“In 1986 I was invited to sit on the National Dias Festival Committee in Cape Town, having earlier been on the sidelines of discussions about getting a replica of the original cross first planted by Bartolemeu Dias. In April ‘88 they replaced the cross, or Padräo, at Diaz Point.

It had been a ten year battle to eventually come to some sort of conclusion as to how to create this replica, because there were no absolute records, and eventually the National Monuments Commission in Windhoek decided on a design which was as near as accurate as they felt they could get. Now the original was made in Lisbon from Lisbon limestone which deteriorated pretty quickly in the conditions at Diaz point, so they had this new cross made in Karibib and it was made from Namibian Dolerite which, apart from diamond, is just about the hardest rock you can get. The dolerite they used was estimated it be about one and half billion years old so it’s not inconceivable that this cross could last another billion and a half years. Can you imagine where mankind will be in a billion and a half years time?

At the same time that all of this was happening my dearly beloved stepfather was very ill with cancer of the ear and had arranged to go down to Cape Town to be operated on in April. The operation was a great success and on the Monday he was fine and on Tuesday he was fine and on Wednesday he was fine. On Thursday he developed something in his stomach and started vomiting blood. At 2’o’clock he was fading and at 6’o’clock he had passed away.

The very next morning was when the new cross was going to be put in at Diaz point at dawn. My wife and I were all packed and ready to go to Cape Town because we had got the call at 2 that Fritz was fading. We got as far as the entrance to the town before I realised that I’d forgotten something so we turned back and as we walked through the door of our house the phone was ringing and it was the hospital in Cape Town saying that Fritz had passed away. So we weren’t going to South Africa at all so I said to my wife ‘we must go out to Diaz Point tomorrow, Fritz would have wanted that’. So we did and it was a magical sight in the sunrise, seeing this helicopter lifting the old cross out and putting the new one in. You can imagine that that was a very emotional moment for us and ever after that that to me was dedicating a cross not just to Dias but to my father-in-law as well.

The next time you’re up at the cross put your ear against it and give it quite a hard pat and it resonates, it sings.”

Based in the Lüderitz Christian School as part of a fundraiser the exhibition featured an eclectic mix of paintings ranging from impressionism to cartoons and including a wide variety of subject matter including portraits, life drawings, still life, landscapes, baobab trees, and some rather large-busted ballet dancers, who seemed vaguely inappropriate within the confines of a Christian School.

Amongst the 38 South African artists that had contributed to the exhibition there was some fantastic textual work from Otto Klar (1908-1994) and a selection of Frans Claerhout’s (1919-2006) brightly coloured and highly energized paintings. Although the exhibition was mainly a selection of paintings there was also an array of authentic Persian carpets, gold and silver jewellery and antique wooden chests on display.

However due to the lack of space that the makeshift gallery afforded it was unfortunately quite difficult to get a proper sense of many of the paintings whilst the lack of natural light did not do the art work justice.

Acacia Art has been touring Southern Africa for 26 years under the careful guidance of its coordinator George Smith. The company aims to promote South African artists by selling their work up and down South Africa and Namibia.

Cream liqueuers tend to look a lot alike. If I say Baileys or Amarula, a lot of people will tell me they are the same. But there is a distinct difference, both in taste and texture. The Ameur Cape Decadent Nougat distinguishes itself by being very watery – let’s call it milky – whereas most cream liqueuers are more creamy. This makes it the perfect drink to add to your coffee.

As for the taste, unfortunately, there is only the slightest hint of nougat. To make up for this it has a nice kick to it when swallowed; a warm tingleing sensation. I would definatly recommend Cape Decadent Nougat for the late evening, picnicing on the beach as a shot or as a coffee liqueuer. Although it has a very nice taste, it leaves me slightly dissappointed due to the lack of Nougat flavor. For this reason I give it an 7 out of 10. As a tip I would however like to say: try Cape Decadent over ice cream for a delicious dessert.

