I know its true because he said so..........(part 2)

I already introduced you to my Grandfather in a previous blog, like I said a man of character!
Another 'truth' form his youth came to me whist talking to Louis recently in London, its about the biggest fish he ever caught.
In his later life Oupa was a keen fisherman, not necessarily because he liked it, but rather because times were tough and he had to provide for his family.
I remember how he used to sit on the stoep and point at the then barren Santos Beach and relate stories of how he came back from there with four big bags full of fish.
However that is a story for another day. This one goes back to when he was a young man with 16 (yes as I mentioned before 16) siblings.

Food was scarce and the family needed to eat, the roof of the house was in a dilapidated state and the wet Western Cape winter was approaching fast.
Oupa and one of his brothers were playing marble (actually marbles but as they were very poor they only had one!) when his father came home from town with no food in sight!
The old man told the youngsters to go to the river and try to catch some fish. Without hesitating they set of for the river, with the hunger pains making them walking faster and faster until they stumbled over a piece of oddly shaped wood. They dug it out, and what do you know, an old muzzle loader rifle! they took it with them to the river as it was a nice toy to play with.
Using some old twine, cat-gut and a rusty safety pin they tried to fish for hours but to no avail, and out of boredom they decided to take a closer look at the muzzle loader, and found that it still had a old rusty percussion cap in place but could not see any bullet in the barrel. The strange thing was that they saw a piece of cotton cloth in the barrel which might mean that there is still some powder in the chamber! 'Could this thing still fire?' they wondered.
Just at that moment they saw the biggest Kudu ever, moving out of the bush to drink water at the river! Being on a sandy strip, there where no pebbles that they could use as bullets, then it struck Oupa that he still had the marble in his pocket.
He loaded it into the muzzle, and what do you know, it was a perfect fit! Thinking quickly, he ripped a piece off his shirt to use as packing and rammed it into the barrel with a stick. With sweat pearling on his forehead, he cocked the Voorlaaier, he took carefull aim at the Kudu, slowly he squeezed the trigger!
Then with a big bang the shot went off, the only thing you could see was smoke and Oupa sitting on his backside with his eyes as big as his mouth!

Bewildered he stood up and saw the strangest thing, on the other bank of the river, the huge Kudu was lying motionless, and floating in the river, a silver "submarine" (the biggest Kabeljou in the history of mankind) as dead as a door nail!
As he fired at the Kudu, this Jona fish jumped out of the water and he shot him through the eyes, and the bullet kept going to hit the Kudu in the head.
Looking behind him to see why he had such a soft landing, he saw that he fell on a mother rabbit with six young ones, all dead!

And his brother?, well seeing what happened, he ran to the house  to get everybody to come and help.
To get the Kudu to the house, all 17 children, as well as the old people, had to help, they had to quarter it and use the cart to get the meat to the house, the skin was so heavy, the house could not pull the cart and the had to use four oxen as well.
The fish was so big, they had to call the extended family to help, it took them two days to cut it into manageable pieces, the fish was so big, they used the scales as roofing shingles and the bones as fencing poles.
The Kudu was so big, they made leather throes for 2 double beds and used the offcuts to make a pair of shoes for each of the children.

Only shows you, when you need it, you get it!

Well till next time.

Being a all-rounder is bloody hard

Surviving a week of building circuit boards, African Musical instruments and refreshing the memory on Grade 4 and 7 maths, you sometimes ask yourself, "what is school all about these days?", how do they expect the kids to perform when they do this kind of work at such a young age!

In Grade 7 (for the people who went to proper school, Std 5), we still played touches, marbles or Kings, we ran around school and had a blast. There was no such a thing as letters of the alphabet in maths, x was a letter that you knew about and seldom used, there was no solving of its problems and tangents to the best of my knowledge was a swear word, until at least std 6!
Sport was something you did when school came out and holidays equated to fun, there was no such a thing as "pre-season preparation" or "off season conditioning" we had cricket in the summer, rugby in the winter and somewhere in between there was athletics.
I had no need to know the history of Tap-Dancing, Jan van Riebeeck was still a hero and not a criminal, and sexual education was knowledge shared in a secret place when somebody heard or saw something and was then treated like "the man" because he knew more than the others! In many a man of my age the Scope played a important part of growing up, I still remember when I saw the first girl topless I thought she was disabled because there was no stars!

