Stampriet school days

Going through my old photos, this one jumped out at me reminding me of my mother’s school days in Stampriet.

I remember her sharing stories of how the family farmed in Königsberg (Kaliningrad today), bordering Russia. When they lost everything in World War One and the subsequent depression, they made a new start in South West Africa working for a Mr Albert Voigts on the farm Gross Nabas. The farm was twenty kilometres south of Stampriet next to the Auob River.

Every morning, while her parents were busy with the farmwork, she and her brother travelled to school by donkey cart, picking up a child from the neighbouring farm along the way. While they attended classes the donkey grazed peacefully outside. After school they would hitch the donkey to the cart once again and travel the twenty kilometres home. This sweet snapshot aptly captures her childhood school days in eastern Namibia.