Fighting for Freedom

Chapter 2 – The Exchange Student-1

Chapter 2 – The Exchange StudentPetro gets home at about four in the afternoon and is glad to see that her parents are not back yet. Sanna is nowhere to be seen and neither is the bottle of wine. Petro knows that her mother will be upset with Sanna for not following her instructions and she feels bad for getting her in trouble, but she really wanted to explore the new area today. She just hopes that Sanna will keep her promise when her mother yells at her tomorrow.

Gert is very excited when they pick up Anke Bauer from the Jan Smuts International Airport (today's OR Tambo International Airport) in Johannesburg. It was his idea to volunteer as host for an exchange student for a year, but it took some time for him to be able to convince Elna that this is a good idea. Petro has been very lonely since Gerhardt finished matric and went off to Bloemfontein for his military training. His children are very close and they used to do everything together when Gerhardt was still in school. Petro has been very lonely on the farm and Gert can’t wait to reveal this surprise to her. Anke is bubbly and full of energy and Gert is very pleased with himself for making a good choice. She is eighteen and has already finished school in Germany, but she decided to also do matric in South Africa as she wanted the adventure of spending a year in a foreign country and the student exchange programme was the easiest method to do this. On the way back to Komatipoort, they stop in Nelspruit to show Anke the school she will attend and the hostel she will stay in. Gert can see that Elna is getting impatient to get home, so they do not spend a lot of time in Nelspruit, but at least Anke seems exited by the school.

They arrive home just after six in the evening and find Petro alone on the porch having a coffee. She walks towards the car to greet her parents and only sees Anke when she gets out of the car. Petro is confused and looks at her father for clarity. He has a huge smile on his face. ‘Petro, I want you to meet our guest for the next year. Her name is Anke and she is an exchange student from Germany.’

Petro smiles at Anke and extents her right hand. ‘Pleased to meet you Anke, welcome to South Africa and welcome to our home.’

Anke smiles back at her, ignores her extended hand and hugs Petro. ‘Good day Petro. We will be sisters and sisters do not shake hands, they hug each other.’

Petro enjoys Anke’s German accent and she instantly likes this girl. She seems to be lots of fun and she can do with some fun in her life right now. Petro and Gert help Anke to carry her luggage to the guest room and Petro keeps Anke company while she unpacks. After a while, Elna comes into the room. ‘Petro, where is Sanna.’

‘I told her that she could go home early. I felt sorry for her as she was the only one working today.’

‘She was supposed to cook us a good traditional meal for tonight. What are we going to feed Anke tonight?’

‘Perhaps we can braai (Afrikaans for barbeque). It will be a very traditional way to welcome Anke.’

Elna is not happy, but she knows that they do not have any choice. She will definitely have a stern word with Sanna tomorrow. ‘Ok, go ask your father whether he will light the fire and then come help me in the kitchen.’

After dinner the two girls help Elna to clean up before they go to Anke’s room so that she can finish unpacking. Petro is embarrassed by the size, or lack of it, of some of Anke’s underwear and bikinis, but she does not comment on these. They chat about Germany and South Africa and Petro promises Anke that she will show her the farm the next day. She just hopes that her father will allow them to go to the veld on their own. The next morning at five Petro joins her father on the porch for coffee. ‘Daddy.’ She only calls him this if she wants a favour and her father knows this, but like any father he allows his daughter to manipulate him a little bit. ‘I want to go show Anke the farm today.’

‘You know it’s too dangerous honey.’

‘I am almost eighteen and I know how to use a rifle. I can look after myself and Anke will be with me as well. You have to trust me.’

He looks at her for a while. ‘I trust you and I know you can look after yourself. I know that with your brother being on the border I may be a bit overprotective of you, but I just want to make sure that you are safe. You may go show her the farm, but please be safe and take the Point 22 with you.’

Petro gives her father a hug. ‘Thanks Daddy, we will be safe. I will teach Anke to shoot as well so that we can take two rifles in future.’

Gert thinks about this for a while. Petro is a very good shot and he taught her weapon safety before he taught her how to shoot, but he is responsible for Anke’s safety and he cannot shift the responsibility to teach Anke weapon safety to his daughter. ‘No, let me take the two of you to the range so that I can teach her weapon safety first. When I am happy that she is competent to use a weapon, I will allow her to carry one when you guys go into the field.’

‘Ok daddy, can we do that tomorrow? I want to get to know her today.’

‘Sure honey, go enjoy yourselves today.’

Petro has one more thing to do before she and Anke go to the veld. She finds her mother in her parent’s room, busy with her make-up. Her mother puts on make-up everyday and she has told Petro that a woman should make sure that she is always attractive to her husband. Men’s eyes wander and they will notice other beautiful women and a wife has to make sure that they remember that she is beautiful as well. She hugs her mother and gives her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Morning Mom, you look beautiful.’

Elna smiles at her in the mirror. ‘Morning Petro. Thank you, you are very kind, but look at all these wrinkles. If only I could be your age again. It is so easy to be attractive when you are young.’

‘You are still very attractive Mom. Mom, please don’t punish Sanna, it was my fault that she left early yesterday. I wanted to be alone and I gave her a bottle of wine and told her to go home.’

Elna is immediately upset. ‘Why would you give her wine? You know she has a drinking problem. It is bad enough that she steals a bottle every so often, now you are helping her with that.’

‘I am sorry Mom. I just really wanted to be on my own.’

‘Why?’

‘I miss Gerhardt and I am very concerned for his safety now that he is on the border. I needed time to think about this and Sanna kept bothering me. I will not give her wine again.’

