Yes, this is indeed my great-great-grandma.

My moms-dads-moms-mom.

In fact, “Guten Tag” might be a more fitting greeting, since they were fresh off the boat from Germany, arriving in the colony of South West Africa, which today of course is known as Namibia (made famous by being the birthplace of Brangelina’s first biological child).

Her name was Wilhelmina Schroder.

Das ist very German ya?

It’s odd. Because my father is Dutch (born and raised in the Netherlands and emigrated to South Africa in the 50′s) I’ve always felt more dutch than anything else (My stubborn streak. My sense of humour. My distinct LACK of humour on occasion. My bluntness).

However, while the Dutch usually turn their noses up at the Germans in general (they’re still bitter about World War II and with good reason…) there’s something about German culture that has always felt a bit like home for me. (NOT the nazi bits okay?)

Now I know why too.

Don’t you love digging around in your ancestry? It’s always so deliciously fraught with scandal too. (More on this later).

I can’t help wondering what made Wilhelmina (and her husband August – who you can’t see in this picture the way I’ve cropped it.) Get on the boat all those years ago, and swop the beautiful countryside of Germany, for the barren wastelands of the Kalahari desert. I mean okay, so it’s not like they could just take off on a cruise or select from a bunch of a miami vacations packages. When they got on a ship to go somewhere it took *months*. It cost a *lot*. If you were going, then you were going for good, so you had to be sure about your decision.

Ok, I’m exaggerating, all of Namibia is not barren and lifeless.

Well mostly not.

Well okay, so most of it IS desert, but still, I wonder with what sense of adventure and pioneering spirit they set off for the deepest darkest (driest) Africa all those years ago.

I nearly forgot the reason for this post too – because look here – I set about restoring the photograph!

Here’s my great-great-grandma after I’ve scanned in the disintegrating photo of her and August Schroder, and worked a little Photoshop magic with it…

Yeah this is the point where you slap your foreheads in awe and say WOW! How did she *DO* that!? Where you email me and beg me to restore parts of your ancestry to former glory, and promise me all your worldly goods and first born children to do just that.

Have a look side by side…

Okay. Maybe not.

But still, it’s cool right?

Coming tomorrow: August Schroder My Great-Great-Grandpa, and his very thick, no good, very 19th century, scary beard.

Jawohl.

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