(Letter to children and grandchildren)

Now that we have settled down quite well, we can sit down and give you an account of our just completed chapter in our life’s history, namely the Great Trek from Pietermaritzburg to Pretoria. It seems like only a short time ago that I sang: “Oh, Maritzburg, happy land, happy land; I’m going back to Maritzburg if I can”. And a few weeks ago the tune changed to: “We are marching to Pretoria, Pretoria rules the waves!”

Although we could have stayed in Lutheran Gardens for another two years, we knew that we would have to move sooner or later; and we thought sooner is better than later, because one doesn’t get younger. Mama started packing at least a month before the departure date and quite often things that we still needed had disappeared in one of the dozens of packing cases. But the main thing is that we survived! All the residents in the complex were very sorry that we were leaving (at least that is what they said!) Actually they gave us a very nice farewell party and also private invitations to meals etc. The one thing I regretted most is that I had to leave my tomato growing system behind. I was just beginning to make a name for myself and I had hopes to acquire the Tomato King title! Anyway, Onkel Siegwalt took over the system and he is looking after the babies I had to leave behind.

On the 14.8 the removers packed all the breakable goods, on the 15.8 they loaded and on the 16.8 they travelled to Pretoria, but unloaded only on the 19.8 after the weekend. We stayed in Pietermaritzburg until the 17.8 and for two nights we slept at Onkel Erich and Tante Irmela’s place.

Erwin and Candy arrived on the morning of the 17.8 with their Kombi to assist us to transport things like suitcases etc. The whole move went like clockwork and we are very thankful to all who helped us, especially to Erwin and Candy. The removers also did a good job and the move cost us R3933, which I think is very reasonable.

Unpacking started as soon as the van arrived and although it is quite a big job, everything went very smoothly and we are now pretty well organised again thanks to Erwin, Candy and Maggie.

The house is very cosy and I am sure we will be very happy here. There is enough room for visitors and if necessary one can rent a guest house in the complex to accommodate visitors. So we extend a hearty invitation to all of you if you feel like revisiting your old “Fatherland!”

Erwin had the verandah extended with an awning over it and it is now one of our favourite venues during the day.

There are smaller and larger shopping centres within easy reach to Mama’s delight! A doctor has his rooms about half a kilometre from here. So much for now. We are keeping well and we hope the same of you.

Best wishes and lots of love from Mama, Papa, Oma & Opa.

In the year 2000 A.D.

Moving from one house to another with ‘sack & pack’ is quite an undertaking. It is quite amazing how much klimbim one collects over the years. It is also a time when numerous decisions have to be made whether to keep certain things or whether to get rid of them. It can sometimes led to frustration and sleepless periods at night. It has however also got its advantages like getting rid of a lot of rubbish. Anyway, we don’t really have grounds for complaining if we bear in mind that Tante Hertha has had to go through this at least 20 times already.

The move from Westville to here went relatively smoothly and we are quite happy with the way it was carried out. We had three quotes i.e. R2200, $3350 and $5400. We took the cheapest and it cost us nothing thanks to Erwin and Candy. Arnold, Rhonda and Sylvia also gave us a lot of help with the move. When the furniture van had arrived here and the Africans began to unload, they suddenly gave shouts of warning and scattered in all directions. I investigated and found a live snake in one of the bundles. It was a mildly poisonous redlipped herald snake. I had noticed it the previous day amongst my flower pots and garden utensils at Westville and the packers must have loaded it with the goods without noticing it. Uncle Siegwalt picked it up with a plastic lawn rake and carried it to the thorn trees on the border of this complex.

We again got a lot of help from Arnold, Rhonda & Sylvia with the unpacking. One thing that this house is lacking is ample storage space for items like books, garden chairs, garden utensils, tools etc. We are missing a pantry, a laundry, a store room like the servant’s kaya in Westville and a garden wendy house for garden tools. The size of the houses in this complex is limited by the size of the plot. If you want a double garage (our house has a very spacious one), you must sacrifice space elsewhere. Helmuth Schärf has however given us several sets of DIY shelving which I have assembled and placed against one wall in the garage. We are now quite well organised and can occasionally find an article we are looking for.

