A few of my fellow Rave Reviews Book Club members who have read Fauna Park Tales’ stories might have noticed that the series is written for two of my favourite children. As it happens (of course) my grandchildren. Here my granddaughter is almost one year old, and already able to give me a serious stare . . .

My granddaughter is thirteen years old today, and I can hardly believe how fast she has grown or really, how fast time has flown by. We were living in Durban, Kwa-Zulu, Natal, South Africa, at the time, and we did a lot of travelling – about five hundred miles between Durban and Johannesburg – most school holidays and a few weekends a month to see more of this special little girl.

Not long after she turned one year old, her parents moved to Botswana, and then it became a real challenge to see her often enough. So, in the end, we uprooted and made a new start in a foreign country – roughly for about six years. The two of us became inseparable. Since she was a toddler, she sat quietly in my after-school English classes and started to speak well from an early age, learning to read even before she attended Grade 0.

 

 

She has also inherited my bookworm tendencies – something which has been a good thing at school where she has excelled in all her subjects.

In the end, we had to make a decision to emigrate to the United Kingdom, as work was getting more and more localised, so we came here in November 2013, and this time, my daughter moved too. By now, we had a little grandson as well! I was happy that they decided to come with us, because not long after we arrived here, my daughter became a single mom, and quickly had to find gainful employment. I’m not sorry that we made such a big move when most folks are thinking of retiring because I’m happy to have been around for most of the time to see my grandchildren grow up and to be a support for them too. Here are a few pictures of us  – me, my husband, my eldest daughter and grandchildren, my younger daughter and my son-in-law –  spending time together; far from South Africa yet still together.

 

This certainly has been a momentous week in the Botha Family because my eldest daughter worked and studied for the past few years, and she graduated this week. So, we have a lot to be thankful for!

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https://www.amazon.com/Maretha-Botha/e/B00MOORJAO/