But alas, times have changed, today parents drop their kids at the mall with a credit card or some cash to go and watch a "movie", and then they are very surprised if their 12 year old child become sexually active or gets hooked on drugs!
Parents feel that its the responsibility of the school to teach their children social skills, they feel that they work hard  and "deserves a break", as a parent myself, believe me it also crossed my mind, but then I started to observe my kids carefully, and to my shock (no actually I felt very good about it). I saw that kids "absorbs" their homes!

Kids sees the parents always having a drink when socializing, and then make the connection that
socializing =  alcohol consumption,
they see how sometimes we "lie" to our friends and then make the connections,
friendship = backstabbing,
they see how parents bring stationary from work and then make the connection,
work = freebees,
These are just some examples, I'm sure you can add to this, but my point is they learn all their bevahiour from us, the parents!

This brings me to my promise.
When my eldest daughter was born, I made a promise to her and myself, that she will never see me in a state where I was not in control or could not handle a situation.
Now that had a bigger influence on my life than I thought at the time! So for the past 13 years I don't have more than 3 drinks, I work hard to provide for the family, I am involved in the school activities and sport, and try to be a good husband (but sometimes the TV just makes it so damb difficult) and I try to listen.

In our house we don't tell our children the story of Icarus, we believe they must try to reach the sun, we try to guide and influence through being examples instead of telling them what to do.
When a problem arises we ask them how they think they should deal with it, and then "edit" the response.
Its hard work because we see the flaws in our personalities in the way our kids behave, and that is a shocking reality!
So next time your kids does something that shocks you, try not to blame the school, friends or society, first do some introspection you'll be amazed at what you will find!


Well till next time.    

Thank You for all the Blessings!

Wow, I am very emotional today! Today I looked around me and saw hurt, love, pain, believe and hope!

I want to share with you the story of Kayla Bezuidenhout. This wonderful 11 year old faces a brutal world everyday of her life and still she smiles!

Kayla has been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, this means that this beautiful girl is trapped in a body that keeps putting on weight no matter what she does. Seeing the hurt, the longing to be like the others really made me feel like I can scream at the top of my voice "Why a kid Lord! Why do you do such cruel things! Such a beautiful girl has to carry such a burden in life!"

But as with all things there is hope, Kayla can undergo surgery to make her life whole again, but the medical aid does not want to pay for the procedure, this means that the parents have to get a R 100 000.00 before the surgery scheduled in December.

If you feel that you can help, or know of someone who can help please contact

Hanlie on 0796607767.

Here is a letter written by her mother.

In die Oë van my kind

As ek in die oë van my kind kyk, sien ek so baie dinge.  Ek onthou die gelukkige en onskuldige baba en peuter wat so ‘carefree’ was, totdat die lewe sy streep op haar kom trek het.

Ek sien die bang kleuter wat die eerste keer moes stillê sodat die dokters ‘n naald in haar klein armpie kan steek vir NOG toetse.

Ek sien die trane in haar oë as ons probeer verduidelik wat hierdie groot masjiene is wat so raas wanneer sy nog ‘n MRI or Catscan moet kry.

Ek sien haar onsekerheid as sy op vakansie ook in die see wil swem, maar die ‘tannie-costume’ sonder die Barbie prentjie lyk nie so mooi soos die ander maatjies sin nie, maar sy kan net die een dra want dis al wat pas.

Ek sien die verskriklike hartsverskeurende hartseer wanneer sy my vertel dat iemand haar vandag al weer vet of lelik genoem het.

Ek sien die vrae wanneer sy vandag weer nie in die Wiskunde klas se bank kon inpas nie en Juffrou weer nie hoor totdat almal gesien het en weer na haar gestaar het nie.

Ek sien die donker in haar oë wanneer die vreeslike Depressie weer so swaar op haar skouertjies kom druk vandag dat niks vir haar lekker voel nie.

Ek sien die bloedrooi gesiggie wanneer sy saam ‘n maatjie gehardloop het en die hartjie bons uit haar borskas uit, en die sweet hardloop straaltjies teen haar pragtige gesiggie af.

