Page 163 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

76
1890 – 1891
all of you and your children are Christians. The church has become too small, we must have a big church, I want to have a big church built and I expect you all to help me, Christians and heathens. The voice of the assembly supported Jakobus and his suggestion that every man had to look for ₤ 4 for
the construction and would have to help with his span and
his hands was accepted. Everything was accepted and it was ordered that we should immediately start with the baking and burning of bricks, taking turns, from the lower tribes for one week each. That is how it happened. A few 100000 bricks were formed and fired in a couple of months. Everybody was willing, also the women were willing to carry water. Now it was a matter of getting a plan for the church. A plan by an architect was to cost ₤ 50. Then father and I heard, when we travelled to Pretoria because of this, that there was a German architect by the name of Kroll who was currently out of work. We went to see him and he offered to develop a plan for ₤ 30, to manage the construction and to help himself for ₤ 1 per day plus meals and accommodation. We accepted this. I paid the ₤ 30 for the plan out of my pocket and Kroll came to Bethanie with two German bricklayers and the construction work was started.