March Newsletter

• Wilma is no stranger to Volmoed. James Thomas introduced her to Volmoed in 1987 while she was at Christ Church. She attended some Taize meetings here with Clement Sergell and came with the youth of St George’s Cathedral when they camped here. After her ordination as deacon she went Mitchells Plain. From there her  journey led  to Stellenbosch, St George’s Cathedral, Hopefield, and Langebaan before becoming chaplain to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Before leaving South African shores for the United States in 2003 she was chaplain at UCT and  St Paul’s Rondebosch. In 2017 she visited Volmoed and celebrated communion on the occasion of her 25th year since ordination.

The Volmoed Cross and name appeared on her ’memory’ stole that she wore that day. Edwin Arrison told her about the Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Program (VYLTP) and as she expressed interest he invited her to become involved, which she did during her Sabbatical in 2018. During that stay and the subsequent one in 2019 the ball was set in motion for her to become chaplain at Volmoed as Barry Wood’s passing had left  a void at Volmoed. She will continue to be involved with  VYLTP.

At the beginning of February she arrived at Volmoed and already she has been busy helping out with the Thursday morning services as well as presiding over the Eucharist in Brother Daniel’s absence. She has also put on her VYLTP hat with a planning meeting for this years program.Please keep her in your prayers during this busy time of transition and for all that the future may hold for her as she follows in the footsteps of Clement Sergell and Barry Wood.

• The brothers have had a busy month with various visitors, coming to see them and staying on Volmoed. 

They spent a weekend away at ‘in Harmonie’ in Franschhoek, after which  Brother Daniel went on to attend a BECOSA (Benedictine Communities of South Africa) meeting and conference. He also took some leave which was no doubt well earned. 

Robert Magliula, the Superior of St Benedict order arrived toward the end of February for a two week stay. 

• We’ve started the New Year with many different projects, mostly in the building department. Although no new buildings have gone up we have been upgrading and re-purposing some of the existing structures. The ‘shed’ in front of the office is being made more secure with brick walls and new corrugated iron sides.

Garage  doors will complete the job. This should keep our fire fighting equipment secure and as dust free as possible. A new staff tearoom will complete the upgrade. Once again thank you to Graham Ward whose generous donation is making the new tearoom possible. 

The Resource Centre has been divided in half to create an office for Wilma and a tearoom for the office staff and any visitors coming to the office. We enjoyed having Mike around the office for a couple of days while this job was being completed.

• After 34 years at the helm of Volmoed Bernhard will be handing over the baton of Manager to Mathilda and will be taking a well deserved rest.

He and Jane will be away for the whole of March. First they will be jetting off to Mauritius (a gift from their son) for a rest before heading to Port Elizabeth for some family time as they celebrate daughter Penny’s wedding on the 21st.

Although he will no longer be spending his days in the office he will be available on a consultancy basis (every Tuesday) to help keep Volmoed running smoothly with his insight and expertise.

He will also be found in the office some weekends keeping in touch with visitors.

Bon Voyage! 

• Please pray for Peterus, one of our grounds men, whose little daughter Zoe has been diagnosed with cancer of the liver. She is in Tygerberg receiving treatment.   Also keep Isobel in your prayers as she undergoes test to determine what is causing immobilising  pain in her leg.