20. The family is back in town

It had been five years since the family were in South Africa. In the interim, I visited them one holiday, as described earlier, for our memorable trip to Jerusalem together. It was now time for them to come for a year of ‘furlough’. I thus left the boarding house halfway through Standard 9 (eleventh grade) and joined them in Haldane Road, Newlands, just around the corner from where Granny Hannah Mathew lived. In the picture above, Granny Mathew is surrounded by her family. Dad and Uncle Hugh were not in the picture at the time. With Dad, Mom, Brenda, Graham, Howard, Joan and me in the house, space was tight, and I had a little room off the kitchen. It was cramped but suited me perfectly. We named the house ‘Shemlan’ after our village in Lebanon. I was no longer a fourteen-year-old boy but was now sixteen and accustomed to managing my own life at boarding school. There were teething pains, but it was good to be relating at a normal level to my own family. 

Brenda remembers first visiting Dad’s brother Ernie and Gwen and the family in Johannesburg for a few days before catching the train down to Cape Town. The mission had arranged to rent a home for us in Haldane Road. The house was conveniently close enough to Westerford High School, so Brenda could walk there. Graham joined me at Wynberg High School, and we both biked to school. It was not easy for Graham coming halfway through the South African school year to a very formal environment that did not recognise other cultural perspectives. Over time I had learnt to keep the ‘Lebanese’ side of me quiet and only revealed the ‘South African’ part in that context.  Howard went to Wynberg Boys Junior School and Joan walked to Oakhurst.  

I remember Graham and I riding out to Betty’s Bay one weekend and enjoying ‘brother time’ together. We took whatever we needed to camp and had an uncomplicated time on our own together. We explored a cave along the coastal road between Gordon’s Bay and Pringle Bay. Both of us enjoyed campouts and relaxing in nature without too much pressure. 

We all adapted to the new routines for a while as we settled into the business of being together in one house. Brenda reminded me of my penchant for listening to music on the radio at full blast. At boarding school, we only had showers and a long bath after a tough rugby game was very appealing. I wanted to still hear the songs even though the bathroom was at the other end of the house to the lounge, so I left the door open. She seemed a little disturbed that I wasn’t concerned about privacy, but that was a word I had forgotten the meaning of when I went to boarding school.  

Dad was often travelling around the country for ‘deputation’ and mission meetings, so Mom kept the family going on a day-to-day basis. Apparently, Ernie and the family were moving to Cape Town, so while they looked for a house, they stayed with us for a while. I am not sure how we all fit in the house, but it could have been a reason why we decided to go on a tour of South Africa during the long, warm, December holidays. I do know we were back in time for Christmas as pictured below of the extended de Smidt family together at Yvonne (Dad’s sister) and Glynn Tudor’s place. I do not feature in the photo, so perhaps I was the photographer. 

Dad packed up the blue Ford Zephyr with camping gear and the whole family set off on the road trip. On some occasions we stayed with friends of theirs who were brave enough to take in a family of seven. The tour was fairly well documented by Dad in Super 8 film. Much footage was used up on ostriches in Oudtshoorn or the dolphins at the aquarium in Port Elizabeth, but now and then we featured riding an ostrich, visiting the Cango Caves or putting up a tent. We visited Natal, and on to Pretoria to meet up with Lincoln Vivier and his family. He was a cousin of my dad’s and a psychiatrist, and we learned a little about the kind of work he did through Dad’s sharing snippets from their talks together. I could tell Dad attached a lot of weight to his opinions. Aletta was his wife’s name, and she kept chinchillas for some reason. Their fur was evidently very much in fashion and money could be made. 

Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Beaufort West and Carnarvon followed. It was in Carnarvon that we stayed with Dr. Brummer (a dentist) and his family. Our time there was a blast for all; three things were memorable: skiing, flying and watermelon. Dr. Brummer had a boat, and Graham and I were able to go skiing on the local dam. I I think Graham went into the reeds. It was rather difficult for novices like us to negotiate the turns properly. I narrowly missed the reeds myself. Some of these events were recorded on Super 8 too. Dr Brummer was very involved in the mission Council, but I am not sure if that was only at a later point or not. 

We had a short flight in a small Aeroplane and each of us was able to have a go, flying close over the town and staying quite close to the ground - a very different experience to flying in a large passenger plane. Then there was the day when we enjoyed an amazing braai with boerewors, chops and watermelon. I remember that I overdid it with the watermelon on that occasion. 

A rather dangerous undertaking was when Dad allowed me to drive for a long stretch of road where traffic was scarce. He took pride in being a good instructor and things went along fine, with the rest of the family in the car as I drove with Dad giving guidance from the front seat. On one occasion I veered off the road. I thought we were going to end up rolling down an embankment. Dad’s strong hand on the wheel got us back on course. I got such a fright and wanted to stop there and then. Wisely, in retrospect, he made me continue driving until I was driving steadily. When we later stopped at a bridge, I remember my hands shaking and I felt weak at the knees. I didn’t drive again after that but much later on I was able to continue lessons. I must have been 16 at the time. We all made it back to Haldane Road.  

We attended the Claremont Baptist Church and Brenda made good friends with Heather Reed, Margaret Broster, Lynn Grapentin, Sandra Mudie, and one or two others and they sometimes came to visit. One time I took a handful of harmless grass snakes into Brenda and Joan’s bedroom and was delighted with their startled reactions. Boarding school had not taught me many sophisticated ways of trying to impress girls. 

By the time writing my final Matric exams came around, the family had already returned to Lebanon. Their year was up. However, this time around, their departure was not a big adjustment for me, as I would soon be finishing High School and intended to go to Beirut for further studies. Jim and Jess kindly made space for me in their home for my final months at school, and I managed to pass high school. Not with flying colours but at least I had my Matric Exemption and was not planning to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer! I am pictured here, in a slightly earlier time, with Libby and baby Alison.