Life in the Overberg

A promise is a promise! When we left Robertson last year we promised one of our than staff that if he would marry someday we would take care of his honeymoon. Xolile is a special guy and the first employee who gave us a written notice every time when he needed a day off and than also mentioning when he planned to work in his lost time. Xolile became an orphan at a young age and had to take care for his younger brother and sister and we admire him for the way he battled himself through bureaucratic ‘warzones’. It also meant that he had to queue (sometimes even for 2 days!!!) every now and than at governmental institutions for school- and other grants; dealing with lazy teachers and so on. Life in a location (‘township’) is not that easy. Thanks to him and to Joey (wire-artist) we also got some experience in ‘township life’ (most privileged South Africans have never been through such a ‘struggle’ but it would be very healthy for them) but more important is that we got to know the people and their daily life. Last Saturday Xolile married the love of his life and we attended his wedding amongst 200 (non-white) guests; many we knew from our ‘survival’ experiences. We thank all these wonderful people for their genuine hospitality during our 11 years in Robertson. After the wedding we took the couple to our new home in Stanford and showed them around. For the first time in their life they saw whales, the sea and experienced beach and terrace life ….. They deserved it!!! Xolile worked himself up to head gardener on our farm (he’s now engaged in the wine-industry nearby his home); hence the flower and cactus decoration in the picture.