Volmoed

Thursday 22nd September

Hout Bay, Cape Town, Western Cape Province

Volmoed literally means 'full of courage' and that is a good descriptor of the people who bought the farm we've been staying on in 1986 at the height of apartheid violence to create a place of peace and reconciliation where all are welcome.

A community lives on Volmoed today and they offer their ministry of reconciliation to all comers.

Before departing, we joined the community for their weekly sharing of Holy Communion led by the theologian John W de Gruchy.  He reflected on the way apartheid abused the story of the tower of Babel to create a theology of division and linked this to the story of Pentecost as a theology of reconciliation.  "God wants us all to find our voice in the world," he claimed, and suggested that the #FeesMustFall student protests for free education currently taking place across the country were a result of precisely that - young people finding their voice.  Our role as Christian is not to be a voice for the voiceless, but rather to help the voiceless find their voice.  (You can - and should - read John's full meditation here: http://volmoedhermanus.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/meditation-language-community-by-john.html)

The Volmoed Community was truly one of the most welcoming groups of people we've ever come across.  And, as ever, they proved a reminder of how small a world we live in - one man was a close friend of John Cairns and Bert Kerrigan.

(Some clearly also thought Scotland was a small place - "Do you know a Mrs Oliphants?  She lives in Scotland.")

Penguins at Stony Point

 From Volmoed, we drove around the coastal road of False Bay, stopping at Stony Point where we encountered the rather large colony of African penguins, many with chicks.

There are several colonies along this coast, despite all the odds against them.  The penguins and their eggs are preyed upon by otters, mongoose, genets and even leopards, and competition for food is fierce - the seal population here has increased from 100,000 to over 2 million in the last century.  Still, though, these little colonies of fascinating birds hang on in there - perhaps they could also be described as 'volmoed'.

African Penguin at Stony Point

From here, it was on to Hout Bay, where a couple of very large seals were being fed fish on the harbour wall, and Camps Bay, which has a beach to rival any Caribbean island.  The bay is overlooked by the "Twelve Apostles" hills, though we could only count eleven - perhaps Judas has sloped off into the shadows.

The sea was, however, freezing cold - neither of us had enough 'moed' to give it a try!