The Simple South African returns.
My apologies to all my readers who have been looking to see if I have added anything to my writing over the last couple of months. We have just moved to a small apartment in a ‘secure environment’, a large area, enclosed by a wall, over several acres. It is very well maintained, and secure,, with grass and trees all around. It is a small unit, two rooms that serve as bedroom and lounge, a kitchen, bathroom, and outside, a garage, At our age, this is probably all we need, as there are shops and other facilities close by.
Going back over my scribblings of the last few years, my mind went to when the first early settlers came from Europe. I wonder what the made of the land they saw from their ships, and what sort of emotions they experienced. They would have had little information about what to expect, other than the reports of a few missionaries who had visited the lands, and brought back some small impressions that they shared when they returned to their homelands. How did they perceive the inhabitants, who would probably have been described as large, fierce and black people? What was it that made these explorers, missionaries or adventurers in search of riches, decide to risk a dangerous journey in sailing ships, or, in some cases, across large tracts of land? A search for wealth, a sense of adventure, a desire to spread their influence in whatever sphere they found themselves or fleeing from the position the situations they found themselves, and sort greener pastures?
A question that comes to mind quite often is what their perception was of the residents of the land they sought to occupy. Did they seek to help the people who lived in these lands , to bring new beliefs and values for the purpose of upliftment, conversion to ‘their’ beliefs and values which they perceived as being better than those held by the occupants. I suppose that the answer could be ‘All of these’. The message that was being sent out, once this ‘migration’ started, either consciously or unconsciously was that ‘We have something better than you have, and are bringing it to you’. To my mind this was the beginning of the problems that arose later between races, religions, with varying values and beliefss.