieminska, I served in the W.R.N.S. for almost three  years as a Quarters Petty Officer and was commissioned towards the end of the war. In 1944 I married a Polish Air Force officer who was a pilot. After we were both demobilized at the end of '45, we had to decide what   to do in civil life. My husband would not countenance returning to Poland under a communist government; there was little hope of him finding work in Britain at that time, so we decided, after some consideration, to go to Brazil. We didn't regret it.

My husband soon found work in aviation. We settled in São Paulo, already a thriving city in those days with 3.5million inhabitants (it now has 17million!). There was quite a large British community there and we were soon absorbed in the social life and also in the Brazilian cosmopolitan, tolerant and happy way of life. Our son was born at the end of 1947. 

We did have our ups and downs at the beginning. Early on my husband had an accident when he had to make a crash landing in the interior and as a result was unable to fly for six months. Our financial situation was somewhat strained, so I decided to look for a job to tide us over. By great good luck Lever Bros., "Irmãos Lever" as it was then called, were looking for someone to run their office canteen. It was a new venture; formally office workers in São Paulo had two hours off for lunch and most people went home. Lever's decided to provide a restaurant for their employees and change the working hours: allowing only one hour for the midday meal. This was very soon copied by all the other companies. Although I was not conversant with Brazilian cookery and my Portuguese was by no means perfect, the company  decided to take me on, mainly because I had a Institutional Management Diploma and had had some catering experience. So I became an employee and stayed working for them for 32 years! Of course the company grew  enormously over the years and I ended up catering for a thousand people in their main factory.

Looking back, we had many adventures and good times in Brazil. It is a great country in many ways, the people are friendly and hard working. It has enormous potential, with practically every kind of climate. Brazil is held back by bad governance, but it is slowly going forward and there is no doubt that it has a great future. 

I am a member of the São Paulo branch of the R.B.L. We still have a considerable number of War Veterans and younger members who take an interest in our activities. At the moment I am on holiday in Vienna staying with my brother (an ex RAF Navigation Officer) and his family. When I return to São Paulo at the end of this month I shall be attending a barbecue - the Legion have two of these annually and no doubt we shall be having some special celebrations later this year.

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