We were born in South West Africa (Namibia) and worked and lived in Gobabis. We were married in the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Otavi by Pastor G. Sondermann. Three of our sons were born in Gobabis and baptised by Pastor Kirchhoff. Gerhard worked for ICS Creamery and was transferred to Vryburg, South Africa. Our youngest son was born there and baptised at home by our pastor in Kimberley. The next transfer was to Aliwal North. Our Protestant church was in Bloemfontein, 230 km away, which we visited every fortnight. Then we moved to Klerksdorp, where we were members of the congregation for 20 years. We spent two years in Somerset East and travelled to Port Elizabeth for church services. In 2000, we took early retirement after Gerhard’s heart surgery and moved to St Helena Bay. We belonged to the Bellville congregation until 2016. We were able to travel a lot during those years, visiting Tsumeb for Gerhard’s golden confirmation and seven years later Grootfontein for Renate’s golden confirmation. We also took several trips to Namibia, Caprivi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Austria, Germany, England, Australia and Canada, and many trips within South Africa. Our son in Canada gave us a cruise on the Baltic Sea for our 50th wedding anniversary. We moved to Somerset West for health reasons; after several operations, we are not doing so well. We watched church services on Deukom on Sundays, until Pastor Schalk Treurnicht told us about the congregation in Somerset West, where we feel at home. We are busy with the daily household chores and still do some gardening in our small garden. Unfortunately, we are no longer mobile and active in many things that used to give us so much pleasure.
Kind regards!
Gerhard and Renate Schlenther
