Support during early childhood
development key to success at
school and in life
Brian Berkman
A
uthor Dalene Mathee in Fiela’s Child
wrote: “God forgives many things,
but God never forgives us the wrong
we do to a child. On the one side of
the mountain, in the Langkloof, there’s Fiela
Komoetie, devoted to her foundling - the child
God entrusted to her one night when she found
the three-year-old boy crying on her doorstep
- a castaway lamb.” This is a story many people
around the world have cherished but for the
people in the Langkloof, the area that traverses
Uniondale and Joubertina and especially the
Zondagh family of Avontuur, on the R62, it is the
story written by a family friend who has put the
people of the Langkloof, and their stories, on the
world’s stage.
Matthys, the first of a long line of Zondaghs
arrived in the Cape in July 1730. Matthys the
second bought Avontuur in 1765 and hired the
farm De Riete Valley which is the present-day
Uniondale.\
Fast forward to 2018 and Pieter-Matt (the
short form of Matthys) Stemmet along with his
brother Ben-Pierre Stemmet are grandchildren
of Matthys Petrus (Matt) along with Matt
Zondagh and Kosie Zondagh. They are now
farming at Matt Zondagh Landgoed (MZL) with
Francois Zondagh, Matthys Petrus’ (Matt) son.
Pieter-Matt Stemmet and his wife are involved
in the creche where they hold the quote from
Fiela’s Child - “God never forgives the wrong
Matt Zondagh Landgoed growers, from left to right, Kosie Zondagh, Pieter-Matt Stemmet,
Francois Zondagh and Matt Zondagh.
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
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