The Old Cemetery, close to Kingswood. Clues to what our country is today lie here. Buried in the past, manifest in the present. The upper section for Anglicans. Catholics and Methodist their own plots. So too Presbyterians where my Great Grandparents James and Martha Holmes, and their daughter Bertha lie.
Alongside, the Eluxolweni Child & Youth Care Centre. There I met Lara Kruiskamp. Living with meaning and purpose. Addressing the fundamental issues in our country. Impacting the future. Part of a team of prominent Grahamstonians providing a home for orphaned boys. Many rescued in a drugged state from the dump sites of Grahamstown and Port Alfred. In the face of dwindling Dept of Social Development support they doggedly press on. Lara – with marvelous support – is developing Lukhanyiso Village in association with LIV Village. Love Lukhanyiso’s tagline, “Bringing light and hope to the nation”.
GRAEME HOLMES
Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.
Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”
Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.