We arrived at Connie and Rupert's on dark and after a lovely dinner we chatted in front of the fire. Rupert's family had owned the farm for 150 years and 5 generations. Originally the farm had beef. In recent times the fences were ripped down and the stolen iron posts sold for money. The cows were also stolen and as with many African tribes the cow is wealth and a status symbol.
We saw a short video segment done by a German film crew and featured the family members. Rupert's family originally came from Germany and have been on the farm since. Hence his first language is German, followed by a German dialect spoken by his family, then English, followed by Zulu which he used as a boy talking to the Zulu helpers, and then Afrikaans which he had to use when he was in the army. He and Connie speak German in the house.
Their two boys recently went to Germany on an school exchange programme and thoroughly enjoyed their time there.
Rupert and Connie have built houses for their workers on their properties and supply them with electricity and water. The workers also have contracts stating the conditions of their tenancies. Currently they are having a few problems with some of their tenant workers. The original tenants being the grandparents now have their children staying with them and these children have their children. Some of these grandchildren have now made claims that the land belongs to them and they have increased the land about their house and fenced it are taking the farm owners to court to claim it. There are several rules now governing the conditions of farm workers and Rupert and Connie abide by those rules but are still dragged through the courts along with many other farm owners. The government covers the cost of the tenant but the landowners have to pay for themselves.
While we were there a member of the African National Congress party came to help mediate between the two parties, but of course no decisions would be legally binding but their appearance would help the party get more votes. However, Rupert was happy with the way the discussions went as both sides of the discussion were heard but it will still have to be settled legally.
A different tenancy problem is that the retired grandparents have to continue to work as their children have died from AIDS and they have to work to support the grandchildren that have been left behind and some of these children have HIV.
Connie told us that she had spoken to one of her kitchen girls about getting tested for HIV. The girl wanted to know why she should because if she was HIV positive there was nothing she could do about it. Not long after the talk she quit work. This makes me wonder about all the money that is given to African countries to 'fight AIDS' and how will this money change such attitudes! The girl couldn't see that if she knew her status she could prevent her partners getting it and any future children being infected.
The original farm house built by Rupert's ancestors is still used by him, Connie and their 3 children but both his parents live in a new house beside them and they are in their 80s. His dad, Walter, still likes to do odd jobs around the farm and is interested in how things are going. He had picked a huge bag of pecans that he spent his spare time cracking and gave us a whole lot to take away.
We woke to a crisp frosty morning on the farm and then drove around some of the 3600 hectares. They grow sugar cane, which is processed at a nearby factory. Some of the cane fields are prone to frosts and some cane fields have to be mulched back in to the ground. The canes are on a two year rotation. We were able to watch the cane being burnt and then harvested by machines. Compared with farming beef, there is a lot of machinery involved and they have a full time mechanic/engineer who services all the vehicles and who also designed and engineered some of the machines they use.
We only ever saw a bird caught in the flames but sometimes there are enormous cane rats fleeing the flames.
250 staff are employed and we saw many busy clearing firebreaks, hoeing, and gathering cane stalks that missed the harvester, as well driving the machinery.
There are also pine, wattle, and eucalyptus plantations. Some pine is used for poles while the eucalyptus and wattle is used for pulp in the paper industry. The wattle bark is used in the tanning of leather.
Rupert built a huge fire tower and they have someone 24 hours a day keeping a watch for fires. They also have to have firefighting trucks and equipment. Some of the disgruntled workers have threatened to burn the farm so it is a constant worry at this time of the year in a drought. With most of the neighbours having cane and tree plantations there is the added worry of fires from their properties spreading to Rupert and Connie's.
New Hanover is a small village and the German speaking residents are fully involved in the community. There is a lovely small church in the primary school grounds. Connie teaches music at the school once a week.
There is also a preschool in the grounds and they have the owl as their logo. We were able to see an owl and her babies in a tree overlooking the preschool. The three children, Rupert and Connie play in the local brass band at church.
The 3 children are at boarding school not too far away and if they don't have sport or music activities on the weekend they are home. As Connie also teaches at the boarding school she can visit the children, pick up their laundry and bake for them. She has an enormous pantry stocked with lots of homemade produce and when we left we were given some delicious homemade bread, fig jam, and honey from their hives. What a real treat for us!
I am always fascinated by the variety of portable braais we have seen and this was Rupert's and Connie's one on the farm.
Rupert can see that the farm will not be able to make a decent living for the next generation of his family and if he could sell it he would. We had a wonderful time learning so much about farm life here and thoroughly enjoyed our time with Connie and Rupert and thank them for opening their home to us.
