Page 33 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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At the new station there was much work to do. My father
tried to improve it by building a dam in the river that had very little water and by laying a water pipe from the dam to a small agricultural field so that we could plant some vegetables. In order to protect this garden, we had to pack a wall of stones around it because at that time there was no wire in the country yet. But only very little came of it.
As far as animals were concerned, we had a few cows, some chickens, a dog, a cat, monkeys and a tame black crow. My father also purchased a short fat mare so that he could visit the kraals that were located far from each other because that was his actual work as a missionary. Some of the black women had never before seen a white woman and marvelled at my mother and sisters for their long straight hair. The black people there walked almost completely naked and had had no or only very rare contact with white people.
My father developed the habit of visiting the kraals every Saturday morning and to invite everyone to the service at the station on Sunday. When I was 7 years old, I was often allowed to accompany him and then we took turns in riding the horse. That was fun. Sundays more a more people came, especially when my mother