I will never complain about the state of Sterkfontein Cemetery again.
This past long weekend, my husband and I decided to visit his grandmother’s grave at the Rebecca Street Cemetery in Pretoria West.
He has not been there in a while, and it sure looked like society has forgotten about that cemetery too.
Initially, when you drive into the cemetery, all seems well. That’s because the Jewish area, which greets you first, is nicely kept up by what I can only presume is the members of the Jewish community.
The rest of the cemetery is in a rather sad state. Some of the graves are those of people who lived and died in the 1800s. Their gravestones are impressive, with so much detail and thought put into them.
But the weeds and overgrown bushes have totally ruined what I thought should be considered a historical graveyard.
You can barely see where the road is going and in some cases, trees have collapsed onto the graves. To top it off, here and there you will find a wilting flower being eaten by some animal roaming around.
It was quite sad to see what has become of our ancestors.
As I said, I will not complain about Sterkfontein Cemetery again. My grandmother is buried there, and I must say, things do not look that bad there after all. It’s been four years since my grandmother left us, and in those four years of visiting her grave, not once did I need to dig my way to her grave. It has always been a neat and tidy area and I am very grateful for that.
I just hope it stays that way.
Until next week, let’s be grateful for what we have this side.