Ek sien die vrae op haar gesiggie as sy vra hoekom Jesus haar gekies het om hierdie siekte voor te gee.

Ek sien die opstanding en frustreerdheid wanneer sy weet ons sal weer klere moet gaan koop want laas seisoen sin is al weer te klein.  Wanneer ons spesiaal die tannie moet gaan sien wat haar skoolklere maak omdat die skoolwinkel sin net nooit wil pas nie.

Ek sien die moedeloosheid as sy haar kosblik oopmaak en dis al weer Provitas en Vrugte.  Die ander maatjies eet dan so lekker.

Ek sien die vrae op haar gesiggie as sy vir haarself in die spieël kyk as sy klaar gebad het en dit lyk dan meer soos ‘n tannie se lyf as ‘n klein dogtertjie sin.

Ek sien die moegheid in haar oë omdat dit vandag al weer nog ‘n dokters besoek by NOG ‘n dokter of hospitaal is…

Ek sien haar gebreekte siel elke keer as sy by die dokter op die skaal moet klim en dis al weer meer as laas.  Al het sy nie die popcorn by die fliek ge-eet of die roomys op die strand nie.

Ek sien nog steeds my pragtige liewe kind met ‘n hart van goud wat soveel empatie het met die mensdom al behandel soveel van hulle haar sleg.

Ek sien my pragtige 11 jarige dogtertjie wat so ‘n lus vir die lewe DIEP binne haar siel bère, maar haar liggaam hou dit gevangene.

Ek sien ‘n lewensveranderde operasie wat in Desember my kind se lewe onherroeplik gaan verander.

EK SIEN HOOP!

London Calling! Go Team GB!

Tower Bridge meets the Bulls 

Wow, what a week,....no, that’s no way to start the description of a life changing experience!

Should I rather say excellent, fantastic, awesome, no, I want to shout “WhooooHoooooo I was there!!”

The Olympics, what can I say, 204 countries competing in 36 different sporting events and my country brought back 6 medals, of which one was history in the making, South Africa winning its first ever Olympic medal in kayaking when Bridgette Hartley won a bronze in the womans 500m meter event.

A picture is worth a 10000000000 words!

The atmosphere was electric, London hosted a spectacular event, actually, what do you expect, they should be able to get it right on the third try (LoL). Everything worked and ran on time like a well made watch, the precision was evident everywhere, the transport, hotels, events, everything just worked, the IOC can reward every volunteer with a medal for making this a event to remember!

Seeing how everything was running on time I decided that a new watch had my name on it and proudly walked into Harrods, what a place! Full of bravado, straight to the watch counter (actually a whole store filled with the most beautiful time pieces I have ever laid my eyes on!), however, with the Rand being like a snot-nosed little kid on the playground trying to stand its man against guys like Bakkies Botha or Bismarck Du Plessis, I found out, to my dismay, that Harrods, although they sell everything under the sun, does not take kidneys as a deposit to buy a watch.

Hows that for brand placement.

So off we went, my personal trainer Greg and I to experience London, you’ll notice I didn’t call him my tour guide, no sir, he is much more than that! Greg knows London better than he knows Pretoria, around this corner, down that road, on the tube, off the tube and viola! 10 Downing Street, the ally where “His Cameron-ness” lives!, down the street, just around that corner, up this street, through the park, “don’t we use the tube!?” “no its easier to walk”, and there is Big Ben, West Minister Abbey and Boots. Up the stairs, across the bridge, down the stairs, just a few blocks, there is the London Eye. Phew!

Now as you might recall from my previous Blog, I see exercise as something you only do in an emergency, but Greg, thanx Bud, it was a pleasure running behind you through London, from the White Cliffs of Dover to Buckingham Palace on foot!

With all the exercise the tank had to be filled, and there I had the wonderful opportunity to sit at a table in one of the poshest restaurants in the world, Zuma in London, with a food and wine expert!

Sivi knows his business, and, his food and wine, what a culinary experience for a guy that eats steak and chips, and sees greens as an area on a golf course. I had to travel to London to have the best lamb chops in the world!