Ritzi’s emphasis is not on ‘the fancy aspect’ of food (think miniscule portions and artfully drizzled sauces) but don’t let that put you off, on the contrary the menu is a wholesome and filling mix of seafood, white and red meat with side dishes of chips, vegetables (or ‘veggies’ as they are described) and salads. Furthermore, following the restaurant manager’s proud philosophy that ‘you pay for the food not the scenery on your plate’ customers are given healthy sized portions with the sauce on the side, allowing you to artfully drizzle to your hearts content if you so wish. The following three course menu is a taste of what Ritzi’s offers;

Breaded mushrooms cooked with bacon and melted cheese- I am a huge fan of mushrooms but they are unfortunately not that readily available in Lüderitz so I am very excited to have a plate of them set in front of me. The mushrooms themselves are fat and juicy whilst the slices of bacon on top of them give the whole mouthful a delicately smoky taste. However the melted cheese which covers the dish tends to overpower the overall taste and perhaps make it slightly greasy.

Escargot with sweet chilli and garlic sauce- The escargot itself is of good quality and the sauce with a healthy amount of garlic and sweet chilli gives the dish a nice bite. A good starter, that could only improve by preparing it with slightly less oil.

Lemon and herb pan-fried kingklip served with Greek salad and rice- recommended by the manager himself this dish is fairly light and tasty equivalent to the heavier meat based dishes. The kingklip, fresh from one of Lüderitz’s own fish factories, is lightly battered and is perfectly complimented by the cool garlic mayonnaise sauce that it is served with. I am not normally much of a fan of fish but the fillet that I am served is neither too salty nor too sweet, although it could perhaps do with being slightly more crispy. The Greek salad is also pleasantly simple and fresh and the feta cheese, which presumably makes the salad ‘Greek’, is soft and creamy.

Gemsbok stuffed with smoked Springbok, onions, mushrooms, garlic and cheese. Served with chips and veggies- this dish is found under the name chefs special, which raised high expectations. Served in a healthy portion, 9 out of 10 times this dish will leave you with a doggy bag to enjoy the next day. The filling is rich of taste and blends in well with the gemsbok, although the gemsbok it self is slightly dry and could use a bit of gravy.

Waffles with vanilla ice cream and a hot brandy sauce- I have an incurable sweet tooth so when the waffles arrive I am already quietly drooling. Both of the two golden brown waffles are topped with a scoop of ice cream and a glace cherry which, unfortunately, makes them vaguely resemble a certain part of the anatomy. However the waffles are crispy and sweet and set off the smooth taste of the ice cream whilst the sauce, the ingredients of which I am told are a deadly secret, is a curious mixture of sweet and sour tastes, giving the whole dish a bit of an edge.

Deep fried ice cream- Deep fried ice cream is ice cream packed in very thin dough. This is deep fried leaving a nice crust with still frozen ice cream inside. Covered in caramel this is one of Ritzi’s specialities when it comes to desserts, and it’s for a good reason. Deep fried ice cream is a nice combination of ice cream with the nice texture of the crispy dough. A recommendation for anyone who’s planning on visiting Ritzi’s!

Attended by several key benefactors of the Lüderitzbucht Foundation, including people from Windhoek, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Portugal, the celebration of the newly restored Diaz mural, depicting the landing of Bartolemeu Dias in the Lüderitz Bay over 500 years ago, was a sterling success. The event was organised by the remaining members of the Lüderitzbucht Foundation, an organisation that has paid a key part in the recent history of Lüderitz. First started in 1980 by business people living in Lüderitz, Windhoek, Jo’burg and George, the Foundation was designed to prevent Lüderitz from going the same way as Kolmanskop by promoting the town both to tourists and to outside businesses. In addition to group tried to restore a sense of pride in Lüderitz amongst local people by doing simple things, such as encouraging people to paint their houses, and organising two 10 day festivals, putting the once fading town firmly back on the map.

The Foundation campaigned tirelessly for 10 years before the towns prospects finally began to improve after Independence came to Namibia; fisheries and diamond mining operations arrived in the Lüderitz area and a proper tarmac road and harbour were developed giving the towns flagging industry a boost. By the mid 1990’s the majority of the Luderitzbucht Foundations’ dreams had been realised making the group largely redundant. Although reduced to merely four members by 2008 there was still enough determination, and enough money, to begin one more task- the restoration of the Diaz Mural, which had been badly vandalised.

The mural, an integral part of Lüderitz town’s cultural wealth, was created 20 years ago by a Portuguese artist and was donated to the town by Manuel Coelho, the president of the Academia do Bacalhau as the representative of the Portuguese people of Namibia, in order to commemorate a centuries old link between Namibia and Portugal. When the mural’s casing was damaged earlier this year the Lüderitzbucht Foundation immediately set about raising funds to have it restored, and just was well that they did as the hand-painted artwork now sits comfortably behind 17.5mm of strengthened glass.

