Dithakong

Just missed sunrise but it was still beautiful watching the light rise on the hills. I was pulled outside by an irritating knocking noise, to find a gorgeous Cardinal Woodpecker pecking at my car window. It’s a tiny bird with a scarlet cap (hence name) and was getting confused with his reflection.

The birdlife here is wonderful and I spent an hour wandering the hill behind me with my binoculars. If you’re a birdie here is what I saw: red eyed bulbul, European bee eater, hoepoe, pied crow, yellow bishop and grey tit. I also came across a family of small buck. Not sure what they were. The bush here seems mostly varieties of thorn tree.

This short adventure is being guided by a book that I’m reading called Beloved Partner Mary Moffat of Kuruman by Moira Dickson. I last read it over 20 years ago but I’m loving reading it now, in situ. This morning I read the account of Mary and Robert leaving Griqua Town and moving North East to Lattakoo to join another missionary couple, the Hamiltons. Lattakoo? Never heard of it and neither had Google maps. I then found out it is now called Dithakong and is about 70 km from here. So off I went!

Dithakong is positioned off a side road on the way to Vryburg, to the east. As I approached the turnoff the countryside changed dramatically, flattening out with very sparse shrubs and grasses. There were myriad goats, sheep, donkeys, cattle, horses and children to navigate as they wandered beside the road but I was relieved that it was tarred as my little car has sissy tyres.

I passed village after village with tidy little square brick houses and small red dirt yards, sometimes with a vege patch. There were a few brightly colored stores and bars. The soil did not look great and the skinniness of the animals supported that thought. The transport of choice was horse and cart and I passed a dozen of these, the carts a fabulously creative combination of scrap cobbled together. I was pleased to see a bus service, schools and a school bus and when I reached Dithakong (Lattakoo) there was a magnificent health centre. I felt awkward taking photos so you’ll have to use your imagination. The mission buildings are long gone.

The Lattakoo mission had been established by the Hamiltons several years earlier in the Bechuana village of Chief Mothibi . Mary and Robert arrived there with new born baby Mary in 1821 and lived in a one room mud hut until Robert built a decent house. There was no local water source and nothing would grow on the land without irrigation so he and Hamilton and some local tribesmen dug a furrow several kilometers long to bring water to the mission from the Kuruman River . The village women looked on with interest as the mission gardens grew, and immediately diverted the furrow to their own land. Lots of negotiations followed!

It was a very tough time for the four missionaries and Mrs Hamilton eventually took her kids and left. An attack on the mission and village by 40 000 people of the marauding Mantatee tribe was only prevented by Robert riding to Griqua Town, three days away and bringing back commandos. The Bechuanas were not fighting people and left their village to crowd into the mission during the attack. They were happy to go out and kill any injured Mantatee afterwards however, until Robert put a stop to it. Many of those survivors ended up working with the Moffats for years.

The attack and threat of further attacks ended up being the last straw for Robert who was very aware of the wonderful natural fountain called the Eye of Kuruman and was determined to move there. Chief Mothibi gave his permission and the land below the fountain was leased from him. The building on the new site was constantly interrupted by the need to flee the Mantatee attacks which continued regularly, with deaths in the tens of thousands.

They moved to Kuruman in 1825. I visited it today, exactly 200 years later. And it was a beautiful experience.

After Dikathong I felt the right sequence was to visit The Eye and then the Mission. The Eye’s proper name is Ga Segonyana, meaning small calabash. It is believed to be the largest natural spring in the southern hemisphere producing approximately 20 000 cubic meters of water a day - and it’s beautiful to drink. I found it right in the middle of Kuruman. It has been fenced and landscaped, but I think a lot of that happened quite a while ago as it was looking a bit shabby. The spring however was stunning. There’s a pic attached. It’s crystal clear and flows out of the ground into a large pond before being directed into the town’s water supply and the river. I’ll go back as I didn’t have cash on me so couldn’t pay the entry fee to the guard who was having a nice rest on a bench under a tree.

Kuruman is hectic. Big signs warn of High Crime Zones and the streets are packed with cars and people. Within the chaos there must be some prosperity as there’s a lot of development- a big shopping centre under construction. Not a town I plan to wander around alone.

Next stop was Kuruman Mission, now known as the Moffat Mission. I was apprehensive as this is the real reason I’m here, and after all the mess and bedlam of Kuruman I was not confident. The mission is out of town on the northern outskirts. I had to drive through a couple of dodgy suburbs but suddenly it was quiet and leafy. A sign said Kuruman Moffat Mission Heritage Project, there was a guarded gate and I entered. At the entrance is a cluster of buildings painted a cheerful orange. It’s called the Leap 8 School and is part of a group of Leap schools which provide maths and science focused education to underprivileged children. The Mission was on the other side through a little gate. I felt like Lucy going through the back of the Wardrobe as I stepped into another world. The beautiful 200 year old buildings stood gracefully in immaculate condition, with surrounding gardens and towering trees, probably planted by the Moffats. It was peaceful, and I felt overwhelming gratitude to the generations of people who have protected it.

I have a date on Monday with the Rev Mighty Keagile who is going to give me a proper guided tour, but I had a sneak peek and took some special photos. A highlight was the enormous church which still has its dirt floor.

There will be more about this on Monday, but I must say, visiting a place created by family four generations ago was very powerful and I am so very glad I’m here.Læs mere