Olivia Schaffer Lifestyle
Groot Marico, less than three hours north-west of Johannesburg, is the home of the Herman Charles Bosman Literary Society, founded in 1993, of which the legendary Patrick Mynhardt is honorary life president. At least twice a year the local committee members and friends open their doors and extend their hospitality to visitors. October 15 to 17 was such an occasion.
All Bosman weekends are memorable; this one had an added significance. It included the wetting of a stone on the property, bought by the society, where a replica of the Heimweeberg Farm School will be built. Bosman taught at the original school, on the Botswana border, in 1926. About 20 Bosman admirers took to the veld and, in true Bosman fashion, raised their glasses of Jerepigo in commemoration of one of South Africa’s best-loved literary characters. They also toasted the success of a formidable yet romantic project.
The society’s purpose is to commemorate the poet who immortalised the Marico and its inhabitants. It celebrates this unique place, which served as an enduring source of inspiration for him.
The society also provides a meeting place for the friends of Bosman and the Groot Marico, making the region accessible to those whose curiosity has been aroused by Bosman’s Marico stories; serves as a literary society for those who derive pleasure, amusement, instruction and sustenance from books; aims to assert and conserve the authentic Marico identity; and collates and disseminates the continual research on Bosman.
The construction of a reproduction of the Heimweeberg Farm School aims to provide a suitable venue from which to promulgate Bosman’s works, and the society is raising funds for this purpose.
In honour of this occasion Antoinette Pienaar, the first artists after Mynhardt to perform at a Bosman weekend, was invited to present a performance of Johanna. Many older members of the audience were noticeably moved by the story of a woman who buried her husband and son during the Anglo-Boer South African War. Her hatred of the English dissolved when she fell in love with and married and English soldier, whom her conscience would not ignore when she found him on her property.
Another first for a Bosman weekend was live performance poetry. Six Gauteng poets, Leon de Kock, JC Van, Henning Pieterse, Eugene Ashton, Dapo Oyewole and Pieter Nagel, made up two competing teams – Bekgeveg and Skop – which turned words into verses from themes suggested by the audience, who also judged the contest. Unfortunately even lively compre Demos Takoulas, competent presentation and poetic creativity were not enough to get the show off the ground, probably because the venue – the 1938 Dutch Reformed Church hall – was too impersonal. Also, because the presentation was bilingual, members of the audience who weren’t proficient in both languages missed many nuances.
In hearty Marico style, visitors were also treated to a mampoer tour, a walk through the veld to the perennial Groot Marico river with the focus on indigenous plantlife, and a meal comprising pap, boerewors, potjiekos, tuisgebakte brood, bottomless cups of moerkoffie and – of course – Bosman readings.
Simplicity is the charm of a weekend in Groot Marico. Ignore its one-horse-town appearance, and you’ll discover an abundance of interesting and educational activities to pursue.
For details, call Santa or Lily at 083 272-2958 or dial 014252 and ask for 85. The e-mail address is info @marico.co.za or grootmarico @mweb.co.za. You can also visit the town’s website at www.marico.co.za