Once again, you get it right

I receive my Facebook notification that Platteland is on its way to the shops, so a beeline is made on my to-do list to pick up my copy.

I do not even glance at the articles; I get home, get my cup of coffee and take the time to start at the beginning with the editors’ note and then I know all is right with the world for the next two days.

I am not fortunate enough to live in one of these dorpies I get to read about, but my husband and I love nothing better than “road-tripping”. Coffee in a flask, good music and hitting the road. No padstal is passed without a quick see, and a dirt road is never an inconvenience (some of them are better than our tarred roads).

Our love for the history of the towns and the people is all we need for a good weekend (a good bottle of wine also helps).

With reference to my first sentence, it is about the timing and the content of this publication. The number of times I wonder whether we should be packing up and emigrating, the frantic pace of what we call life – “survival” seems to be more apt currently – and then I read the editors’ letter about “WhatsUp” groups and the giggling starts because I then know I am not alone wondering what is going on.

You have the ability to transport me for 48 hours to these towns with their people and their stories, and I have to admit, only in South Africa do we find the characters that make us so uniquely South African. Yes, I see the trend emerging of the real fears of everyday citizens: service delivery, water, infrastructure, price increases, but I also see the resilience of who we are. The saying “’n boer maak ’n plan” comes to mind.

I am so grateful not only for the articles but also the way each and every article is written. It is beautiful, and it is not often when language and grammar capture the true essence (whether it is the written word or a gorgeous photo) and then conveyed to paper.

I love the fact it is only published quarterly – it is something to look forward to, and there is no need to fill it with nonsensical advertising material that outweighs the content due to having to do monthly publications. I love the recipes; many have been used in our “Dinner on the Move” evenings with friends.

So this is just a message of thanks for managing to keep going through Covid-19 and keeping the positivity going. Each and every issue stays in the bookshelf until it is time for another road-tripping adventure and we get to plan a journey somewhere new and different.

Rochelle Jordaan

RANDBURG >

I was enthralled by the article “Genadendal: barefoot on hallowed ground” by Anri Matthee in the Winter 2022 issue. My wife, Sue, and I have been privileged to visit this village in the Overberg, which “is steeped in the slower pace of an earlier era”, as Anri writes on page 51. We cycled most of the route from the nearby N2 highway.

Interestingly, well-known writers made their home in the Overberg, and the neighbouring town Greyton became a popular weekend retreat. Afrikaans poet PJ Philander lived and taught in Genadendal. Whether their creations were in words or colourful pictures, in this countryside where the mood can change from sunlit wheatfields to stormy mountain backgrounds in seconds, artists certainly had many reasons to be inspired!

The 19th-century explorer Christian Latrobe was so moved that he wrote he could hardly believe a town such as Genadendal existed. As Anri notes,“in a village that depends so heavily on its history, it is important to find a balance between the past and progress”. Nevertheless, the community somehow managed to thrive and there was an influx of residents when slavery was abolished at the Cape in the 1930s.

Of further interest, Anri notes that “up until 1924, everyone in Genadendal were members of the Moravian Church”, and that “there was a split and a splinter group broke way – thus Genadendal was no longer a true mission station”. With so much engaging historical significance, it comes as no surprise that, through the centuries, the relatively isolated town of Genadendal has attracted celebrities from afar to experience its unique character and charms!

Not far away, the Baviaans River flows strongly through a ravine in the mountains into the valley, passing the stately blue cranes and sheep in the wheatfields to meet up with another strong-flowing river, the Sonderend, where a young Moravian Missionary, Georg Schmidt, arrived in 1737 from Germany to convert the locals to the Christian faith. This was the first ever preaching of the Christian message in this region. In fact, by 1738, Schmidt had gathered a small flock of about 30 pupils and he taught them to read the Bible in Dutch. Not only did he teach religion, but he also introduced them to productivity – and they learnt how to grow crops such as barley, vegetables, nuts and fruit. Schmidt, also through his administrations, managed to have a threshing floor built, as well as an oven for baking bread!

Martin Briggs FERNGLEN, PORT ELIZABETH