From Dream to Reality...

So… here I am… a mere mortal … my name - Juliette Illingworth- Meintjes… in Nieu-Bethesda!! I am here, this time not to visit. Not to leave a bit of my soul behind… like many times before, this time I’ve moved in with all my worldly goods.  I live in the old Stokkiesdraai house, I am told by locals, known as the Stokkiesdraai house because some previous owners ran the Stokkiesdraai Restaurant here. Before me a writer lived in this house.   After years of fostering the dream of one day living in Nieu-Bethesda… here I am, settled in my Karoo house...  

Why Nieu-Bethesda?... people ask me.  Because of my love and passion for the Karoo and Nieu-Bethesda, yes! But where did it all start, and I have to think back many many moons ago, to be precise 20 years ago.  That’s when it all started.  I went to watch a movie with my then friends, Loma and JP, the latter becoming my hubby later on. I chose the movie, not because I knew of the existence of Helen Martins or Nieu-Bethesda, I chose the movie because I love Cathy Bates… the movie - the story of Helen Martins, the Owl House lady… “The Road to Mecca”, based on the play by Athol Fugard.  I loved the movie, was intrigued and fascinated by the story of this woman, her story touched me deeply, made me feel sadness and excitement all at once, for what she created.

Many years later I first drove past the little village called Nieu-Bethesda and I said to hubby that I am too tired to drive the extra distance and that we could visit the village another time.  Reflecting back, it was not the time for me to meet the ghost of Helen Martins, the Owl House and Nieu-Bethesda… the right time only came much later. 

Four years ago I eventually came here for the first time, it was with awe and captivation that I entered the Owl House on that day… standing there on what felt to me like holy ground.  I walked around for hours and soaked up everything about this woman that once lived in the Owl House, who was rejected by the people of the village and is now the reason for people from all over the world coming to visit the little town… almost like the story of Vincent van Gogh…  The same sadness and at the same time excitement overwhelmed me… and I fell instantly in love with Helen Martins, the Owl House and Nieu-Bethesda.  That night we stayed in a little karoo house, had lamb potjie outside in the dust road at Katrin and Ian Alleman’s restaurant, now called The Karoo Lamb.  It was a special evening, we sat at long tables, Ian made the potjie outside in the dust road, we looked at the bright stars in the dark sky, laughed and had some serious conversations.  I fell in love with Nieu-Bethesda even more… the dust roads with no street lights, the stars in the dark sky… the smell of the night, the little children playing in the dust roads… the little Karoo houses, the white and “heritage green” colours, the beautiful old white NG Church (which was the original reason for the existence of the little town), the “windpompe”, cows and sheep and horses grazing in the village and dogs walking freely as if the little town belongs to them… My soul felt serene here… I belonged here. 

We had to return to Johannesburg the following day… I left a piece of my heart and soul here.  After the first visit I returned to Nieu-Bethesda many times, to get to know the little village where my soul dwelled and to find peace and quiet from the stressful life in the city and my job… Sometimes being a tourist, sometimes just being here and resting.  And ever since that first day in Nieu-Bethesda, I dreamt of one day living here permanently, a dream which has now after many years become a reality…

What now? A city girl in Nieu-Bethesda! Am I a little mad, sure “A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”. Someone asked me yesterday, “Are you an Artist?”, No I laughed (wishing deep down I was), just a boring lawyer who worked in the corporate environment for too long and now finds herself here in this little village with a pinch of creativity, a dash of imagination and an accumulation of business, legal and commercial knowledge I am not sure that will help me.  Then I read the words of Paulo Coelho, “You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense”.  Have I found my treasure? Yes! Do I know what to do with it… sort off... I think… Time will tell, and time I have…