 Gillham gave lectures about plants in relation to drought at Kano University in the southern Sahara region of Nigeria, in the mid-1980s; however, the university was closed while she was there due to outbreak of war.The majority of her students at the time were mature males seeking to learn the key to getting plants to grow in the desert.Gillham left London by boat on 19 November 1956, arriving at New Zealand on 22 December 1956, after 33½ days of sailing (stopping at Curaçao, Panama and Pitcairn on the way).