Rooikoppies: A Memoir

By Ariella Damelin

How did a little girl, born on a farm in the Free State, South Africa, become university-educated, a gracious hostess, master chef, committed community volunteer, devoted, loved and respected friend, wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother? Not without struggle, tragic loss, determination and good humour.

Ariella Damelin teaches life-writing. She has four children and four grandchildren and lives in Toronto with her husband.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483433165

Book preview

ROOIKOPPIES:

A MEMOIR

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ARIELLA DAMELIN

Copyright © 2015 Ariella Damelin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3315-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3316-5 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 07/01/2015

CONTENTS

Prologue

The Story Of My Life 1927 - ….

Epilogue

About The Author

For my mother Bernice Charlotte Zwi nee Hoffmann

With love and respect

May your voice be heard

"Most of us feel the need to describe how we came to be what we are.

We want to make our stories known, and we want to believe those stories carry value."

Robert Fulford

To compose Rooikoppies: A Memoir I include the exact words Mom wrote, her written mementoes, photographs, lines of poetry, and my own words. In her story, Mom concentrates on the years 1927 to 1999.

At eighty-five, my mother’s mind

When she wanders from room to room

looking for someone who isn’t there,

when her last dim light flickers with falling ash

and she exclaims: ‘What a dismal end to a brilliant day!’

when she can’t hear words but fears sounds,

when she says: ‘Don’t go – I can’t bear it when you go,’

then I think how, at eighty five,

my mother’s mind is a castle in ruin.

Time has raised her drawbridge, lopped her bastions.

Her balustrade is crumbled, and she leans.

Yet still you may walk these ramparts in awe.

Sometimes when she speaks, the ghostly ensign flies.

Time cannot hide what once stood here,

Or its glory.

Finuala Dowling

Finuala Dowling: NOTES FROM THE DEMENTIA WARD. First published in South Africa by Kwela in 2011. Copyright © 2011 Finuala Dowling.

PROLOGUE

August 1991. Mom and I stroll through a leafy