Page 235 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

112
1916
In the West the government bought the whole of Berseba (Boshpoort 5000 acres) from the Mission and Losperfontein (2000 acres) and from Allsis [?] (Manoka) the farms and out
of gratitude that the whole project could thus be resolved with goodwill, the government gave the Bakwena an additional 2000 acres over and above the 16000 acres. Nobody ever thanked me or gave me a penny of commission and I was stupid enough not to ask for it!!!
The Hermannsburg Mission received ₤ 20000 and in the
years of the World War they could do a lot with this money. But Superintendent H. Behrens and his advisor made the big mistake that they also sold the rectangular property in the village of Bethanie with the shop and the missionaries’ houses so that the mission had no inch of land anymore. In this way, the house of my sister Christine was lost without me getting a penny for it from the Mission and it had cost ₤ 250!! – and the Kaptein earns at least ₤ 60 per year from the shop. From 1916 – 1943 the Mission has lost ₤ 1680 through the loss of the shop and the missionary is sitting in the house of the Bakwena at their mercy. Nobody asked me for advice or for my opinion at the time and nobody thought of the future. Gone is gone and
it cannot be restored. In 1928 I had difficulties in getting the house for Missionary Buhr.