Umuzi

It took Afrikaans actress Antoinette Pienaar almost 40 years to find him, but when she finally did Oom Johannes Willemse started teaching her all about the healing herbs of the Karoo. Their story is encapsulated in Pienaar’s book, The Griqua’s Apprentice / Kruidjie roer my.

For more information on herbs and cures, don’t miss Pienaar’s herbal remedy website, Kruie Kraai Koning.

Deep in the heart of the Great Karoo of South Africa, at the foot of a mountain without an official name, a Griqua herbalist is teaching a white woman to heal people with herbs. Oom (uncle) Johannes Willemse, already in his nineties, was a little annoyed that it took well-known Afrikaans actress Antoinette Pienaar nearly 40 years to find him – he had been dreaming for decades that she would be the one to help him pass on his knowledge.

When she arrived at Theefontein, the sheep farm owned by her second cousin Jacques Pienaar, in 2001, Antoinette was severely weakened after contracting cerebral malaria in West Africa – but she decided to stay on at the farm to be healed by the Karoo and its herbs.

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Book details

• The Griqua’s Apprentice by Antoinette Pienaar
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  EAN: 9781415200735
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• Kruidjie roer my deur Antoinette Pienaar
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  EAN: 9781415200599
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Image courtesy Kruie Kraai Koning

Daar’s al baie met Antoinette Pienaar gepraat oor die Griekwa-heler by wie sy in die Karoo gaan leer het. WILLEMIEN BRÜMMER het oom Johannes Willemse self gaan opsoek en met hom gepraat oor kruie, watermense en sy oupa wat hom in ’n leeu kon verander.

“Ek het van Vrydag af gevoel in my hand in: nee, die mense is op pad,” sê oom Johannes Willemse toe ons Maandagoggend voor sy wit huisie op Theefontein stilhou. Dis ’n blouer-as-blou, snikhete dag. Die goue son aan die oom se kraag is ’n miniatuur van sy moordende maat wat netnou eers uit sy verduistering gekom het. Om ons is die windhonde, die hoenders en die swart kat vreemd stil.

Die oom stap rustig nader, sy stem ’n eerbiedige fluistering: “Jy’t vanoggend omtrent nie eens ’n voëltjie gehoor in die son se verduistering nie.” Hy lig sy hand in ’n halfmas-saluut. “Dis mos Godswerke dié . . . nie onse werke nie.”

Hy korrel met sy oog in die rigting van die Man-berg en die amper wolklose hemel daarbo. “Hy gaan reën vandag.”

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