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CIRCLE OF RECIPROCATION

The convoys stopped to refuel at Durban South Africa. When my father was off duty from the Ministry of War Transport, he and my mum would head for the docks in their car like many others to offer the soldiers a few days of good old South African hospitality — a home from home, entertained to a braaivleis (barbeque) with friends followed by a visit to the ‘bioscope’ to see the latest film.

A young English soldier only just old enough to enlist was a recipient as he put it “of this wonderful South African hospitality”. Despite all the suffering in the long and hard fight, this soldier never forgot his time in Durban and wished to reciprocate.

In 1999 an advertisement appeared in the Natal Witness newspaper, Pietermaritzburg South Africa offering South Africans an opportunity to re-establish their UK roots. I took up this great kindness and so it was that after an exploratory visit to Kent in 2000, I was able to make contacts that assisted my return on an ancestral visa. Four years on I now have permanent residence and a future in the land of my grandparents.

I thank you.

A small thank you to add to our continued grateful thanks to those who risked their lives to make a secure future for successive generations.

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