Elna pulls Petro closer to her and hugs her. ‘I know you miss him. We all worry about him. You have to belief that God will keep him safe. Thank you for being honest with me. I will not punish Sanna.’

Petro feels bad for lying to her mother, but she knows that her mother will never understand her need to go explore the farm on her own. Although she really misses her brother and although she is very concerned for his safety, these were not the reasons why she bribed Sanna with a bottle of wine, but she knew that her mother would accept these reasons and decided to use them.

Anke cannot believe the fact that she has to get up at half-past five in the morning and when Petro tells her that she allowed her to sleep in a bit as they all actually get up at half-past four, she starts to think she got herself into something she may not be able to handle. She soon gets used to the early mornings though and her routine soon adapts to that of her hosts. She joins the Le Roux family for breakfast before she has a long shower. Petro asked her at breakfast whether she knows how to ride a horse and she puts on a jean, t-shirt and short boots to ensure she is comfortable on the back of a the horse. When the horses are saddled the two girls head off to the veld and they truly enjoy each other’s company. Both instantly know that they have made a new friend and they look forward to get to know each other better. They return home in time for lunch and while Petro’s mother takes an afternoon nap, the girls are chatting on the lawn in the shade of the trees. They talk about hobbies and sport and Anke tells Petro that she had done wrestling, boxing and catfight matches for a German company distributing wrestling videos. Petro is not sure whether Anke is joking with her, so she laughs at her and punches her in the arm. ‘You are lying, girls don’t wrestle and box.’

‘If you don’t believe me, I will show you.’

Anke grabs Petro’s arm, pulls her toward her and wrestles her down to the grass. Petro is laughing and screaming loudly and is soon pinned down with Anke sitting on top of her. She is still laughing when she hears her mother’s voice. ‘Petro! What are you doing?’

‘We are just horsing around Mom. Anke showed me a wrestling move.’

‘You should know better. Young ladies do not wrestle. It is not a Christian thing to do.’

‘Sorry Mom, we were just joking around.’

Anke is not sure what the fuss is about and she feels like telling Elna that she is totally overreacting, but decides against it. ‘Sorry Mrs. Le Roux. I did not know that it was not allowed here.’

‘It is ok Anke, you did not know better. In South Africa a woman’s body is God’s temple and we do not do anything that may affect the purity of our bodies.’

Anke wonders where Petro and her brother come from then. At least some purity must have been affected when they were conceived. She smiles at Elna. ‘Sorry Mrs. Le Roux, I will remember that.’

Elna is satisfied that she has made her point and that both girls seem to understand the nature of their sins. ‘Come inside, Sanna is making coffee and after we have coffee and cake, we have to start to prepare dinner.’

The two girls follow Elna into the house and Anke gives Petro a naughty wink. That evening Gert calls Petro to the porch for a talk and she instantly knows that her mother has told him about their wrestling match. He has a sympathetic smile on his face when she joins him. ‘Mom tells me that the two of you were wrestling each other like boys.’

‘It wasn’t like that, she just pinned me after I made fun of her.’

‘I thought as much, but you know that your mother wants you to be a prim and proper young lady. You have always been a bit of a tomboy and that really bothers her. When you were six we took your brother to wrestling practice and you cried for hours because you could not also wrestle.'

Petro remembers this and she remembers how she wanted to wrestle every time Gerhardt went to practice or when he participated in a tournament. But only boys were allowed to wrestle and she never got a chance to know how it feels to struggle against your opponent for control. Although today was hardly a wrestling match, she enjoyed the feeling and she wishes that she can have a real wrestling match against Anke, but she knows that she will never be allowed to do this. She sits with her father on the porch for a while and they talk about Gerhardt and how they both miss him. After a while Anke comes out with coffee and Gert gives her a wink. ‘I hope we did not upset you too much today. I understand that women do wrestle in Germany, but it is a taboo in South Africa. You will get used to the way we do things here and you will see that you can still have fun here without having to break our rules.’

‘I understand, I did not mean to upset Mrs. Le Roux.’

‘It is ok, she can be a bit strict at times, but that is just because she cares about Petro and wants the best for her. I am sure she is just looking out for you as well.’

The Sunday morning everybody, except for Anke gets ready to go to church. Elna is not happy that Anke will not join them, but Gert decided that it would be senseless for her to go to an Afrikaans church where she will not understand anything.. Anke told them that she will use the time to write a letter to her parents and Elna accepts this for now, but she will talk to Gert about this. The Holy Spirit does not need a language to work with someone’s soul and she knows that Anke’s soul needs a lot of attention. She is also concerned about what people will say if they do not bring the exchange student with them to church. A good Christian woman is responsible for the souls of everyone under her roof and going to church is essential for a soul to be saved. Petro is in a hurry to get home after church, but her mother went back into the church after they had tea with the other churchgoers. This is an important ritual for Elna as it is important that people notice them. She does not want anybody to think that they did not attend the church service on a Sunday. Rumours spread quickly in a small community and she does not want a rumour to spread that they are not faithful members of the church. Petro asks her father where her mother went to and when they are going to leave, but he just shrugs his shoulders. Petro can see that he is unhappy with something, but she does not push it any further. A few minutes later her mother comes out of the church with Dominie Botha in tow. The Dominie shakes Gert’s hand and talks about the lack of rain and asks Gert how he is coping with the drought. They talk for a while before he focuses his attention on Petro. ‘I understand you have been struggling with a few faith issues, come with me so that we can discuss it.’