It’s difficult to put into words the feeling I have towards Sivi and Vanessa G, two visionary people that is willing to provide you with all the opportunities in the world, like parents, they guide and motivate you to achieve the greatest heights, and as parents do, they praise, but when necessary, also show you your errors, thanx guys for another HolGoun Family experience!

“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win” – Carl Lewis

Well till next time.

I know its true, because he said so.....

I am definitely not a story teller because a story is just what it says, a story.
However I have to share with you some "history", as a young boy who regularly heard this piece of "history", there were no way to check the historical accuracy of the "facts", and when asked the narrator always rebuked with "Hoekom sal ek nou lieg!(Why would I lie!)".
So this piece if history of my family goes as follows;

My Grandfather grew up on a farm Melkhoutsfontein near Gouritzriver, and they were 17 brothers and sisters, yes those were the days of hard work, and as I can judge from the number of children, lots of fun (although Oupa would have never admitted to that!).

Oupa was a young boy when his mother was in the "ander tyd" (or as we call it today pregnant). Times were  tough and Doctors where few and far between, unlike today where you cannot swing a cat and hit at least 10 of them. In those days the doctors came by the house, visited the patient and told them what was wrong without the use of X-rays, blood tests, sonars, CT Scans, seance sessions or whatever they use today. Thus near the due date the doctor told the old people that the baby bridged and she should go to the hospital for the birth.
As I (Oupa) mentioned, times where tough, they had to pee in the bath for some warm water, so when the time came to go to hospital they hitched their 12 year old horse to a borrowed cart, only to find that they didn't have any leather straps (rieme) to steer the horse with, eventually one of the brothers remembered where he saw some old rieme, and came back with 4 pieces of dry old leather that looked like bone (hard, white and brittle!).
Oupa as one of the youngest was told to go with them as the older children had to keep working on the farm, as they didn't know how they were going to pay for the medical expenses.
So without fanfare they got onto the old rickety cart, but before his father ( Great Grandfather) got on, he whispered something into the horses ear, and you could see the tears forming in the eyes of the horse, how it changed form being a "soon-to-be-pot-of-glue" to a thoroughbred!
According to Oupa, his father was a great motivator, not only did he have a vocabulary that would make the toughest sailor blush, but he also had the demeanor that said " I WILL CASH THE CHEQUES I WRITE!".

As they turned onto the road the horse began to run, he ran with all he had, when became tired, the old man just shouted "Onthou!".
The horse ran so fast that he had to pull the reins with all his might to ensure that the horse doesn't run out of the harness! He pulled so hard that the blood started to drip from that old, white, brittle pieces of leather!
Now, Oupa, explained, we all know what happens to wet "rieme", they stretch, the more his father pulled to take up the slack in the blood-soaked reins, the harder the horse worked, and the faster it ran! When they went past the modern day location of MossGas, they had such a load of new leather on the cart that there was hardly any place for him to sit, they were making good time, and when they came into Mossel Bay, it looked like they were on their way to the market to sell the leather straps!
But then the bad luck struck!, one of the wheels came off just as they were entering "Park Side West" (a very steep downhill into Mossel Bay), the wheel sped past them, but fortunately all the leather straps on the cart balanced it so it went down on 3 wheels!
They eventually reached the hospital and the baby was born without any complications.

They had such a load of fresh leather straps on the cart, that upon selling it, it payed for the the birth, fixing the wheel, they also bought new clothes for everyone and enough food for a year! Four ox wagons had to take the groceries to the farm!

And the horse......
Well according to Oupa, when he got back to the farm and told his brothers and sisters how the horse ran, they told him that they don't own a horse! only a mule!
That mule still worked for another 25 years on the farm, everyday, from sunrise to sunset, and when it was his time to go, it is said that he even dug his own grave!

What Great Grandfather said to the mule on that day is forever lost to history, but whatever it was the mule must have believed it.
How is that for motivation.

Well till next time.

Pink Floyd asked the right questions.........

Being labelled by those who see me walking down the street as a "BOER" made me think about what it is that says that, and why do I care?
What they see is a bald guy, wearing glasses, usually wearing a modern T-shirt(which my daughter picked, something Hardy or another, about which I blew a gasket when I got to know the price, and it was on sale) a neat pear of sweats (or a jean) and shoes to match.
I don't carry anything in my pockets as I don't like unnecessary bulges, my cell phone does not have De La Rey as a ringtone and I communicate in a acceptable manner.
Yes I drive a Landie (4 lt V8, what a sound!) but so does most of Sandton! But still something in my demeanor makes people label me as a "BOER".

