African Swansong - Chapter 4

 African Swansong - Chapter 4

Tuesday April 2^nd, 2024

Lynne dropped us at the East London airport around noon and we went through the process of getting checked in. We were flying Safair and were impressed with their efficiency and pleasantness throughout the process. The plane arrived from Cape Town, disembarked, unloaded luggage, refueled and then reversed the process for us, the new load, destined for Cape Town  all within 30 minutes.

The flight was uneventful, apart from the guy in the seat next to me. He coughed, spluttered and wheezed all the way. Normally I’m not too paranoid about picking up bugs, but this guy got me going. Eventually Cher dug in her bag and found a mask for me. I felt like asking my neighbor if he’d like to use it.  Neither Cher nor I have contracted anything so far, so it seems the air exchange system on the plane is as good as the airlines claim they are.  

View of Table Mountain from the air

The approach towards the Cape Town airport was spectacular. The whole area is quite mountainous and the view from above was lovely. At the foot of the mountains was a pretty patchwork of farm fields, many of them vineyards for which this part of the world is famous.

On arrival we went to collect our rental car. Most cars in South Africa are manual, so we went with the flow and took a manual. I had cut my teeth in my youth on manual cars. It’s like riding a bike – you never forget how its done. I got into the car and was puzzled. The car didn’t start when I switched on the ignition. That’s when I remembered that manual cars have clutches, and the car won’t even think about starting if the clutch is not depressed. Feeling a bit less sure of myself we tiptoed out into the roads, reminding myself that in this part of the world cars travel on the left.

Our first port of call was at Dave and Delia Russel’s house, in Somerset West, where we were scheduled to spend two nights. Dave and Delia are longtime friends from, when we attended Trinity Presbyterian church in the Johannesburg area in the early 1980s. We were all involved in the running of a children and youth Sunday School program with about 300 kids. We had lived through some fun stuff together.

A bunch of grizzled old warriors..still going, but 
not as fast as we used to be. 
L-R Vin, Brenda, Cher, Rob, Delia, Dave

As it turned out, another couple, Vin and Brenda Lamberti, had been invited for supper to celebrate Brenda’s birthday. Our friendship with Vin and Brenda also dated back to our Trinity Presbyterian days. Vin is an entrepreneurial guy. He had done well in the recycled corrugated packaging business and by his early thirties had “retired” to the life of being a gentleman farmer. On his farm were a whole string of out of use stables, which were in a filthy state. We came up with the idea of establishing a Christian campsite using the stables as accommodation. Bottom line we involved the church in helping us restore the stables to pristine condition, and the camp “Campagna” was established. We ran one camp out there and then Cher and I went off to Bible College in UK and the idea never went much further.

Dave and Delia’s daughter Pam had married Vin and Brenda’s son Russel and lo and behold they joined us for dinner too, along with their kids. They are all living within a half an hour of each other, which is a blessing these days. What a great evening we had remembering the old days, fixing current problems and getting caught up on latest news. God designed us to be in relationship with Himself and with others. We were thankful to be with such longstanding friends.

Wednesday April 3^rd, 2024

U3A in action - an amazingly large group

This morning the plan was to attend the local U3A (University of the Third Age) meeting at The Strand, a nearby town. U3A is very similar to Probis, it’s North American cousin. Delia is on the organizing committee for U3A. We were astounded when we got to the meeting to find a very large municipal hall packed with about 500 U3A members. The topic of the day was Leopards of the Cape. The presenter was very knowledgeable, and it was encouraging to see that so much effort is put in by volunteers to safeguard leopards in this part of the world, where they are under threat by development and agriculture.

While Delia attended a U3A committee meeting Dave took us for a walk at The Strand. Strand means “beach” in Afrikaans and we could see where the town gets its name from. The town is on the base of the U which makes up False Bay. This is a very large bay which probably stretches a hundred kilometers from one tip of the U to the other. Much of it has gorgeous wide, sandy beaches. Mountains form the backdrop to the two sides of the U. It is a spectacularly beautiful part of the world.

The Strand - a beach lover's paradise

On this trip we have come across a term called “semigration”. The trend in this part of the world has been for folks to emigrate from the uncertain shores of Southern Africa with all of its problems and challenges and go and live where opportunities are better. Leaving one’s homeland is always painful. The compromise of choice is semigration. This is a relatively recent trend in SA is for folks who can’t face leaving, the country but who yearn for more security and better government. The Western Cape, which is the area with Cape Town as it’s core, is the only province not managed by the ANC (African National Congress), but by the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA does not suffer from the level of corruption and ineptitude so often exemplified by the ANC. Evidence of the DA’s success can be found everywhere in the Western Cape, which has become a refuge for folks looking for a better life within South Africa. It is a sad indictment of the ANC, but it does have the benefit of holding up the Western Cape as a shining light of what is possible in SA if things were managed better.

