January 2020

Dear family and friends!

Our previous newsletter was published on our website in March 2017. Time flies and having teenagers at home certainly contributes to that. By now it’s only Tabitha that’s still at home. But let’s continue where we left off in 2017.

Andriko (21) has completed his BCom (Investment Management) degree at the University of Pretoria with distinction (nogal) and is now starting with his Honours degree, also at UP. In parallel, he has written and passed the first level of the international Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams. Level 2 is scheduled for June 2020 and, trusting that he can pass that as well, he wants to write Level 3 in 2021. He has worked hard and conscientiously put in the hours, starting early in the year and enduring to the end.

Towards the end of 2019 he applied for a number of positions at various investment houses but did not get any positive response. In the light of the CFA workload until June, maybe that is not a bad thing.

Andriko and Nicole are doing well. They attend church at Doxa Deo, where they have done great courses preparing them for life. In the last year (2019) especially we have witnessed amazing developments in them.

Danilo (19) was elected Head Boy of Windhoek Gymnasium in September 2017. His year of duty (2018) was extremely busy and demanding, and he did a phenomenal job. He is blessed with a large capacity and endowed with a variety of talents. He can really focus on his studies and then go visit friends (kuier), even while under pressure. In fact, he needs human interactions, it energises him.

The Head Girl, Jacolene Brand, was a great support and friend, and as a team they led the LRC very well. This was acknowledged at the 2018 prize giving when they were honoured together with the Rector’s Trophy.

In August 2017 Danilo played Inline Hockey for the national Junior Men’s team at the world championship in Nanjing, China. In 2018 he was elected caption of that team and, while playing at the Africa Cup, injured his knee and couldn’t play for the rest of the year. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, as he then had more time to focus on his Grade 12 exams. He received various academic awards at school and ended up sixth in the country in the national school leaving exams.

With the help of his great biokineticist, Dalena Botes, Danilo’s knee healed very well. Like Andriko, he enjoys indoor- and beach volleyball, and both have been playing at national level. Thank you to trainer James Verrinder!

At the end of 2017 our whole family did a 3-day First Aid course, something Danilo wanted to do for his application to study medicine. It was great fun!

We heard in August 2018 already that Danilo was accepted at the University of Pretoria for the MBChB. What a privilege! He also got a place at the medical residence, House Olympus. We were so grateful and full of joy, since this was the only thing he wanted to do, and we knew how much competition there is for each of these spots.

By now, Danilo has completed his first year at university. It was an exciting year with lots of challenges conquered well, despite being homesick now and then. He took part in whatever he could, singing, dancing, sport and studies. House Olympus crowned him “Kuiken van die jaar 2019” (outstanding first year student of the year).

Andriko and Danilo played indoor and beach volleyball for the university – what a privilege to be able to do that together as brothers.

In August 2019 Danilo started playing ice hockey, since there was no inline hockey in Pretoria. He enjoyed it and did so well, that he made the South African national under-20 team that took part in the world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in January 2020.

After such a successful year, Danilo was on his way home on 22 October 2019. He had been exempted from the usual year-end exams as he had “promoted”, i.e. accumulated the required marks through the year. The little Ford Fiesta was packed to the roof, as he had to clear his room – he moved into a different room in 2020. Having picked up his fellow first year medical student Trusty Kavezuva, they were driving through Pretoria when at about 04:45 Danilo noticed a car with the blue light of a police vehicle behind him. It flashed its lights, indicating he should stop, which he then did. Two men with bullet-proof vests got out and asked to see his driver’s licence. Then they asked to search the car. Danilo didn’t suspect anything untoward until one of them pulled a gun, cocked it, and pointed it at Danilo. They were ordered down the embankment, where they had to sit down and close their eyes. The men wanted to know if the car had a tracking system. No. Next they were told to run and not look back! Danilo thought they would shoot at them now and ran in a zig-zag way. There were no shots. After a while Danilo and Trusty stopped and looked back: both the Ford Fiesta with Namibian number plates and the white VW Polo with the blue light were gone. Trusty and Danilo had just lost everything they owned bar the clothes they were wearing, but they were alive!!!

They ran back to the road and Danilo waved down the first car, which happened to be a security guard that took them to a police station. Danilo could not remember Andriko’s phone number but knew those of his parents. The guard graciously allowed him to call us from his phone. The police did not consider it necessary to start looking for the stolen car – there was no sense of urgency whatsoever. Can you imagine the frustration?! Danilo had just survived a high jacking, was full of adrenaline, hoping that someone would make at least some effort to recover all he had just lost, and the most important thing now was to tell the officer in detail what was in the car?!?

