Klara Majola

Klara Majola needed her father

when nightfall arrived,

he, blind, gathers wood;

but Klara Majola lost her way.

Little Klara Majola retired cold

in the Bokkeveld’s snowfall,

her arms and legs brown

and crooked like a vine.

Klara Majola, the freezing violence

sifting slowly over me from space,

never will I, in the hot Bokkeveld

Klara Majola, die as you from cold.

Author’s Note: D J Opperman wrote the poem. A true story of Violet Jansen(Klara Majola) and the incident happened. Translated from Afrikaans: Mattheus Frederik

”Near Prince Alfred Hamlet there is a farm called” Die Eike “. On this fruit farm, in the winter of 1950, an eight-year-old girl lost her way when she went to look for her blind father. She, her parents, five sisters and a brother were labourers on the farm, and their surname was not Majola, but Jansen. Klara’s real name wasn’t Klara either, but Violet. In the area where nicknames thrive, Klara’s father known as Majola. So Klara Majola was nicknamed. Easier to remember, because everyone spoke Afrikaans.

Nan was ten years old when the tragedy happened. Their father had gone blind before, and the family were still staying on the farm. He helped with loose chores and liked to look for firewood. He knew the farm very well. On the cold winter day in question, he went to search for wood and stayed away. Klara went to look for him, and they missed each other. Her father came home later. It started to rain and snow and became frosty.

The next morning they found her near a stream. She died during the night.

She buried in the cemetery on the farm. On the cement stone stands: Klara Majola. She was born: 14.6.1942. Died: 26.7.1950. “