Lunch with a view to die for

This part of the world is famous for its winelands. The area has been settled since the 1650s, There has been centuries worth of honing and improving the quality of wines, which are world class. Dave and Delia suggested we have lunch at a local vineyard. We had a lovely meal at the Morgenster estate under a covered outdoor restaurant with a drop-dead gorgeous view of the mountains as the backdrop.

We returned home for a much-needed late siesta, another walk with Lily followed by a slide show and a late snack supper. Dave and Delia had joined Cher and I in our RV in 2016 for a month while we toured the west coast of the USA, which included an Alaskan cruise. Dave had put together a lovely slide show of their whole bucket list trip, complete with a matching soundtrack. Two couples living in one RV for a month is potentially quite challenging. We passed the test with flying colors and are still all talking to each other, for which we are grateful.

Thursday April 4^th, 2024

It was time for checkout from Dave and Delia’s B ‘n B. We were headed for our niece in law Nola, in Paarl, but decided to take a nice easy drive via Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch, is a university town set in the heart of the winelands. The whole area has a classic type of architecture called “Cape Dutch”. The buildings are white with a characteristic gables.

A typical "Cape Dutch" style looking building
in Stellenbosch

We parked our car a bit away from the center. We were directed into our spot by one of the ubiquitous car guards who have sprung up in South Africa. They are entrepreneurs who offer a simple deal. “I’ll watch your car and stop the bad guys from breaking in or stealing it, if you will give me a tip when you come to collect it”. The flip side of the deal is unspoken, but a very real threat. The deal is sealed with a nod and a wave. On this day, our car guard of the day came to us and said “you must pay in advance”. Hmmm. This was unusual. We decided it was best not to offend him so gave him a generous tip and off we went.

We passed a bank machine and needed to draw a significant amount of cash to give to our tour guide to cover tips and entrance fees on our trip. Drawing cash from an ATM is a risk wherever in the world one does it. We furtively did the deed, secured the proceeds about our persons and proceeded on our explorations. We noticed a hobo looking guy who seemed to be following us. We eyed him suspiciously. Hmmm. Was he or wasn’t he? We turned this way, and so did he. We turned that and so did he. Eventually we headed for the university where we figured security would be good and he would drop us as prospects. Our plan worked and we had a very pleasant stroll through the lovely grounds of the university before returning to our car, where we knew it would be safe because our trusty guard had been keeping an eye on it.

Stellenbosch is a quaint town

As we were backing out a different guard came up and asked for money. We told him we had paid the other guy in advance. It turned out the other guy had muscled in early on this guys’ turf and taken us all for a ride. Aaaah. Even in the Western Cape, scammery survives.

Nola lives in a very nice gated community on a golf course outside the city of Paarl, which is about an hour north of Cape Town. She had been married to my brother’s son, Jonathan. Sadly they separated a couple of years ago and divorced recently. She now lives with her two sons, Reid and Chase, in a house which looks out onto the first hole of the golf course. We hadn’t seen Nola since her and Jonathan has split up, so we had just wanted to pop in and see how she and the boys were doing.

The scenery on the drive to Paarl was gorgeous

Nola is a wonderful woman. She has chosen to make the best of a bad situation. We were very impressed with her determination to do the best for her kids and to make a new life for herself. Reid, 15, and Chase,12, are both doing  well at school and in their sports. Reid is being considered for a spot at Bishop’s an exclusive school in Cape Town which majors on its sports program.

Nola, Rob and Cher
in front of her lovely home

We left Nola in time to check into our hotel in Cape Town, very close to the trendy waterfront. We were just in time to meet with Jonathan, my nephew, and Nola’s ex, and have a cup of tea with him before he was needed at a business meeting. Jonathan and his two brothers Michael and Christopher head up a very successful export import business, sourcing goods for trade between South Africa, the USA and increasingly other parts of the world. This business had initially begun in our basement in Ajax, when Alan, my brother, and family immigrated to Canada in the early 2000s and had stayed with us for six months while they got settled. And here they are now, employing dozens of people, and doing business all over the world. Thumbs up to free enterprise and lots of hard work.

Jonathan sporting his bright "berry" colored top. 
He insists its not pink. 

