I spent many a Christmas holiday on my grandfatherʼs farm in Loeriesfontein, 100 kilometres from Calvinia, in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The farm was typical of most farms in the hot and dusty rain-deprived Karoo. It was unrelenting, unyielding and fit only for sheep, ostriches and the toughest human. Not much grew on it except quinces, the hardiest of weeds and the toughest of shrubs. When I looked at my grandfather, the craggy lines spidering across his face told the story of hardship and suffering. And, sometimes in an unguarded moment, heʼd drop his pose and let me look into his piercing blue eyes and into his soul. Even at a young age I could fathom the undercurrents that that ripped through his soul – regret, hopes dashed, dreams downscaled and sorrow for potential unfulfilled. Read the rest of the story on Scribd Edge of the Rain Jacques de Villiers is a motivational speaker, consultant, writer and trainer in South Africa.
