Dwight, this is fascinating! I was able to crawl if not fly to see your
place and that is fanstastic! Are the twp walled areas ruined
buildings, or compounds? And the white outlined area, is that the
shop? Maybe we can cha offlist, it is amazing to zoom in and see your
place. Great story of how you got to be back there. Would love to see
photos from gound level too.
<L>
Lou Judson =95 Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689
On Feb 23, 2007, at 1:54 AM, dwight muller wrote:
> Hello all you passionate and friendly folk!
>
> My name is Dwight Muller and I am living in South Africa in a rural
> area formerly known as the Transkei. Here are the co-ordinates so you
> can 'fly in' on Google Earth if you want to see the place we are
> transforming: 32deg 18' 52.38" S 28deg 17' 46.45" E. I have returned
> to where I grew up after many years spent pursueing a carreer in
> computer systems analysis and database administration that dragged me
> from Cape Town to Amsterdam and all round Europe and the (not so)
> United Kingdom. My grandfather set up a trading store (i.e. a general
> dealer shop in the middle of nowhere) on this site in 1901. Its about
> 20 min drive from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape and our family built
> up and maintained a thriving business there until 1976 when my dad
> decided due to inter-racial tensions to sell up and relocated the
> family to East London which is a small city on the east coast of SA.
> This was the period in our history when the anti-apartheid, african
> freedom movement was beginning to get more militant and people in our
> situation were under threat of their lives. I never wanted to leave
> where I grew up and so last year when my friend and I were looking for
> a piece of land on which to set up a forest garden, the old trading
> store was the first of a list of possibilities that we investigated.
> As the area is a tribal area it was essential to get the permission of
> the local people. We approached the local tribal council and since all
> of them know our family and myself from when I lived here as a boy the
> decision was unanimous that we should return. They had really never
> wanted us to leave in the first place! I was born here and so was my
> father and that fact alone was enough to close the discussion! As the
> buildings have been allowed to fall into ruins after the last
> occupants were murdered here (they were dealing in cannabis and
> reconditioning stolen cars on the site and must have got into a
> disagreement over money with their 'partners' who arrived in a
> mob one day and gunned the whole family down!) the government
> officials that rent these old trading stations out to businessmen
> decided they could not charge us anything for the use of the place! So
> we are living on 4.5 hectares of beautiful land that we have the use
> of as long as we are in residence for absolutely free and creating a
> paradise forest that in time will deliver all our food needs with
> enough to share with the local peope too! We are surrounded by the
> most amazing nature and it is teeming with birds and creatures of all
> shapes and sizes.
>
> I have had an interest in nature and the sounds of nature since I
> was a small boy growing up here. I remember making recordings down at
> the river near our home with a clunky cassette deck that was leading
> edge in its day - that was back in the early '70s when I was just
> entering my teens.
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