Orania: It is very quiet
It is very quiet, this goes without saying. It is the platteland, no real amount of people, no skyscrapers of any kind – not even really large buildings – no people = not many cars…therefore you can still mostly hear nature, i.e. birds, and in the evenings hear duikers, owls and other wildlife (and yes they are still wild).
This is the way Orania has been until now, and although the town has grown a lot it is for the most part still like this. And this is what people experience first when they come to visit or live in the town. Those visiting will certainly come again because of these rural characteristics and because it is safe. But those who come to live in the town go through a period of vacation also, which is a bit different to the vacationer. A period where they feel they have come to the right place to find peace and you often hear them say: “Dit is so rustig hier” (It is so quiet here), or “I will never go back”…to where they came from, invariably it is the city, mostly Pretoria in the case of Orania burgers, where (in the city) they have experienced the horrible crimes South Africans face every day..
This was my impression also that the people do not really work and that they surely must have a lot of time on their hands and can easily get to appointments and functions in time because of this and because everything is so close by. But, my stepfather corrected me by saying that the people and the town is very busy.
And this was correct in a certain sense…this is what I’ve found regarding the activities people will face when initially coming to live in Orania:
- An initial period of quiet and relaxation: a this is heaven feeling, a feeling of unbridled freedom,
- (For the idealists especially) after a while an increased community involvement, which creates a sense of satisfaction in the beginning at least
- Coupled with number two, the new Orania denizen often arrives in town without employment. This includes the fairly rich, the middle class and of course the poor, jobless, hoping for a new start. Depending on how old and how much the new intrekker has in terms of resources this changes quickly, or eventually for most and the new Orania inhabitant gets a job, or gets an even more expensive idea: to open a business,
- In Orania there are many community activities and most new inhabitants gorge them on these activities in the beginning,
4.1. Now many of these activities in town are vacant and in dire need of brooms to sweep them clean – few new inhabitants ask why they are vacant
4.2. Many activities of new intrekkers of their own design /plan cost money to get of the ground – this is done with extreme enthusiasm initially and with the firm idea that like in the city there is wide spread support from a large base – in Orania they forget, the base is very small,
4.3. So, they start a few other ventures, which more often than not do not last
4.4. The failure of business ventures, lack of community involvement in activities all eventually causes fatigue due to over commitment to these activities in town (and that is why many new ‘brooms’ are so eagerly ‘swept up’ as it were by the town into activities, because very few Orania activities remain stable, open and occupied over the long term). - In the end, coupled with 4.4. the realization of a very small Orania economy by the new intrekker and an increased rate of poverty (for whatever reason) and the small income of your regular job, makes people change from job positions often, except those with the few good stable jobs – they keep hold of it as much as possible (even though they are also far less remunerative than average jobs anywhere else) – and change or relinquish/hand over or abandon town activities often…
The warning is then this. Come to Orania with the idea that it is safe, because it is. Come to Orania, because it is rural, which it is – away from the scary city life of the new South Africa. Come to Orania to have your children grow up like you grew up…But be aware of the cost in terms of effort and finances.
Omar Daniel Fourie, 8 May 2018.
