This weekend I travelled to Elim with my sister Fumani to a funeral of one of our cousins John "Jet" Mdhlovu.We drove in my Ford Mondeo. The highlight of the weekend was our stay at our other cousin's home in Waterval,Mrs Tsakane Baloyi, with our aunt,her mother,Mrs Leah Marivate.We spent the night with muhulu reliving their life with her siblings and relatives dating back almost 80 years.She is 95 years old. My mother's Family from my grand mother's side are descendants of white English farmers from Ofcolaco in Tzaneen.For some reason this history has lied hidden from us as the children and perhaps their mother,my grand mother,never wanted to talk about it.This evening,my sister got muhulu to come out clean on that one.And,guess what,she did.She told us about this white man who always came to their home to visit their grand mother,his estranged wife, N'waXiyoko,at their home.She and her late twin sister,Rachel,had remained home with their grand mother whilst their parents were working far away in Johannesburg..She told us about how this white man told them not to fear him as he was their grand father.She also told us about how her mother ,Pauline(N'waHanisi,used to knit and tie her curly hair and cover them with a doek. Indeed,I stayed many times at Kokwane's and never had I seen her hair.She always hid it in a doek. She was very fair skinned though sun tanned as she lived and worked on her farm. She told us what she knew about the origins of her father,Piet Pandeka.Our relationship with the Chief MHlaba's of Tzaneen through the marriage of one of Piet Pandeka's siblings(mother to someone called Professor a son pf chief MHlaba's). She told us about her father working in crown mines in Johannesburg at the mine.How he used to be the one that dispensed candles to the underground going miners.How he attended night school at the mines.So this means the old man was literate that many many years ago around 1900. So,without a boast,we have had 100 years of literacy in our Family. She told us about the marriage of their eldest sister Lettie to the Sono's in Rooivaal in the Capricon area of the Limpopo region.The wedding was attended also by boer farmers who played music for the guests.Interesting times these were around 1920 gauging by the age of Lettie's eldest son,Phanuel,who was born during that time. Kitts Mageza