Page 4 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

The translation journey was a welcome distraction during a depressing period in our country with Covid-19, a sharply declining economy, increasing unemployment, crime and corruption and extremist noises raising the temperature. It is a period in our history where I am increasingly concerned for the future of my SA-based children.
I was lucky to find Renate Wolf to do the translation. I met with her in Pretoria during August 2020. My requests were simple: a) she had to translate the diary “as is”, do not spare the blushes, b) I only wanted to see the completed work – not piecemeal, and, c) I wanted to present the finished product to my siblings and children as a Christmas present.
My curiosity overcame me by the end of September. Renate responded to my query on progress with the statement that her family now had to bear with her with missionary stories at dinner time. I was elated!
Renate convinced me that the translation should retain the pagination format of the diary and that I should include the corresponding, originally written pages in the final product. Very brave for the translator! We also went through the final product to try and clear the spelling of names. We managed to fix some with reference to Dr Bammann’s book. Her insights have been invaluable. As a matter of interest, I recommend that the reader does some research on the ship “Candace”. It tells its own stories. Renate also convinced me to distribute more widely. She knows people, who know people who will be interested! My sincere gratitude to Renate for her translation, enthusiasm, and advice. Her insights have been invaluable. I include her comments.
Translator’s comment:
When entrusted with the translation of a document such as this personal diary of a dedicated missionary you indeed step into the shoes of the person who penned the events of his days. You start seeing the world through his eyes, understanding the people of his times on the basis of his experiences.
In translating these memories and reflections I tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text so as to allow readers of the English vervsion the same privilege of drawing close to the author. It is thus that, for example, terms that during the course of history became ideologically burdened (“kaffir”, “heathen”) were maintained. Interestingly, upon careful reading of the diary it will be noticed that these terms were only used in the early stages after his arrival in South Africa. As he got to know and work with the people of this initially unfamiliar and somewhat daunting continent, such