Butterworth, Butterworth!

In 1990 I spent the year touring South Africa with YFC (Youth for Christ). Our team did dance and drama in schools, youth clubs, churches, etc and we travelled from north to south and east to west covering much of South Africa. It was then that I first visited Butterworth, a small town in the Transkei (then a homeland, but now part of SA). The people we stayed with were incredibly special and because of those bonds I chose to come back in 1993 to do an elective teaching practical at Butterworth High School (BHS). My love for this place and her people led me to apply for a teaching post at BHS when I graduated at the end of 1994.

The 3 years we spent in Butterworth are precious memories for both Dieter and I. As newly weds we grew a lot here and developed very special relationships with our students, their parents and our fellow colleagues. Butterworth is not the little industrial town it was then and almost all of the people we knew here have moved to other places all over SA which we have often travelled to in our visits to SA over the years.

The Addisons still live in Butterworth. I taught their youngest daughter and in our time here we became very close friends. They are like blood-relatives to us and have stayed in touched and travelled the world to visit us when we were overseas! So we have come back to Butterworth for a family reunion! Two of their 5 children are at home at the moment too, so our blessings are multiplied! No doubt there will be lots of talking (and not the superficial stuff!), laughing, eating, laughing, more eating, laughing and lots more talking! And we will leave with our cups running over, our emotional tanks refuelled!

The road-trip from George to Butterworth really stretched us! Its been years since we drove so far. Cyprus is a tiny island and we never spent longer than an hour or two in the car on our longest journey. We decided to break up the journey by overnighting at friends of Oupa and Ouma who live near Jeffery’s Bay. We only left George at about 1:30pm and arrived in Jefferey’s at 4:45pm. The next day we left Jeffery’s at 9am and arrived in Butterworth at 4:00pm – it was a looooong day! We stopped twice, briefly at Colchester to refuel and have a loo break, and then again in Port Alfred where we spent about 20 minutes buying lunch supplies and meeting an old friend.

Michelle used to teach with us in Butterworth (many moons ago!) and now teaches in Port Alfred. School had just finished for the day and we dropped in for a quick chat and photo in the parking lot. It was soooo good to see her after all these years!

Dieter was very hesitant about the drive and decided against driving to Pretoria because of that. I came up with a plan of action to try make it easier: Dieter drove and Ryan and Jed took turns to sit in the front passenger or far rear seats. I sat in the middle row of seats with Ethan and Aimee, often reading to them and trying to entertain them. They were very good for the most part! Aimee really struggled being strapped in for such a long period of time but that was the only really hard part. You can’t imagine how relieved we were to eventually reach Butterworth and how delighted we are at not having to travel again for at least a week!

Butterworth is a very, very small town flanked by massive residential suburbs. Their isn’t very much here in the way of commerce and entertainment in comparison to George or Larnaca - the boys are horrified that they don’t even have a McDonalds! So this promises to be a relaxing week that will bring refreshing to our bodies and spirits! Bring on the family reunion!