Our People

Last year Virginia Nyamayenedenga, (featured in this post), left the farm. Replacement staff are Monet Goliath, Rowena Goliath and Vinnie Swarts. Monet and Rowena come from near us in Joubertskloof and Vinnie comes from Atlantis.

A discussion of `Our People’ would be incomplete without talking about Priscilla and Charlie. A husband and wife team, they have worked for us for over ten years, and their contribution is of such value, that we would not manage the farm without them. Charlie runs the men’s staff contingent and manages vineyard work, winemaking,…

Mathilde, Martina and Caroline, all from Germany. Our last volunteers have just been fantastic. One from Switzerland and three from different parts of Germany. All brought the same mix of hard work, flexibility, enthusiasm, warmth and humour. Lisanne from Swtzerland was the first with a gentle energy and ready laugh, and she gardened and cooked…

13 youngsters from the scheme in Atlantis were taken by Romayne (from Fynbos) to see the magnificent Lipizzaner dancing stallions in a special child-geared performance last weekend. Ro says the horses were stunning and the children were blown away by them. They were even allowed to get close and pet the horses. The Lipizzaner org…

Lisanne, fresh from studying antiquities at Edinburough university, has just spent a month with us volunteering. She was such a delight. A lovely open, warm person she just slipped into farm and family life here at Fynbos.  She helped us in all kinds of ways: making limoncello, bottling and labeling olive oil, helping us build…

For some years Romayne Midgeley, armed with a B Comm and financial experience, came to Fynbos weekly to help us with our books. She brought with her Wobbles, one of her rescue Rottis, who has since become feature of Fynbos life. Then when we restructured our admin, Ro agreed to take a full time job…

A blog post or two back we shared Basil Majaja’s story as s part of our project of learning more about the people who make Fynbos Estate what it is. The second person we interviewed is Virginia Nyamayedenga and her story made both me and Yolanda listening, feel deeply sad. Virginia works at Fynbos as…

Basil has been part of the team for the longest. I, Diana, first met him some 16 years ago when he came as a harvester during the hot summer of 2002.  From the start there was something about him that set him apart. Quietly spoken with warm eyes and a gentle twinkly smile he was…

These last summer and harvest months have seen lots of volunteers here at Fynbos as well as various friends and friends of friends lending a hand. Leon from Germany began in December joined soon by Leena from Switzerland. They hung out together and Leon did lots of varnishing and putting up of signs that Leena…