Ex-Oswestry School pupil inspired by campaigner

Barrie Williams’s book Marshmallow Fishes is a biography of the former Zimabwean international swimming champion Kathleen O’Dea, who was captured, held hostage and abused by a murderous mob during land-grabbing raids on white farmers in Zimbabwe.

Kathleen and heavily-pregnant Heather, wife of Roy Bennett, a prominent Mugabe opponent, were forced to watch the horrific beating of Bennett’s loyal black farm workers, some of whom were rape and murdered.

Both women eventually escaped their ordeal, though Heather later lost the baby she was carrying.

A defiant Kathleen bravely stayed to help other white farmers caught up in the terrifying farm raids, before she fled to England and launched her ongoing international campaign against Mugabe’s despotic regime.

Ostensibly a biography, the book paints an unsettling picture of a country beset with corruption. It conveys the impact the tyrant had on millions of Zimbabwean lives, epitomised in the story of one woman victim.

A former pupil at Oswestry Boys School and a former journalist, the book’s author now lives in Cornwall.

He said: “Kathleen and I have been bowled over by the reponse to the book. When I was researching Marshmallow Fishes I was deeply moved by stories of the suffering in Zimbabwe with black people having to endure much more than the intimidated white population and heaven knows that was bad enough.”

The book has been well-received by readers all over the globe and has achieved a cult-following among ex-pat Zimbabweans.

Many readers have sent messages of support, thanks and rave reviews to Kathleen, while some have even shared their own experiences of victimisation under Mugabe’s regime.

The provenance of the book’s title derives from Kathleen ‘s childhood and is a notional reference to hope, happiness and childhood expectation.

Barrie Williams penned Marshmallow Fishes about Zimbabwean-born Kathleen O’Dea, who sought his help to raise awareness of the plight facing people in her native country while he was editor of Plymouth’s Western Morning News.

The Morning News ran a series of articles on her campaign before arranging for her to meet with then Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street with a petition signed by thousands of its readers.

Barrie recalls: “I met Kathleen when, as editor of the Western Morning News, she sought my help in raising with the British Government the horrific brutality, murder, rape and intimidation being perpetrated in Zimbabwe.

“That was just the start of a tireless campaign by Kathleen to help exiled black Zimbabweans in the UK and to seek justice for the victims of murder, rape and torture in her beloved homeland.

“Later, Kathleen continued her protest in Australia, where she now lives and where she led a high profile campaign against the Australian cricket team’s tour of Zimbabwe.

Barrie, who also served as editor of both the Kent Evening Post and Nottingham Evening Post, has previously written four books on people he encountered during his 40 year career, with his subjects including footballer Tommy Lawton and notorious ‘union buster’ Christopher Pole-Carew.

Marshmallow Fishes is available now at http://www.bookdepository.com/Marshmallow-Fishes-Kathleen-ODea/9781785070341