When Jonathan left, it was a lovely evening. We decided to walk down to the waterfront to check out what was going on. Oh, my goodness. What a vibrant scene down there. Restaurants proliferating. Sunset cruises departing. Buskers abounding. We took it all in, found a bite to eat and headed for home. On the way, outside a large hotel, we found a group doing some traditional African singing and dancing. It was fun to watch and begin to feel the vibe of Africa stirring our spirits.

Friday April 5^th

Today was going to be a big day for us. We were visiting lots of people who had played significant roles in our lives.

Kalk Bay fishing harbour - quite idyllic

The first of these was Gerry Adlard. We had met Gerry and his wife Jill in East London when we lived there. Gerry had ended up becoming the Chair of our local Scripture Union committee, which oversaw the work in our area. Gerry has written a book called “Great things He has Done” which documents some of the amazing miracles which God was doing in and around them during their early years as Christians in the Cape Town area. It is a fun read and definitely stretches one’s expectations of how God wants us to live by faith. Sadly, Jill passed away from a cerebral aneurysm 7 years ago.

We were fortunate to have a sunnny day

It was about a 45 minute drive to Gerry, who now lives in a retirement village in Fish Hoek. It was a beautiful drive. Fish Hoek is not far from the historical Simonstown naval base, from which Britain was able to control the Indian Ocean and Atlantic sea routes from the early 1800s.  Gerry, has landed himself a lovely flat/apartment which will see to his every need through to the end. I reminded him that his Dad had taught me French at Falcon in Zimbabwe and that I, probably along with half the other boys at Falcon, had sported a mild crush on his sister Barbara who showed up at the school from time to time when I was there.

Fish Hoek beach front - too windy to sit out

We had a couple of hours to kill before we moved on to our next reunion in Kalk Bay, a few kilometers up the road from Gerry. Kalk Bay is a cute little town, which boasts a small fishing harbor, the occasional seal and a very quaint waterfront of cafes and shops. It is a tourist magnet in the season apparently.

We were meeting up with Jeremy and Jenny Clampett. We had met them 39 years ago when I stepped into Jeremy’s shoes as the Area Director for Scripture Union in the East London area. Jeremy and I had overlapped for 6 months while Jeremy showed me the ropes. They then left for Jeremy to become the director for the much larger SU work in Cape Town. Since that time Jeremy had become the South African National Director for SU and I, half a world away, had become the Canadian National Director for SU. We hadn’t seen them for 34 years.

Kalk Bay waterfront
- tourist knick knacks abound

Kalk Bay is built on the side of a steep mountainside and the roads reflect that. Navigating the cobblestone roads to the Clampett’s house required some deep breathing and eye averting by Cher, who typically doesn’t do too well with that kind of driving.

It was a fun reunion. When we met our mutual children had been little girls and now there are more children and many more grandchildren. We spent a couple of hours shooting the breeze and catching up, before we headed home. 

Jeremy and Rob - we hadn't seen each other 
34 years. Jeremy hasn't changed. He is the 
same old charming self. 

Jeremy had realized quite late in the day, that SU in South Africa is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year and that tomorrow was a reunion dinner for all ex staff members. We were added to the invitation list and we will be seeing them again tomorrow to meet up with a bunch of other folks who have shared the Scripture Union experience with us.

On our way home, it was still daylight and we decided to go and check out what had been one of Cher’s favorite spots in this area. It is called Llandudno Beach and is famous as a spot to watch the sunset from. We arrived to find that the remarkable beauty of the place is still unchanged. We spent a happy hour or so watching the surfers catch what started off as great rolling waves, but as the wind picked up, they became increasingly choppy and disturbed. Eventually we couldn’t take the wind anymore and set off to go and find a nice hotel verandah to settle down with a drink and watch the sun disappear.

Llandudno - hard to beat for the view

We drove to a busy little strip in Camps Bay where we found a parking spot and were handily guided into a parking spot by the ever-present parking guard who, in this case was named Ishmael. We found a spot right on the front of the verandah of a pub from which we could watch the sun dip below the horizon. We were checking out the menu for a snack and when we looked up, we had missed the sunset. Oh well, as it turned out we had much to keep us entertained.

Firstly a group of about 10, mainly pre-teen boys arrived all dressed in Brazil soccer colors, to sing and dance on the pavement. They gave it their all and sang out lustily, albeit a little chaotically. When they were finished, they were allowed to hold their tin up for us grateful patrons to drop in a tip.