The sale of the house, the transfer and the payment of the money to us has not gone as smoothly as we had hoped. The Agreement of Purchase & Sale was signed on July 8. I was told that the matter was now in the hands of the conveyors and they would contact me in due course. When by the second half of August nothing had happened, I made enquiries and was told that the person who dealt with our transfer had emigrated and nothing had been done. We are paying the agents R28000 commission and they were all fast asleep. I contacted them and told them to do something fast for their money. They got the process going and promised us payment around the middle of September. When nothing had happened by the end of that month, I chased them up again and I was told that the Da Costas (purchasers) had decided to get divorced and Mrs Da Costa wanted the house in her name and new documents had to be signed. The position is that the purchasers have paid a deposit of R200000 and Mrs. Da Costa has promised to pay the balance of R150000 within a day or two, then the documents have to be lodged in the Deeds Officein PMB for the transfer to be registered and that takes 7 – 8 days. Meanwhile the Da Costas have to pay occupational rent of R2000 on the first of the month which the agents must collect, but didn’t until I chased them up again and we were paid eventually on the 12th. The whole thing has been very frustrating, because from our side we have been up to date with everything. The delay has been entirely the fault of the other parties. Arnold and Rhonda have also helped us to the best of their ability with the above matter. We hope everything will be settled before the end of the month.

(Taken from a letter to his children on 7 November, 2006)

Our house at Cotswold Hills was sold within a day or so to an elderly couple who liked the lay-out of the garden and the view. They had already arranged to go on a trip to England and asked us to stay on for 3 months and look after the garden. This suited us as it gave us some time to look for another place. We were looking for something as close as possible to the school. There were two plots available in Wandsbeck Road - no's 1 and 3 (Greets) at £1000 each. No. 3 was larger but it was quite swampy as no drainage had been put in yet, so we opted for no. 1. We were given the option for our street number to be either 1 Wandsbeck Road or 7A Sylvania Avenue. We chose the former but it was frustrating later for people looking for 9 Sylvania Ave. (Hardings) as 9 should logically follow no. 7 and our Sylvania side had no number. Anyway, we sold our Cotswold house for £3500 and we could pay cash for the Wandsbeck Rd. plot. We had building plans drawn by the Natal Drawing Office in Pinetown and asked for tenders from builders. The cheapest tender was for £4000 from Walter Rohrs and the Provincial Building Society granted us a loan for that amount. All these things take a lot of time and soon our extra 3 months staying time at Cotwold was finished and the construction of our new house had not even started.

Fortunately we were able to rent a house at 8 Park Drive Ave. from the Hackmann family. A little further on Mr. Brinzer's back property bordered on Park Drive where he kept a number of milk goats! The main thing was that 8 Park Drive was within easy walking distance of the school.

The construction of our house eventually started around the middle of 1956. I took 3 months leave from teaching to do all the painting of the house – inside and outside – and I constructed all the built-in cupboards and kitchen units to save money. Although the job was not professionally done, it served its purpose.

(Taken from a letter to his children on 6 October, 2006)

When Mama and I got married in 1948 I was teaching at Mansfield High School in Durban. We needed a residence, but house prices in Durbs were prohibitive. I heard of a group of people from England who called themselves the Anglo - African Housing Corporation. They bought a fairly large tract of land in Westville and called it Cotswold Hills. The previous owner was an Irish farmer and the name of his farm was Erin - go - Bracht, meaning Ireland for ever! This latter name also appeared on the title deeds of the plots. Anyway, the Housing Corporation had the property surveyed into plots and started to sell and build. We became interested in plot 64 situated fairly high up and with an extensive sea view from Umhlanga Rocks to Umbogintwini (later we found out that it was rather badly exposed to the N-E and S-W winds. The plot cost £550 which we borrowed from Onkel Hermann. The Natal Drawing Office (Pinetown) provided us with plans for a two bed roomed dwelling for which the Anglo Housing Corporation quoted £2600 and the Natal Housing Board granted us a bond for that amount. At that time Westville had no laid on water, no public transport and we had no car, but the builders promised us that water and transport would be provided for the residents. Well, public transport never materialised and for water a small concrete resevoir was erected and water was pumped from the Umbilo River if the pump was not broken down and the water was not too polluted from the Beier's wool washery in Pinetown. In those days Durban did provide a public bus service to Westville but only on one route so that after walking a few miles I could catch a bus to work. We moved into our Cotswold house in October, 1948.

At the time we had no telephone as lines were not available. There was a public phone box of sorts at a very noisy place along the street and hearing on that line was difficult. I remember when IIse was born I phoned Tante Lenchen to tell her the good news. The line was very indistinct. She asked what the little one's name would be, I said,"llse." and she 

repeated, "Hilviera??" I again said, "No, ILSE!!!!" She again responded with,
"HILVIERA?????????" Eventually we gave up as the telephone wires were getting rather
hot!

