I would describe this place as the paradise the paradise
I was a small little girl, I think I was three years old
when we immigrated from Albertinia, three fountains (Driefontein) to Suurbraak. To grow old, I would say to grow old
it's not for youngsters actually, it's for like elderly people like me Sarah McGregor
My name is Sarah McGregor, and we are here at the river in Suurbraak, the Tradouw River.
I think of Albertus Davids, my Uncle. He's a Khoi singer and he released his first CD at the age of 73, and the words of his song go like this
"I think of a land where the tracks of my children lie, where my history is laid out step by step, for you who don't know it, to read"
and when I hear this, I think of Suurbraak.
We are in the lovely town of Suurbraak, possibly the prettiest place in South Africa, I think there after Paradise lies Suurbraak.
My name is David November, my friends call me Katts. Everyone out there knows me as Katts November.
Suurbraak, the name Suurbraak originates from the fact that the ground was acidic and the water brackish
Suurbraak ( Combination of acidic and brackish), but our indigenous name, the name I love is !Xairu, the name that Captain Hans Moos our founding father gave it.
My name is Donovan Julius, I am the resident artist here in !Xairu ... Suurbraak, where we currently are.
!Xairu means paradise, and that's exactly what Suurbraak is. If you can imagine a place, surrounded by mountains,
green grass, plantations at the foot and on the mountains, and at the base of the mountain
a big river flowing through the valley,
and on the banks of the river you see a group of children playing,
jumping around, then we are talking about Suurbraak
So in short, the history of Suurbraak, !Xairu, Captain Hans Moos is the founding father, the town is over 200 years old,
We still don't have a tourism office, but it's not necessary because everyone knows the history. Do you understand?
In Suurbraak live the most (slang translated roughly into) honorable people
and in saying like this I'm not sure how the HHT ( Afrikaans Linguistic Heritage Group) will take it
I think its our own word that belongs to Suurbraak. Suurbraak....
was originally a "brown" town (speaking about people), and over the years people of other colours have moved here
white people as well, I don't really want to say that, as we all live well together as brothers
The people that live here in Suurbraak love each other, the town, our history and our rich culture,
these are the people that live here, and in Suurbraak we aren't called Suurbraakers, we are called Braaknaars. Here in Suurbraak only Braaknaars live.
If Suurbraak was a painting and I had to paint it, it would be full of colour, full of strange people, full of ..
animals, because this is what Suurbraak is, a small country town with a bunch of characters
I always say here you find the true Rainbow Nation, we have different races living here
and people can live together, I think when Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu spoke about uBuntu, it's here we people live it.
[singing] "Trans-Karoo bring her home," [laughs] that song allows me to feel alive, free and excited
One of our young people here Ibrahim Kibru wrote a beautiful song about Suurbraak
I heard the song the other day, and I thought WOW, I don't even know the songs words but
he sings, actually about our Rubgy Club, Suurbraak Progress,
"You're my love, you're my superstar", and that mad me think and realise
you're really proud to be from Suurbraak, it doesn't matter that we don't have much, but Suurbraak is so unique,
you feel so at home, and that's probably part of the problem, you're so set in your comfort zone,
Yeah, you'll eat some porridge or a piece of bread but it's enough. Understand? For me it isn't enough because I want to explore the world
but that song of Ibrahim Kibru, "Suurbraak you're my superstar" or "Progress you're my superstar, you're my hero"
that made me realise that we are really blessed to live here, it's our place, and that song is super awesome.
I would advise you to come down to Suurbraak, to stay for a while, a month or so or whatever,
to experience the freshness, the mountain, the water, the trees, because it makes me feel so good.
We have a lot of slang in Suurbraak, the thing I'd say before Aweh my brother, how do things look etc
I'd say the most important thing here is, what do the old people always say....... " You must walk nicely (well)
I asked them, why do you always say "I must walk well", it sounds like you're threatening me, and the Old man said " no my child, when I say you must walk well, I mean God is infront of you"
You are shrouded with Gods blessing and His Grace. So this answered why we must always walk well
and now I realise the importance, remember we were brought up as Christians, and that's where this whole thing of walk well comes from
When you leave somewhere you say "ok Neil, walk well, we'll talk again", and that reiterated again for me how important Christianity is and how it determines your path here
So when you leave Suurbraak, you must "walk well old Neil", that is what we are going to say to you.