My Danish grandfather’s brother, Alfred Sorensen-Vedel, went to South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century, so I have relatives there. After I received an invitation from my cousin, Morag Atherstone, I went to visit them and received great hospitality. Mark Atherstone, Morag’s husband, is a director of Ivanhoe Farming Company. I was very impressed by the company and Mark gave me permission to make a video about it and interview him. I also interviewed Albert Theron, who is a seed potato inspector at the Potato Certification Service. Continue reading Ivanhoe Farming Company→
District Six is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town and is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants to townships during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. The inhabitants included a substantial number of colored Muslims, called Cape Malays, and also black Xhosa residents, whites, and Indians. Concerning culture the district was famous for the South African jazz but there have also been written novels, songs, poems, theatre productions and musicals about the district. On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. The old buildings were bulldozed except places of worship including a Jewish religious bookstore. In 1994 the District Six Museum (districtsix.co.za) was established and serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals. Continue reading Charly’s Bakery→
Videos, photos and text by Kristján H. Kristjánsson about countries, culture, nature and other things he find interesting.