So I thought it might be the music I listen to, its possible due to some hearing loss by spending nearly 17 years on a shooting range, I turn the music on quite load in the car.
To put my music into perspective, I have to explain that I grew up in the 80's and had (and still have) 3 very important influences in my taste of music.
Living in "M-Bay" (Mossel Bay), and with my grand parents at that, we were always a bit behind the times, but fortunately for me the "music-fashion-language-ethical-gods" would arrive every December in their family Beatle to bestow on me what is hip and happening in the world of music and fashion.
I learnt that shoes must match your belt, you can't end a sentence with "is" and to like their music, Pink Floyd, Men Without Hats, Talking Heads, UB 40, Linton Kwezi Johnston, Sex Pistols etc. Not to mention AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Rumstein, Andrea Bocelli.
Then the third influence came to me, the one angel met her husband to be, he loved Koos Kombuis, Johannes Kerkorrel and "een aand op die trein na Pretoriaaa", thus Afrikaans was added to the mix. Those were the days, songs meant something and the lyrics actually had something to say and touched your soal.
You'll notice that I didn't mention any of todays Afrikaans (although it irks me to call them that) singers. In South Africa today all you need is a 1500 bucks and then you have a CD, and if you career is struggling, throw in a gospel CD and you are back on track.
So it can't be my music because I don't do Juanita Du Plessis!

Then I thought, OK, not music, not clothing maybe its the lingo.
But again a lesson from the past came to me, meeting people in their circle of friends, I was quickly instructed to work on my pronunciation, as not to sound like a "dutch man", "its not carrrrs, but roll your r's its cars", so since then I made a point of getting the language right.

Then it dawned on me, the masses are just trying to break my balls!, because no matter what I wear, what music I listen to, what I drive or for who I vote, I will forever be judged on my skin colour, and because I live in Pretoria I must be a BOER.

Thank you guys for taking part in forming this Bloody-Oulike-Eccentric-Rascal!

Well till next time.

Days of Our Lives.....

Wow its been a long times since I spoke to the masses, so many things happened, so many dilemmas had to be solved and so many tears had to wiped, but that is all in a days work.

Skinner street became Nana Sita, Cape Town will become //Hui !Gaeb , and I moved, from *&% Duncan street to *&% Jan Shoba street without spending one sent on furniture removal! this is a wonderful country! I went for a "routine nasal operation" and came back with severe hypertension, my daughter chose her high school, and guess what...? 

I'll be going to the Olympics! 

Yes you heard me the Olympics! 

I must just clarify for those who don't know me that well, I will be a spectator not a participant, as my category, "unfit-40 something-braai (barbecue) addict-with-a disposition- for-whiskey" is not yet an Olympic event! 

Although I believe it would be one of the toughest events, standing in front of a hot fire, postponing  the actual braaiing endless times to ensure that the coals are just right, only to find that there is more meat than you anticipated, and always forgetting the "braaibroodjies", holding an ice cold glass and constantly consuming liquids without being thirsty, replaying and analysing the game endlessly until it is so burned into your memory that you can’t remember your wife's name but you can remember the exact second Bryan Habana scored that vital try that won the Bulls the Super Rugby Cup....and then being in the dog-box as "whats-her-name-again" complains that the children are hungry! 

Like I said very challenging indeed!

The name changes on the other hand, is not an issue at all, before I could actually wrap my head around it my trusty Tom-Tom already had all the names memorized! I must admit that the pronunciation is still very much a challenge, but at least the spelling is the same and I can find Lilian Ngoyi, translate it to van der Walt and know exactly not to go there as the traffic is horrible!

What is very interesting about the name changes is that the Afrikaans community embraces it more than the African community, this is evident by the fact that every single African person I spoke to over the last 4 weeks refers to the streets by their old names, and all the whites by the new name! LoL who would have thought that! I tell you this is crazy!

Embrace the changes and challenges that are coming your way, it moulds you and makes you better.

Well till next time!