Jeremy in South Africa

“Hy was ons almal se kombers” Michael said recently, when remembering how Jeremy would draw him near to give him the headphones to share music with him. Translated literally this means that Jeremy was the blanket of our household, keeping us all warm and safe. But the Sotho blanket means much more than that: spiritually, the blanket is a shield, a protective and life-giving force. Yes, Jeremy was our shield: the loving focused attention of a kind man of integrity provides powerful protection and creates a field in which good things can happen.

 

Beyond the swing of white and black magic, African people recognize the spiritual essence of all people, beings, places, things, times,

events and their interconnectedness. Thought is power and someone’s thought will influence you; will either empower you or cripple you. “Umuntu ngumuntu abantu” “A person is a person through other people”; “I am because WE are”. African humanism has a strong focus on community, compassion and cooperation.

Jeremy’s form of humanism was very African in essence.

 

Jeremy was a good man and he was recognized as such wherever he went. Once, when there were violent political unrests happening in our local townships, Jeremy went out to check what was happening. “They all waved at me”, he reported back. Yes, of course.

When Jeremy arrived in Africa, he was living with death already. He countered the reality of his incurable afliction with his very Jeremy zest for life, fearlessness and lightheartedness but there were many times when he would be deep in thought, drawn into himself.

 

What better way to reflect on one’s life, one’s being and the meaning of all things than looking into Nature’s mirror? Nature is bigger than anything humans can think of or create; Nature testifies that life is

eternal. Flowers become seeds; trees go to sleep in winter to wake

 

up in spring. And when a plant or tree does die, another one will take its spot and grow even more abundantly.

Nature is powerful and powerfully present in South Africa; there is always a nature reserve close by (sometimes even within big cities); the gardens are abundant with plants, birds and insects. Listening to the doves and the hadidas that would forever grace our garden,

Jeremy would imitate their songs and would be very pleased when they would respond back to him. He could look for hours at the light playing through the trees. He called our garden, “This Magical Place”.

Endeavouring to capture Jeremy’s experience of living in South Africa, I find Johnny Clegg’s songs very helpful: Jeremy was searching for the “Spirit of the Great Heart under African Sky” and our

relationship, our garden and all his encounters with the “Scatterlings of Africa” functioned as catalysts for his journey into himself.

Like nature, music has a language that speaks directly to the human heart, soul and spirit, bypassing the rational intellect, yet enriching it.

When Jeremy approached me in January 2012 we initially

communicated through music; we would send each other pieces of music we liked and discuss various interpretations.

In creating the Garden Slideshow, my friend Gisele Yitamben and her web designer Rostand Simo chose Pachelbel’s Canon in D to accompany the pictures. This happens to be the very first piece of music Jeremy sent me when it all started: his relationship with me and his adventure of living in Africa. A coincidence? I don’t think so and I am convinced that Jeremy doesn’t think so either.

 

I am very delighted and very grateful for this opportunity to give you, Jeremy’s friends a little glimpse into our garden. Thank you, Gisele and Rostand, for the slideshow. Thank you, Petra and Marie-Anne, for sending me the pictures. Thank you to all hosts of this Memorial but a special thanks to Dale, Tom, Eric and Steven Heimel.