Page 251 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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1922 – 1925
I will describe now what happened in the years 1922 to 1925 without mentioning exact dates because it would be too much work to look up everything. In about 1922 I was called to Cape Town by the Native Affairs Commission and they granted me the journey free of charge without telling me the reason. When I reported there, I was asked by the chairperson Reverend Mr Robertsons about the small church congregations of natives that had cut their ties to all churches. I was unprepared and
had had no chance to think about this and could thus give few answers. They should have asked me to come prepared. I had two weeks of holiday and a free trip and could look at Cape Town and surrounds.
After a successful hernia operation in the Afrikaans Hospital
in Pretoria sister Christine got an ulcer on the left side and suffered much pain. It turned out to be a cancerous ulcer and she died of it in July 1924. She was a good, dear sister and we were really fond of each other. She had run the household of our old father from mother’s death in 1897 until April 1900, she helped in the congregation wherever she could, she gave sewing classes and I visited her frequently.