Later other problems arose when IIse had to attend school. Cotswold Hills is a good 4 miles away from the school. As I was teaching in Durban and Mama had her hands full with little Helmuth and baby Rona, IIse had to look after herself mostly. I had enrolled her at the school previously but on opening day (was it 1954 or 1955??) I could not go with her. The problem too was that she could not speak a word of English! I dropped her at the gate and told her to go to the children who were standing around outside and see what would happen. The grade one's already finished at 12 noon and told her to wait for me at the gate when I came home in the afternoon. When I arrived there at 3pm, the little girl stood there all by herself after having already waited for 3 hours. She was very happy and immediately opened her little school case and showed me some drawings. I asked how she knew what to do and she said she looked at what the others were doing and did the same! She quickly made friends and within weeks she felt at home in English.

But the whole situation was not ideal for young children and we decided to sell our house at Cotswald and to move closer to central Westville. We put the house on the market at the beginning of 1956. 

(A translation of excerpts from Friedrich Schumann’s memories of life in Glückstadt, translated in English as the “City of Happiness”)

Often one hears people talking about the “good old days”. One can hardly claim that they were always good. However they had a certain charm which I would never have liked to miss.

Transport was by ox wagon, donkey carts, horse carts and, for those who could afford it, by Spider carriage. The first cars appeared in the early 1920s, as did Ford Tin Lizzies “in any colour as long as it is black”!

I can remember the whole congregation going on excursions by ox wagon to the Hlonjane Waterfall and the Ntabankulu. 

The mail was delivered via stagecoach drawn by mule. At the close of the 1920s a six-wheel railway bus took over. On its maiden trip from Vryheid to Swartfolos, the bus stopped at the school and took the whole school population on a pleasure trip.

There was no doctor at Glückstadt. One could not rely on medical help in childbirth. However it was always greatly evident that whenever Tante Tschirpig went to stay with a family, a new baby was born. She eventually made the storks redundant.

As children we were always bare-foot. As a rule we got our first shoes when we were confirmed, or beforehand if we were lucky to inherit a pair of used shoes. It was not unusual for us to stub our big toes against hard rocks.

As boys we were always required to wear hats, at least when attending church. We had to doff our hats when greeting someone, and when indoors had to take our hats off. If we forgot to do this a general cry would go up: “ Who has sparrows under his hat?” Because we were still growing and had to wear the hat as long as possible, a new hat was always a couple of sizes too big. To prevent the hat from slipping down over the ears, a thickly folded piece of paper was inserted into the rim of the hat!

At school we had a wonderful teacher, Miss Hedwig. Not only was she most competent as a teacher of various subjects, but she also attempted to teach us good manners. She boarded with the Puttkammers. Mr Puttkammer was our postmaster. In the afternoons, after school, a group of us always went to the post office to wait for the bus from Vryheid. One day Miss Hedwig remonstrated with us, saying that when she had walked past our group the previous afternoon, not one of us had had the decency to greet her. A little way further on she had met a black man who stood aside politely, lifted his hat and said “Sauwubona Nkosasana”! She said that we should take this as an example of how to behave. The next morning as she entered the classroom, we all stood up, bowed deeply, and said “Sauwubona Nkosasana”! We couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel honoured; she looked at us sadly as if she wanted to say: “Repent, for there is still time!”

I can remember the first aeroplane flying over Glückstadt towards the end of the 1920s. It happened during school hours. As the droning drew nearer, everything was abandoned as teacher and pupils stormed outside to witness this great wonder; however it was only a small double decker plane. 

But now I’ll end my reminiscing otherwise other matters such as New Year pranks etc may come to light!

Fritz was born on 9 Feb 1920 and attended the Glückstadt Government School from 1926 until 1933. From 1934 until 1937 he went to school in Hermannsburg (near Greytown) and after that obtained a B.A. and Higher Education Diploma from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (1938 - 1941). 




His teaching posts: 

Warner Beach (1942)
Umbilo Road Coloured School (first half of 1943)
Mansfield High (1943 - 1953)
Durban High (1953 - 1959)
Westville High (1960 - 1965)
Glenwood High (1966 - 1969)
Pinetown High (first part of 1970)
Greytown High (1970 - 1974)
Durban High (1974 - 1981)
University of Durban/Westville (1982 - 1985)

During a period in 1946 he went on relief staff and was sent all over the place to do relief teaching eg. Stanger Coloured School, where he met his wife Mine. He went back to Mansfield for 3 months, then to Doornkop (a suger mill near Stanger) for 3 months, then to Ladysmith for a few weeks, then to Winterton and then rejoined the permanent staff at Mansfield. 

Height: Approx. 6 ft 1½ in