Camps Bay - a lovely spot to watch the sun set

We had noticed a young couple sitting behind us, with a baby. Cher and I had rather ineptly been trying to get a selfie and the guy asked if we’d like him to take a shot for us. We got chatting. It turns out they are a missionary couple from Florida. They are on assignment with YFC (Youth for Christ) for about a year, producing a documentary, to reflect the work that YFC is doing around the world. It is their job to visit various spots around the world, take footage and come up with the script. Missionary life has never been so tough.

The couple had no sooner left, than a second group of girl singers arrived to show us their best. They were much slicker than the Brazilian soccer team gang. They had nice uniforms, and their songs sounded a bit more practiced. Once again, the tins came out and tips were the order of the day. We couldn’t afford to stay much longer. I took a washroom break before we hit the road.

I followed the signs and found myself in a long passageway with four dark doors, with no signs on them. I assumed these must be the unisex bathroom stalls. In the passageway there was a woman, and she was dancing. It seemed a bit out of place, but maybe she was desperate. I asked if she was in the lineup. She said yes. Just then, two women came out of one stall and proceeded down the passageway, but not before one of them did some work on getting her bra comfortable. I wondered if I’d missed the signs and stumbled into the women’s washroom. I was now next in line and I heard the telltale click and flush and waited for my chance. A woman emerged and yes….you guessed it, she was dancing. I felt that perhaps I’d somehow stumbled into an Alice in Wonderland time warp.

Resisting the urge to dance, I made my way back to Cher and glanced over the road to check that our car was still there and there was Ishmael, our car guard and of course,,,,,,, he was dancing. There must be something in the air in this part of the world. I guess one just has to listen for the music and let oneself go. 

It had been a wonderful day. I think we are beginning to hear the music. Thank you, Lord, for fun experiences that give us reason to chuckle and for long lost friends, refreshed relationships and reason to dance.  

Saturday April 6, 2024

Today was a busy day but it started off slow. We had time in the morning to do some laundry and I spent some time working on my blog.

We then navigated our way over to Rondebosch where we were meeting up with friends from way back. Heather Prest used to attend Trinity Presbyterian in Edenvale and was married to Rory Prest, who died prematurely many years ago. Rory’s father, Eddie, was the man who first got me involved as a volunteer with Scripture Union, and then ultimately as a staff member. 

L-R Joy, Tony, Heather, Rob, Cher

Along with Heather were Joy and Tony Pienaar who we knew from our days at Stirling Presbyterian in East London. They are now retired and living in Cape Town. We had a lovely time catching up. The Christian community in this part of the world, and especially Cape Town, is quite tightly knit. We laughed as we realized how so many of the marriages and relationships we were discussing were (almost) incestuously interwoven between friends, cousins, in laws and so on. Once again, it was lovely to refresh the ties that have held us connected over the years and miles

Scripture Union - 100 years
 of good work in SA

Next up was a bonus for us. Scripture Union in SA is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary this year. Today they were hosting an ex-staff dinner. Jeremy had invited us to attend. It was being held at Rustenberg Girls High School, one of Cape Town’s better-known schools. There were probably about 100 people present and we knew some of the folks. There were nice snacks available, and we chatted with a variety of folks from way back. One was Alan Pitt. He had been one of my teen leaders back in East London in the late 1980s. He is now heading up the Operations side of SU nationally. The prize for me was when I realized that about four of five of the 8 strong key leadership team during my day were all there – Peter Holmes, Andrew Pudney, Brian Edwards, Jeremy Clampett and Rob Cornish. Scripture Union has been a wonderful influence for the Lord, amongst young people in SA over the last 100 years. I am thankful and privileged to have been part of that for a brief period in the 1980s. Thank you Lord for loving us enough to include us in some of the projects you are working on wherever we find ourselves in space and time.

Rob - with my old SU boss, Peter Holmes 
and his wife, Heather

We had to duck out of the SU event early as we had to return our rental car and get back to our hotel in time to meet up with our tour group by 6pm. Our tour leader and driver, is a Zimbabwean man, called Collen. He comes across as a gentle giant of a man. He says he has no idea, why he was called Collen or what it means – its not a Zimbabwean name. He has been working with Kiboko Tours since 2008 and did a great job of giving us a good orientation. Our group straggled in as they arrived from airports and so on. By the end we were all there, apart from three who I gather we are picking up later  in the itinerary.

During the orientation, Collen quite cleverly pointed out that this is not a “vacation trip” but rather “an Adventure Safari”. The distinction is the time we get out of bed in the morning. Adventure Safari attendees get out of bed while it is still dark and they never keep the group waiting as “every minute counts”. He’s obviously been there done that and had his share of foot dragging latecomers. He announced that as it is Sunday tomorrow, and the restaurant is only open at 7am for breakfast our tour would be starting late and we needed to be at the bus by 7.50am for departure at 8am. He is obviously a good manager of people and their movements or lack thereof.

