Page 6 - 05 December 2025

PAGE 6 · THE REPORTER 5 DECEMBER 2025

might've started on a rugby drive down a gravel road,
field, a farm auction, or the waving at every second car,
local club, but it carried and knowing who owns the
through generations. dog wandering near the
Sure, country towns have café.
their quirks. Change comes Growing up in the country
slowly, sometimes not at all. teaches you things that
New ideas are met with never quite leave you, how to
suspicion, especially if they respect your elders, how to
arrive wearing fancy shoes or pitch in without being asked,
holding a clipboard. And how to judge a man not by
forget privacy, if you paint his job title but by whether
“Country Grit, City Glare" your stoep, someone will he’ll help fix a fence in the
comment before the under-
coat's dry. And if you're seen rain. It teaches you that a real
handshake can hold more
There's a kind of strength stronger, and the traffic... at the bioscope with some-
Ons wens die volgende tagtigjariges van harte geluk you only find in country folk. well, it has its own rules. If one new? Expect questions, weight than a written con-
met hul verjaarsdae en wens hulle alles van die beste Not the gym-honed, protein- you wave at someone here, and not just from your tract, and that if someone
vir die toekoms toe: shake type you see pacing they assume it's a warning, mother. pulls you out of a ditch, you
say thank you, and prepare
We congratulate the following octogenarians on their city pavements, but the or they respond with their But when the chips are to hear about it at every braai
quiet, lived-in resilience finger, and not the friendly
birthdays and wish them everything of the best for the down, when there's a fire, a for the rest of your life.
shaped by long days, early kind. Out in the country, a
future: funeral, or a family in strife-
mornings, and a relationship raised finger off the steering the whole town shows up. I might live in the city now,
Maria Vorster, 83 op 5 Desember with the land that teaches wheel was the gold standard Bakkies arrive with tools, but the country's still in me,
Judy Herman, 80 op 31 Desember patience, grit, and more of rural politeness. Didn't meals, and moral support. steady as a windmill,
Jan Naudé, 93 op 9 Januarie 2026 than a little humility. It's in matter if you passed a No rosters. No red tape. Just grounded as a sheepdog's
Thea Theron, 81 op 13 Januarie 2026 the firm, calloused hands, bakkie, a battered Datsun, or that unspoken bond that stare, and running deep like
the rivers that shape those
Hannah Buys, 89 op 15 Januarie 2026 the sun-lined faces, and the a tractor doing 15 on the holds rural communities
way people simply show up main road, you acknow- together. small towns, sometimes dry,
when they're needed, no ledged the other driver. One The city has its conve- sometimes overflowing, but
fuss, no fanfare. finger, small nod, job done. always there.
In the city, if you make eye niences. Your coffee arrives
I grew up in Barkly East, a by app, your groceries by The Barkly I grew up in was
small town where neigh- contact in traffic, people drone, and your anonymity like that - and I like to think,
bours weren't just people assume you've lost control of is absolute. But sometimes, still is. Barkly, gotta love it.
who lived nearby, they were your vehicle or your mind. I'd trade all that for a quiet By Logan Lamont
the ones who loaned you Neighbours in the city are
their trailer, helped you get different, too. They're there,
the tractor started, and somewhere, stacked in neat
turned up with a casserole rows above, below and
when bad news made its beside me, but we mostly
rounds. It might've been interact through muffled
Barkly East in my case, but footsteps or the occasional
you'll find the same spirit in courier mix-up. It's not
country towns across the unfriendly, just impersonal.
map. Places where Friday Everyone's busy, moving,
night footy is a religion, and hustling. In the country, time
the guy who fixed your fence bends around connection.
last week is marking your Yo u c a n ' t p o p i n t o
son on the rugby field this Mukheibir's store without a
weekend. fifteen-minute chat, and if
you're in a rush, best leave an
Social life revolved around hour early.
school fetes and community
hall dances, Wartrail, Mo- What I miss most isn't just
sheshes Ford, or wherever the familiarity - it's the
the tin roof rang with music authenticity. Country people
and the scent of floor polish. don't wear many masks.
The girls arrived in their best They'll tell you what they
dresses, the boys scrubbed think, whether or not you
up and smelled of deodo- asked. And when they shake
rant, and half the district's your hand, it means
romances began over a something. It's not soft or
slippery. It's a grip that tells
warm Coke and dancing to
Steve Bekker and his "orkes". you they've worked, and
they've stood by their word,
Now I live in a city, where the likely since before you were
pace is faster, the coffee born. That handshake

The Reporter which is registered at the Post Office as
a newspaper is printed and published by the
proprietors, Barkly East Reporter cc (Reg No.
2002/024771/23) at 28 Greyvenstein Street, Barkly
East.
Copyright on all materials in The Reporter reserved
by the proprietors.

Hierdie lys van funksies en gebeure word
gepubliseer in ‘n poging om te verhoed dat
belangrike fondsinsameling pogings bots. Funksies
geplaas op voorwaarde dat ‘n advertensie later
geplaas word. ‘n Rekening sal gestuur word
indien daar nie ‘n advertensie geplaas word nie.

DECEMBER 2025
6 Barkly East SUMMER FESTIVAL
11 Maclear Country Club: Robbie & Hammie
Wessels, Jaco Peyper, Daan Human, Spitbraai
13 MOSHESH Classic: Tennis, Pickleball, Social
Paddle, MTN Biking
17 Narnia Christmas at New Life, 0 Brownlee Str.