Reconciliation Day of the Vow

Today used to be called the Day of the Vow after a group of Voortrekkers form a group of 470 mostly men to go and revenge the murder of one of their leaders at the hand of Shaka’s half brother Dingane in the year of our Lord 1838. They were besieged along the Ncome River by a force of what was believed to number over 10,000 Zulu warriors. They made a vow before God that if he was to deliver them victory, that they would keep this day holy. God must have heard as the Afrikaners still hold this day holy.

But that was then, and today South Africans are in a new dispensation where not the victories of one group over the other is important any more but that all groups have made reconciliation by putting their past behind them and building a new better nation.

So on this Day of Reconciliation, while most of our country marches in #ZumaMustFall gatherings to protest that our President Zuma must step down after making a mess of things, we decided to have a traditional braai. My brother Anthony and his wife Helene, who by the way is of Voortrekker descent, joined us on the small holding next to the Jukskei River. It was relaxing reconciling while the meat slowing barbecued on the grill even though Zuma will never listen to the people but laugh at them "he he he".

Towards the end of this hot day, we took a walk down to the river with our dogs and took along the neighbours two Labrador puppies as they looked like they needed some relief from the heat of the day. I believe it might be their first walk and they found the water irresistible as Labradors tend to do. By the time we returned the pair, they were finished from all the fun, running and splashing.