Travels with Larry

Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name

Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name

Google, oops, "Topeka", just MADE MY DAY!

posted by Larry McElhiney @ 5:45 AM 0 comments

Grahamstown, South Africa

Grahamstown was established after the 1820 English Settlers arrived at the future Port Elizabeth on the Southern coast of South Africa. There is a warm, Indian Ocean current that flows there and wonderful, sandy beaches stretch for miles to the East and West. It would have been a long journey, both tedious and dangerous, to have traveled from Cape Town at the time. The Atlantic and Indian come together at the Cape and it is the burial ground for dozens of ships and many lost souls. Just to have arrived on land must have made many want to kiss the earth. Grahamstown is situated about 50 miles from the coast.

Originally, Grahmstown was a local British Army post--founded in 1812 by Colonel John Graham. It served as the leading edge of the frontier of the Cape Colony. Hundreds of the 1820 settlers were given the opportunity to establish their own farm compounds in that area to the East of Port Elizabeth and West of the future East London. It was in the heart of Xhosa country and the British were using the new settlers as a first line of defense against agression by the Xhosa warriors. In addition, there were a number of missionaries who established mission stations in order to forward their work of saving the souls of the "heathen" Kaffir.

The Xhosas, the indigenous owners of this land, had been forcefully pushed back to the Fish River and later to the Kei River. This colonial expansion by the British Settlers and the British Army resulted in not a small number of very bloody conflicts which centered around Grahmstown. One of these was the Battle of Grahamstown in April 1819. Time and again the Xhosas raided and looted farms in the border area and many settlers gave their farms up and moved to the town. In the process Grahamstown became the second-largest town of the Cape Colony in the 19th century.

The work of the missionaries and their congregations resulted in the creation of the Christian community of The CATHEDRAL of ST MICHAEL and ST GEORGE, GRAHAMSTOWN The building was started in 1824 and finally completed 128 years later in 1952.

Most towns in England have a High Street, but Grahamstown's is the only traditional "High" in South Africa. High Street leads straight from the Cathedral to the Drostdy Gate, which betokens the entrance to the largest business in town: Rhodes University.

Rhodes University was formed by a government act in May 1904 and was comprised of four St. Andrews College professors who prepared their core of students for the University of Cape of Good Hope exams. Today, 100 years later, it is still one of the most prestigious of Universities in Africa.

Grahamstown, to me, is like a colony on a remote planet in many ways...

The small "permanent" population of Europeans remain there for many reasons; Rhodes University; the Courts; and familiy associations being just a few. You are likely to interact with the same people on several levels and through several associations during a month. He might be a RU Professor who is the treasurer of a society and an elder of his church and you might be a student in his class; the president of that society and a member of the congregation at the church.

Many people, it has seemed to me, have made Grahamstown their permanent home because they feel comfortable in being a big fish in a little pond. They might do supremely well in Cape Town or Durban, but their visibility and influence might be dramatically different. Others might be there because they have tried to be successful in a larger community and found it not to their liking. Still others, might be there in a seeming exile.

The interaction is strong among this group with its 1820s Settlers roots. "Old Rhodians" are very faithful to their alma mater and never hesitate to tell you of their time in Grahamstown albeit decades before. I have met Old Rhodians in Grahamstown; Cape Town; Port Elizabeth and even in a small town in North Georgia in the USA.

Even today, since Grahamstown sits at the edge of the Xhosa community, it provides that sense of community, belonging and protection for those who make it their home.

posted by Larry McElhiney @ 10:04 AM 0 comments