The reason why I am fascinated by military history – any kind of military history – is because some strange and beautiful things come out of the crucible of tragedy. While the battle-buffs will talk about troop deployment and battle strategy, I am more interested in the side effects: the way ordinary people dealt with the privations of war, the innovations that came out of battle, the way that societies are profoundly changed, the impact of military upheaval on subsequent events. One part of South Africa that has seen more than its fair share of conflict, and has subsequently developed a multi-layered and complicated history, is the Tyume Valley in the Eastern Cape, an area loosely bound by the towns of Alice, Fort Beaufort and Hogsback. The first and most obvious thing about the Tyume Valley is that this was the main site of extreme liveliness for more than 300 years. Firstly the San were displaced by the Bushmen, who were in turn displaced by the Xhosa (the name, by the way, comes from the word ‘Kosa’ – angry man), who then spent about 100 years battling with European settlers over more than eleven Frontier Wars. The term ‘war’ is actually a bit misleading – there was constant and on-going friction which was only divided into separate wars by means of significant battles in a long simmering series of raids and retaliations. Either because of this, or despite this – it’s hard to tell – this valley is also the area where education in South Africa has deep and lasting roots. The missionaries of various denominations ducked the bullets and spears and established schools and printing presses and seminaries. Fort Hare University, the Lovedale Press, Africa’s oldest newspaper Zabantsundu, the first Xhosa Bible, the famous Jabavu family – all of these educational highlights found fertile ground in the Tyume Valley in between the endless skirmishes. I became aware of the historical richness of this area through correspondence with a visionary man called Glen Paterson, who first visited the Tyume Valley on a church outreach programme in 2001 and was fired up with enthusiasm to take the stories of the valley to a wider audience. Glen met the Rev. Luzuko Qina who showed him round the old stone churches and took him on a tour: “We were struck by the friendliness of the people we met,” says Glen, “and the neatly fenced homes in most of the villages, despite the obvious poverty.” Through his church work, Glen began researching the history of the area and compiled a booklet with the aim of establishing a small tourism industry in the valley.  The human history goes back more than 20 000 years and includes rock paintings, stone ruins, battle sites, old churches, military villages and old kraals. There are stories such as the Christmas Day Massacre when the garrison of Woburn, playing cricket on Christmas Day in 1850, were wiped out by a horde of Xhosa. Even though battles were terminal, the settler women and children and missionaries were always given safe passage – by order of the chief.  Then there are the stories around the disaster that befell the Xhosa people in 1855 after Nongqawuse’s suicidal prophecy that resulted in the Great Cattle Killing, which, incidentally, led to the system of migratory labour because starving Xhosa were forced to find work on white farms and mines.

And anecdotes such as when missionary Andrew Geddes Bain tried to teach the local chief Tyali to use his oxen to plough: “But the chief did not persevere, saying that ploughing would spoil his oxen – and he had plenty of wives to hoe.” Glen’s booklet has been translated into Xhosa by Mrs Winnie Maneli in order to encourage local people to take advantage of tourism opportunities in the area. The idea is to get locals to transport tourists in donkey carts while acting as tour guides, stopping at the local tea shop for lunch and locally produced curios. There is so much to do and see in the area that it is possible to explore for several days. And even if you are not necessarily interested in visiting the battle sites and universities (Fort Hare is the place where both Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe got their university education, which is an interesting juxtaposition), there is enough scenic beauty – particularly hundreds of waterfalls and misty forest walks – to please the most exacting tourist. Unfortunately, Glen was tragically killed in a light-aircraft crash in Canada two months ago. His widow, Lynne, is continuing with his dream of starting a tourism route in the valley to generate income for the local people. Together with Mrs Maneli they organise stays in local homes and take people on tours of the area.  Glen had a vision of promoting the history of the area while using this history to empower the local residents. His mission might have ended in tragedy but – like so many of the tragedies of the past – a lot of good can come out of it. A vibrant little tourism economy in the Tyume Valley will be exactly the kind of memorial that Glen would have wished. If you would like to know more about Lynne and Winnie’s project, or if you would like to help, you can contact Winnie at 073 012 6984 or Lynne at 082 258 0615.