Felicity Schweitzer, ‘n Kanadese dame, het onlangs ‘n besoek aan De Kelders gebring waar sy by Otto en Gina Boysen van Haus Giotto Gastehuis tuisgegaan het.
‘n Foto van Felecity Schweitzer van Kanada wat in 1970 deur haar pa by die Klipgatgrotte geneem is
“Felicity het na De Kelders gekom om weer te sien waar sy as kind gespeel het,” vertel Gina. Felicity se vader was ‘n paleontoloog en was gedurende 1969 tot 1973 by die Klipgat-uitgrawings betrokke, asook by Byeneskrans. Klipgat roep besonderse herinneringe by Felicity op en sy onthou dat hy altyd klein takies aan haar opgedra het, soos om van die artefakte af te stof. Sy het ‘n foto, wat haar vader van haar in die 1970’s by Klipgat geneem het, aan Gansbaai Courant beskikbaar gestel.
Hier is Felicity se verhaal in haar eie woorde: “My father, Frank Schweitzer, excavated the site (Klipgat) with various colleagues and reported on it as his thesis for his M.A., which was submitted to the University of Stellenbosch in 1975.
He worked with his friend and colleague, Richard Klein, a paleoanthropologist who is at Stanford University. My father passed away in 1979. My mother and I have wonderful memories of our time spent in De Kelders. Our family visited my dad over weekends. I remember we stayed at a house belonging to a family by the name of Kemp. Once we stayed at the hotel. I remember that there was a man who rang the supper gong at the hotel. On Saturday nights there were dances at a hall near to the hotel.
The entrance to the Klipgat caves via steps, etc did not exist at all and we entered the cave through the path I showed to Gina. De Kelders was very undeveloped at the time. A few dirt roads, the hotel and some houses. There were natural springs which were accessed from steps below the hotel. The rugged beauty of the coast, the smell of the cave, the diamond-shaped rock where the Oyster Catchers sit, the sound of the sea, the shells remain the same!”
Felicity Schweitzer van Kanada, sowat 44 jaar later
‘n Spreekwoord lui dat die wêreld klein is. Met die lees van hierdie berig, het Gansbaai Courant se redakteur, Francois de Jongh, gesê dat Felicity se vader, Frank Schweitzer sy mentor gedurende daardie opgrawings was en dat hy saam met hom en Richard Klein daaraan gewerk het, asook tydens die destydse opgrawings by Byeneskrans.
Hardus Botha