Collen - giving us the run down 
on what to expect on our Adventure Safari

We duly went to bed early, set our alarms and made a mental note that we were not going to be labelled as the couple that keeps the group waiting. 10/10 for Collen and his people management skills.

Tomorrow we are touring the Cape peninsula. On a good day it is spectacularly beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather projection is for rain. Let’s hope something changes.

Sunday April 7, 2024

Overnight the wind picked up and by morning there was a mini gale blowing. We all reported for breakfast at 7am sharp and were getting tucked into a fortifying breakfast, when Collen came by and told us that the peninsula tour had been cancelled, for safety reasons by the authorities. The bus/truck is like a gigantic sail and in this wind we could easily disappear over a cliff and suffer an early departure from our planned itinerary. We would meet in the foyer at 8am to discuss our options.

Cher and I shared a breakfast table with Foo and Yap, a couple of Chinese extraction, from Malaysia. They have retired early and are having a ball travelling the world. Foo was an engineer turned banker and Yap an accountant. We swapped notes on some of our travels and discussed some of the Second World War history around the Japanese invasion of Malaysia and Singapore. I love history so this was right up my street.

For the  8am meeting, I arrived at 8.01am and was mortified to note that I was last to arrive. Eeesh. I can see this is going to be a tough group. Collen told us that his tour company were basically giving us a free day as the wind was too strong to risk taking the bus out. Disappointment all around.

I had been feeling it was too bad that there was no time in our itinerary to attend church. Here was our chance. Cher and I had been married at Christchurch Anglican Church in Kenilworth in 1975. It was a wonderful church then and continues to have a great reputation. I suggested that if anyone would like to join us we would be considering attending the church we had been married in 48 years ago. Foo and Yap said they’d be interested. We had briefly swapped notes at breakfast. Yap came up to me and said “About half of my family are Full Gospel Christians. They have been trying to convert me, but with no success”.

We caught an Uber over to Christchurch in Kenilworth. Our driver’s name was Christopher. He had a bible prominently displayed on his dashboard. I asked him if he is a Christian. “100%” was his reply. We asked him if he would be available after the service to take us the scenic way home. “No problem” was the response. “Just call, when you’re ready”.

The service was great. It was very kid friendly at the beginning, with some very energetic leaders leading one or two action packed songs aimed at the kids. It then moved into a time of worship which was great and wrapped up with a very thought provoking topic on Fatherhood, under the overall theme of "What we Believe". 

Some new and old friends
L-R Yap and Foo from our tour, and
Anne and Sam Moore from 48 years ago.

At the beginning of the service an elderly couple sat down in front of us, The wife, in very friendly fashion turned around and greeted Yap and introduced herself and then asked Cher and I who we were. We said “Rob and Cheryl….” and she filled in our last name, “….Cornish??”. It turned out they were Sam and Anne Moore. We had known them in the mid 70s at Christchurch Addington, in Durban, shortly after we were married. Sam was a doctor and they had gone off to Lesotho to do medical work. It was a fun connection. I had thought there was something vaguely familiar about him when he had walked in. We chatted briefly after the service while waiting for our Uber ride to arrive.

Camps Bay with the 12 Apostles 
in the background

Christopher took us around the back of Table Mountain to the  west side of the peninsula, where the wind was blowing slightly less and showed Foo and Yap, some of the sights we had seen two days earlier. They were so pleased they had come with us, as the alternative was to be stuck in the hotel. We came throught Llandudno, Camps Bay and Clifton and then headed for Signal Hill to check out the view. We only made it halfway up Signal Hill to find the road closed off because tree branches were blown down and I guess the road was deemed unsafe. We took some photos and tried not to be blown off the side of the hill.

After that it was back to the hotel for a well earned nap and to get some refuge from the wind.

This is pretty much the wrap up to the Cape Town leg of our trip. Although we have connected with a lot of folks from our past, it’s not a part of the world that we are that familiar with. It has been lovely to connect with this part of the tip of Africa. The beauty is breathtaking. The feel of the place is almost European in some ways. The weather is ….variable. It goes from stunningly beautiful at times to really  stunning if one of those flying branches from the gale force winds whacks us on the side of the head.

Africa is in our blood. It is stamped into our DNA. We are finding it harder and harder to think we may never return. Tomorrow we head off on our Adventure Safari. I’d better go and set the alarm and make sure I'm not last to report and face the wrath of the group.