Thanks go to the Academia do Bacalhau, Diaz Coffee Shop, First National Bank, Grillenbergers Bottle Store, Lüderitz Nest Hotel, The Seaflower Group, Skorpion Zinc, Standard Bank Namibia, the Kessler Family, the Looser Family and the Metzger Family for their financial support. Special thanks go to Tischlerei Paul Schroeter for his excellent work.

And the next project? Restoring the bridge at Diaz Point; no mean feat given the rather dangerous state of it, but if any group has the patience and determination to carry out such a task it is the Lüderitzbucht Foundation.

The booming voice of Mrs R K Makaula, the Director of Ceremonies, announced the beginning of the annual Helene Van Rhijn diploma evening and the room collectively rose to its feet to sing the National Anthem and the Helene Van Rhijn school song which is backed by the school choir. Following this the audience were led in a prayer (and not for the first time did I wish I spoke Afrikaans) before then the award ceremony began. Starting with the youngest children in Grade One every child that has achieved over 70% in a range of subjects, including Mathematics, English, Home Economy, Natural Sciences, Social Studies, Afrikaans and Design and Technology, was presented with a certificate and a round of applause. As the evening progressed and the ages of the smiling and slightly abashed children increased the thought occured to me that this evening serves as a reminder of how much education should be valued. I come from a country where being a high achiever is often viewed by young teenagers as being a bad thing, where parents often do not support or appreciate their child’s education and where being a head boy or girl is social suicide so it’s fantastic to see a group of young people, in immaculate school uniforms, cheering each other on and applauding educational achievement (although having said that the cheers for the sporting achievement awards were considerably more enthusiastic).

After the main awards the school choir, who are also immaculately dressed, lulled the audience with a few warm melodies and dancing before the special awards for the top learners, sporting legends and scientific geniuses were handed out to whoops and calls from the child section of the hall. Mr Visser, the acting principle for the school, rounded off the evening and I was presented with some complimentary cake making the whole event a thoroughly enjoyable occasion.

It’s nearly a year since we commemorated world AIDS day and the time has come for us to do so again. December 1st is a time for the whole world to come together under one cause; to fight against AIDS, one of the most awful diseases on the planet. On every world AIDS day there is a theme and slogan, this year theme is Leadership for Prevention and the slogan is Zero Tolerance against new infections. However, whilst world AIDS day is a fantastic occasion, the fight against AIDS is an ongoing problem and therefore we as a community must treat it as such; this year let us make a point of not only working against this horrible disease on December 1st but also work against it all year round.

HIV-AIDS is not black or white, it affects us all in Lüderitz and it’s about time that every Buchter plays his or her part. If you are infected with the virus know that every sunrise and sunset brings new possibility for a better life for you. This month make it your goal to see every day God gives you as an opportunity to improve your life, turn your past disappointments into future opportunities and focus on where you want to go instead of where and how you got the virus. Make being happy your number one priority.

BTS KNOW THIS: Cigarette smoking is a bad habit even for those in good health, but it is particularly dangerous for those with HIV. If you are HIV positive and smoke you are more likely to develop opportunistic infections, you are more likely to have lower CD4 counts and more likely to have an HIV related disease developing at a quicker rate; studies have shown HIV positive smokers develop AIDS faster than non –smokers. HIV positive smokers are also less likely to have successful HIV drug therapy; researchers think smoking may cause anti-retroviral drugs not to work as well as they should.

In addition two wheelchairs have been donated: earlier this year a wheelchair was given to a Hansen boy, and now a second one has been donated to Mr. Van Tak.

Do not forget to test your luck and come to the draw of the annual raffle, which will be held early December. The raffle is intended to raise funds for the various projects in which Rotary engages it self.

It is believed that the financial crisis has been building since early August of this year when the USA market suffered a loss of confidence in investors causing a substantial amount of credit to be injected into the economy causing the market to become volatile. However it could also be argued that the crisis has been in the making for much longer than this; today’s global society has the most expendable income in history and, as mass production becomes more widespread, prices are forced downwards to accommodate the consumerdriven lifestyle which in turn makes the global market very vulnerable. In other words the pressure for cheaper goods has put a strain on the world economy which has now resulted in a complete breakdown.

What are the global impacts?

