Page 281 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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1932 – 1934
had to accept my first suggestion and had to accept the three farms for the debt but allowed the Bakwena to buy these back from the government whenever they wanted. In addition to the three farms it also took Uitvalgrond near Oskraal so that the people from Hebron would also lose something. At an assembly of the people in Brits everything was accepted in this way, was put in writing and was signed. Over the past seven years of the levy I had been given 10% of the money collection, but half of that I had to pay my helpers. And when the levy came to an end through the agreement, nobody thanked me for my work.
In 1936 to 1937 we started building a church in Rama. The congregation agreed that every family father and every young man would have to pay ₤ 2, every widow and every spinster
₤ 1. I should keep the cash and do the books. Everybody that
was at home should also have to help with the spans and their assistance as handymen. The men and women at home baked and burned bricks so that the construction work could start. A good bricklayer from Elim, Matheus Mayesa, did the construction work for ₤ 40 and in 1937 we could consecrate the church. But there was neither a ceiling nor pews and it had not been plastered on the outside because the young men in Johannesburg did not pay. We needed about another ₤ 200 from them.