Trusty’s uncle works at the Namibian High Commission in Pretoria and helped them get emergency travel documents. Andriko, Nicole and phenomenal friends took Danilo all over Pretoria to stop bank cards, apply for new documents and get a phone and some clothes. Their helpfulness was soothing for the wounded soul. Thank you, all, for your labours of love! Two days after the traumatic incident a private Namibian airline, Westair, brought the two students from Johannesburg to Windhoek free of charge.

Most things can be replaced, even if it is a schlepp. Danilo’s and Trusty’s lives were spared, and for that we thank the Lord with all our heart.

This report would be incomplete without an encouragement: the night before Danilo was to drive from Pretoria, I (Birgit) had a strong urge to pray for Danilo’s and Trusty’s protection the next day. I could hardly wait for Hellmut to come to bed so that we could pray for the kids, which we then did extensively. We got to know Trusty’s mother, Nguri, at the airport. She’s also a believer and told us how she woke up three times that morning of 22 October, at 2:00, at 3:00 and at 4:00 with the thought to pray for Trusty’s and Danilo’s protection and pray the blood over Jesus over them. Each time she got up and prayed in obedience. After the third time, she fell asleep soundly and woke up at 6:00. The attack happened at about 4:45, but at 4:00 the spiritual battle for Trusty’s and Danilo’s lives had already been won! Praise the Lord!!

The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. (James 5:16b)

Pray to me when you are in trouble! I will deliver you, and you will honour me! (Psalm 50:15)

Tabitha, our youngest, has turned 17 this year. She is now in grade 12, was voted on the LRC and is also very hard-working. The career guidance tests clearly point in the veterinary direction. Veterinary research is one of the options. Both her grandfathers are veterinary surgeons, and Birgit’s dad did a lot of research, e.g. discovering the origin of various diseases in Namibia. In 2017 we visited the wildlife sanctuary Harnas (harnas.org) north of Gobabis, and in 2019 we visited N/a‘ankusê not far from us (naankuse.com). Both are active in the care, rehabilitation and rescue of neglected, abused and abandoned animals, including predators that were caught by farmers (or wounded) and orphaned little ones. While the aim is to release them into the natural habitat, this is not always possible. These two visits really resonated with Tabitha, and she can definitely see herself working there as a vet. In March she will apply to be admitted to Onderstepoort, the only veterinary faculty in South Africa, also at the University of Pretoria.

Tabitha had high ambitions with her beloved horse Spirit (aged 14) for 2019 and 2020. The dressage and show jumping competitions in December 2018 went well. But in January 2019 Spirit often seemed uncomfortable and stiff, until one day he was clearly lame. Veterinary investigations and x-rays showed a chip in the left hind joint, a hard piece of bone or cartilage causing pain in the joint. The vet advised that it could be operated, but not in Namibia. Spirit would have to be taken to Johannesburg in South Africa and stay there for at least three weeks before being transported back to Namibia. For the next months after the operation Tabitha would only have been able to ride him cautiously, and there is no guarantee of success. Spirit actually had numerous injuries arising from the fact that he is an alpha animal and fights his way through the ranks until he is recognised as the dominant male. Spirit did well in the jumping arena, while dressage was not so much fun. All these factors as well as the huge costs of the transport and the operation eventually brought us to the decision to retire him. Spirit’s breeder offered to take him back to her farm, for which we are very grateful.

By mid-February 2019 Tabitha needed a horse. Since she would only be in Windhoek for another two years before heading to university, we did not want to buy another horse, so we looked for a lease horse. That’s a tough one. Lease horses at that stage were either problem animals, inexperienced young horses or Tabitha didn’t connect well with them. We looked at ten horses. Eventually she decided to lease Beau Sejour, a 17-year-old, experienced gelding. Soon after we had him, he had a colic with a partial torsion of the gut. The vet eventually recommended a complete fast until the gut rotated to where it should be. Fortunately this only took 48 hours, but it affected his condition. Despite the best feed, he only slowly picked up weight. Tabitha decided to enter the annual show jumping and dressage tournament in December as well as the one in Hentiesbaai. However, by late November BS’ condition had deteriorated again, and we had to cancel both shows. After lots of thinking, praying and considering all the options, we decided to return BS to his owner. It just didn’t work out. Tabitha could not participate in a single show in 2019. For 2020 we decided against another horse, as the year will be demanding as it is, both academically and due to her LRC commitments.

