Email News from Hans, January - May 1998

4 January 199-EIGHT

	 Somewhat deflated after a hyperactive month, I try to resume "normal"
life and correspondence.

FAMILY
    It was a great joy to us that we could  have all four
"children" together again, if only for a short time, at the fiftieth 
anniversary of our weddingday.
    But we missed three of our grandchildren:  Laura, still on her exciting 
exchange scholarship in Norfolk, Virginia,  and Zak and Amiel with their 
mother Lybi in Bronxville.  We thought of them on the day.
	Walter was recovering well from his hip-replacement and could be 
with us on 20 12.  Since then he had the misfortune, due to an 
unfortunate movement, to have his new hip "pop out", which could be 
corrected fairly easily, but has set him back.
	Hazel and Jim came to our festivities too.  Since old Robin, 85, 
living alone in Beaufort West, had had a fall, they had taken him to 
their farm and had sold his town house.  So they brought him to Cape Town 
and we had him to tea here one afternoon.  He is very weak on his legs, 
but otherwise still ok.

TRAVEL
	Unexpectedly I travelled to Johannesburg twice in November and 
nearly a third time in December.  The planned Open Society Foundation 
visit to the run-down Eastern Cape school education system went ahead.  I 
spent a night in Bisho with dinner presentations, but instead of visits 
the next day  to the schools and institutions with the others I flew on 
to Johannesburg. I appeared there as a witness before Bishop Tutu’s Truth 
and Reconciliation Commission.  As a Past President of Assocom way-back 
in 1960/1, I told them what we had done at the time to oppose the worst 
apartheid legislation.  It was a fascinating experience.  At the best of 
times it is almost impossible to find "the truth"! 
	Two weeks later I was in Jobg again for the 4th Open Society 
lecture.  This time it was delivered by a South African black man:  
Dickgang Moseneke, whom I have known for the last ten years,  former PAC 
member, now chairman of TELKOM.  He is one of the new generation who 
knows what Open Society means.  Fortunately, Mish and Colleen could also 
attend. 

5 April 1998
        Today started off miserably with the second weak cold 
front to hit us in 48 hours with a little rain.  But then came an 
unexpected invitation to an excellent lunch at Eva Engel’s.  An 
unexpected walk, ASKED FOR BY JESSIE (with me) in our neighbourhood in 
the Marina (relatively short, but the LONGEST yet) was the next event. 
This was crowned, you guessed it, by an UNEXPECTED visit by Paul, Linds 
and Laura for a late cup of coffee in late SUNSHINE.  So, after all, it 
became a good day by our modest standards.  
		 I wished all of you were all a little closer to us and 
we would have more direct human contact with you in these somewhat lonely 
and frustrating days.
		After the visits and events of our Golden Wedding, I 
wrote my last Jupacamily letter on 4 January.  In it I speculated whether 
I would continue with my monthly record.   Little did I know then of the 
traumatic events that would follow soon,  leading to Jessie’s operation 
and the trying times since then.  Now, three months later, we may perhaps 
again approach "getting back to normal".   But "normal" will never be the 
same again.
		Slowly, we take up where we left off, but there is a 
great gap.  We have not been back to QW since 21 December.  The Baxter 
has not seen us for months.  I took Jessie to see her horses once some 10 
days ago.  Our days are  filled with slow routine household living, with 
visits to doctors, with much rest and at least occasional outings.  There 
is therefore little to report.  But for the sake of continuity, here it 
is.

FAMILY
	It is good to hear how you and those around you are progressing 
in your various jobs and recreational activities.  How the age of 
communications changes all our lives, and "outsourcing" affects everyone!
	Jules and Colleen Dawson both consultants who work from home.  
Mish runs an ever bigger totally computer-related show.  Carl 
co-ordinating computer service sales operations.  Only Paul in an almost 
old-fashioned "job", but involved in travel and cell-phone Email beyond 
speech.  No wonder that Jules’ sailing, Paul and Mish and families’ 
biking, canoeing,hiking takes on ever increasing significance.  
	The old generation compares notes on all their ailments.  
Walter’s hip functions, but his walking - with a stick - is slow, so is 
Gertie’s.  We celebrated her 76th birthday with a lunch at "Peddlars".  
	Hazel and Jim were here the other day to stay with Gillian whose 
husband Graham (until now a tugmaster in CapeTown habour) has taken on a 
job off Angola.  He spends 3 months at a stretch as captain of a deep-sea 
tug that attends to the needs of the Kabinda oilfields and does rescue 
work in betrween.  That gives him high pay in taxfree US dollars for the 
family and the 5 weeks he can stay at home before the next 3 months’ 
stint.  HazelJimandold Robin have signed up for a home to be built by 
November in the nearby Noordhoek Manor Retirement Village.

SOUTH AFRICA
	Quite apart from our (Jessie and my) personal deterioration in 
the quality of our life, there is undoubtedly a slow deterioration going 
on throughout the country. Following our "negotiated revolution" there 
are tremendous changes going on in the country.  Most of the worst people 
and features of the old regime have gone, never to return, thank 
goodness.  
	But, the new regime has not yet managed to establish reasonable 
order and progress in the fields of education, health and particularly 
Law and Order.  The combination of the criminal justice system and the 
police, is now sadly inefficient.
Crime is rampant and everyone feels insecure.  Having shed its white 
racial domination motivation and with it some of its staff, the system 
has at the same time lost strength and competence.  The police is 
understaffed in numbers and quality when It needs to be stronger to cope 
with new challenges.  Corruption is there also, as it was before.
	There are many able persons of colour taking up positions.  But 
there are not enough.  With looming elections a year hence, debates on 
important subjects take on racial tones again.  Despite all this, the 
country is at least ticking over and many noteworthy successes go 
unrecorded.  My Open Society activities had to be curtailed in recent 
months and I feel more out of touch than I would like.  

16 May 1998
	As I sat down to write to tell you about our misery I looked back over my 
last Jupacamily letter on 5 April and realise HOW MUCH we have 
in fact PROGRESSED in the last six weeks.
	Jessie has not been to any doctor for some ten days, is not taking any 
more pills other than blood-pressure and -consistancy ones - and has 
gained weight and strength.  She has sat on LaLune, drives her car, goes 
shopping and generally is almost "back to normal".  We've also been back 
to QW again for the first time for months (with P&L who took their canoes 
back): very overgrown, but we picked some late and shrunken apples and 
found the house not much worse than last time.
	On the culture side we saw a superb play at the Baxter where we also had 
dinner.  Even long neglected house maintenance has progressed, thanks to 
a round-the-corner-intheMarina maintenance chap who - expensively - has 
fixed all the leaking taps, renewed the rotting pieces of railings and 
uprights on the balcony, etc etc.