As the main reasons for the credit crunch are founded in developing countries, particularly the UK and the USA, these are the countries that have been the most badly damaged, which seems only fair. However, because of the developing world’s dependency on richer western countries, there are inevitably going to be impacts in less economically developed countries as well. The crisis has: triggered the bankruptcy of several huge financial players, resulted in several less wealthy countries, including the Ukraine and Hungry, becoming dependant on loans from the IMF, caused the entire country of Iceland to declare itself bankrupt, left over 1 million people unemployed in North America and instigated huge losses in the financial market. The Bank of England has reported that nearly $1 trillion, 12% of the entire global economy, has been spent bailing out the financial industry.

What are the African impacts?

In Africa experts have predicted that the credit crunch may do more good than bad; the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has predicted that the Sub Saharan African economy will grow by 6.5% which is far higher than expected due to the credit crunch. Furthermore the World Bank says that whilst the crunch will ‘hurt developing countries’ (‘Herald Tribune’) as it will curb rapid growth, particularly in countries like India and China, Sub Saharan Africa’s economy is likely to pick up to the highest growth rate in 38 years. And why? Because countries like Botswana and Namibia are sitting on a wealth of natural resources!

And the implications of this in Namibia?

Thankfully damage to Namibia’s economy is likely to be kept to a minimum, particularly because of the strong links the country has with South Africa. However there may be subtle changes to be aware of; firstly, whilst Namibia itself is largely predicted to remain unscathed, many of the countries that feed the tourist industry, for example Germany and England, have suffered vast financial losses making people less likely to spend large sums of money on holidays. The result could be a drop in the Namibian tourist industry. In addition De Beers diamond company, which is a 50% shareholder in Namdeb, has said that they expect a slump in the diamond industry, again due to the reduction of disposable income in the western world. This may pose a problem as diamond and other mineral mining makes up approximately 20% of Namibia’s total Gross Domestic Product, although for the time being it is unlikely that this will create any major financial problems.

What about Lüderitzbucht?

Because Lüderitz is one of the fastest growing areas in Namibia, with a healthy shipping port and open mine, the negative impacts of the credit crunch will be fairly minimal. However the falling price of diamonds may have some negative impact and it is reasonable to expect small increases in food prices as import values may go up but other than that it’s business as usual for the Buchters.

Hailed by many as ‘the prodigal son’, Obama, who is officially the first ever African American president, is expected by many to be the man who will change the face of the African continent, and looking at his foreign policy it is easy to see why people believe this: According to www.barackobama.com the new president has already ‘fought to focus America’s attention on the challenges facing Africa’, which includes stopping the genocide in Darfur, promoting stability in the Congo, mobilizing international pressure for a just government in Zimbabwe, demanding honesty on HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, fighting corruption in Kenya and developing a coherent strategy for stabilizing Somalia.

In the future Obama has pledged to double the U.S.’s annual investment in foreign aid to $50 billion and will add a further $50 billion to the global fight against HIV/AIDS by 2013. Furthermore Obama and Joe Biden, Obama’s vice president, are planning to launch something called the Global Energy and Environment Initiative ‘to ensure that African countries have access to low carbon energy technology and can profitably participate in the new global carbon market’.

feel skin colour is mentioned. Does it then follow that many people in Africa, particularly in countries like Namibia and South Africa that have no concrete links with the new president, are only pro-Obama because he is a black man? You cannot help but wonder if support for the US president would be quite so strong if he was a white Kenyan not a black Kenyan.

In order to further explore this The Buchter News did a public survey asking the people of Lüderitz to answer several questions about the American Elections. Whilst the vast majority of you were very interested in the American elections and a huge 72% were overjoyed with Obama’s victory, the largest percentage of Buchters interviewed (35%) were unsure of how much impact the new U.S. president will have on Namibia suggesting that the support for him here is not founded in hopes that he will change the face of this country.

As to the issue of his skin? Although 45% of Buchters agreed that the fact that Barack Obama is black was not a significant factor in his presidency, 41% decided that it was important, adding to the theory that the 2008 elections were just as much about race than about politics. Over half of you then went on to say that, whilst Obama’s race may have had some influence over the outcome of the elections, his skin colour wasn’t important to you as an individual. However 23% of you feel that Obama’s Kenyan heritage is very important to you, the obvious divide in opinion perhaps indicating the level of diversity amongst the Lüderitz community.