We spent December 2019 in Swakopmund in our house in Vineta and rested well. The two boys were busy, as usual, and especially Danilo had to attend all the social events, of course. They entered a family team at the annual Beach Bash beach volleyball tournament and called it DARK - for Danilo, Andriko, Roman (v.L., their cousin) and Kim (Seebach, Roman’s girlfriend). With the support of Philip Schulz they won the “pro”-league and shared the N$8000 prize!

In the meantime Tabitha worked hard preparing for the maths section of the National Benchmark Test (NBT) scheduled for April. The NBT counts 80% towards her admission to the veterinary studies in South Africa.

While a lot is happening in the lives of our three highly active kids, we keep busy supporting them. Somebody must make it all possible… We want to add, however, that we keep emphasising that we value the character displayed by each of them even more than all the successes. For what does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? (Matthew 16:26)

Since 2018 Hellmut is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Finkenstein Homeowners Association, where he had a number of challenges to tackle.

In 2018/2019 Namibia experienced the worst drought in 130 years. Many farmers just couldn’t continue farming. The unavoidable continuing costs and losses accumulated to a “too much”. Many churches prayed for rain. Numerous farmers now process their (abundant) bush into “boskos” for their cattle, which also requires a lot of effort and additional costs. Some of these machines run 24/7.

It started raining at the end of November 2019, a huge relief. It takes some time and additional rains for the grass to grow, so the boskos machines will keep going. Our rainy season can continue into April, so we trust for much more rain, also to fill up the dams that are close to empty.

In 2018 Hellmut’s parents moved from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund into the well-known Lions Retirement Village. Now they stay in a lovely, comfortable house in a community that welcomed them and where they feel at home. For his 80^thbirthday the brothers had given Opi a trip to Germany to a tournament of his choice. In August 2019, on his 81^stbirthday, he visited the “Celler Hengstparade” (stallion show) as well as quite a few friends in Germany.

Birgit’s parents are still on their farm and want to stay there as long as their health allows. Birgit’s mother (82) had a uni-lateral mastectomy in September 2018. In the place of chemotherapy she conscientiously followed a 3-months vegetable juice diet. As expected, she lost a lot of weight, but she feels great and has lots of energy. She continues with a sugar-free and unprocessed food diet and drinks about 500 ml juice from fresh vegetables every day.

Birgit’s dad (88) survived an extremely stubborn systemic Enterobacter infection on top of his weak heart. For six weeks he received strong antibiotics every few hours IV while lying in hospital. Soon after leaving the hospital, the infection indicators rose again. Birgit’s brother Helmut, his doctor, keeps talking to professors, surgeons, pathologists and other experts. Großvati is still on antibiotics (oral). Apart from feeling weak, he’s doing well.

Melanie (30) has completed her 4-year degree (Bachelor of Education) at UNAM and is a qualified teacher now, an admirable feat! Since 2019 she lives in Windhoek. She applied for a number of positions and is awaiting answers.

Namibia experienced negative economic growth in 2017, 2018 and 2019. That also affected us personally, as we had bought a bunch of shares in Capricorn Group (Hellmut’s employer), as well as a house in the retirement village Finkenstein Manor, that was only completed in 2017 after multiple delays, at a time where it became increasingly difficult to sell it. We had financed these investments by debt, which we now regret! Therefore, we are trying to sell that house as well as the erf next to our house on Finkenstein Estate. In 2019 we sold most of our Capricorn Group shares, as we don’t expect the economy to recover in the foreseeable future.

A few weeks before the November 2019 elections of the Namibian president and parliament, the ‘fishrot’ exposé shook the political establishment. It is now abundantly clear how corrupt at least some elements of our government and the governing party are. Our state coffers and national resources have been systematically plundered over years, significantly contributing to the current economic downturn, which many describe as the “new normal”. While both the president and the ruling party were re-elected, it was with much reduced majorities, which is a clear message. We can’t see yet, whether these developments will lead to the required changes in approach and policies. We keep praying!

Greetings from Finkenstein with love and blessings,

Hellmut & Birgit with Andriko, Danilo and Tabitha