The plight of parentless children in Potchefstroom was never more acute than after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). When the Potchefstroom concentration camp officially closed on 6 February 1903 a large number of destitute orphans were left behind.
My article on the Potchefstroom concentration camp will give background on the history of the camp: https://lenniegouws.co.za/what-happened-in-the-potchefstroom-concentration-camp/s
By the time the camp closed an orphanage was managed by female inhabitants of the camp in expectation of fathers arriving from overseas prisoner of war camps to be reunited with their children.
War orphans
Eventually all prisoners of war were repatriated and it became clear that some will never return. This group of orphans was transferred to a government orphanage near the railway station and managed by a Miss Sharp. About 40 children were under her care. This was described as the “English” orphanage.
The other orphanage, an “Afrikaans” orphanage, was in a now demolished church that stood on the north-eastern corner of Potgieter (Nelson Mandela) and Berg (now Peter Mokaba) Street. This orphanage was opened in February 1903 after money had been raised mostly in the Netherlands by Boer generals. The children were under the care of Mr and Mrs C Slabbert with Miss J Dormehl as the teacher. Funds were under the control of a committee of which Rev ML Fick and Rev CW du Toit were members. About 80 to 90 orphans were in this facility.
In an article in the Potchefstroom Herald of 1 January 1909 on Rev ML Fick, who played a large role in the establishment of an amalgamated orphanage, these two facilities were described as “of necessity of a very temporary character, affording only food and indifferent shelter”. (Read more about Rev ML Fick at: https://lenniegouws.co.za/street-names-reflect-history-4-d-e-and-f/ )
A committee was formed that approached the Director of Education in October 1903 to have the two amalgamated. This was agreed to on condition that a well-planned scheme to govern the orphanage had to be presented to the government. With a view to this Rev Fick visited Europe from April to November 1904 and also visited Uitenhage in the Cape Province to gain knowledge and information on industrial schools.
Rev ML Fick – a champion for education
Rev Fick realised that almost all skilled workers in the country at the time were “imports or the result of importations” and that his own countrymen were “relegated as the ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’”. This refers to a text from the Bible pertaining that they were mere servants.
Rev Marthinus Laurentius Fick (1863-1955) came to Potchefstroom as minister to the “United Church” in 1889. That same year he married Annie de Vries. He served the Dutch Reformed Church after the final split with the Hervormde Church, oversaw the building of the church still standing on the corner of Potgieter and Kruger Streets (Nelson Mandela and Beyers Naudé). After having to fight for his own education, he endeavoured to establish the “Armenschool” (school for the poor) in 1890, which led to the creation of more schools. The Herald wrote in 1909: “Of his labours for this Institution (the Industrial School) it is almost impossible to speak in terms of moderation. His own enthusiasm is infectious, and if sometimes he appears somewhat in the character of a sturdy beggar, it must ever be remembered that he is begging not for himself but for others.” Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
The scheme was presented to the government and the amalgamated orphanage opened in February 1905. On 7 April 1905 JP Bredell was appointed as superintendent of the orphanage and headmaster of its school.
Labelled as “orphanage”, this photograph is in the August D’Ange D’Astre collection. The Potchefstroom location of this building, however, could not be ascertained.
Children from the Orphanage School. The photo appeared in Potchefstroom 1838-1938. More information on the date or which orphanage it is, is not given. Taking into account the number of children, this might be the children from the “Afrikaans” orphanage. The clothes of the persons in the picture relegate this photo to the first years of 1900s.
The amalgamated orphanage was to be transformed into an industrial school in August 1905.
The orphanages of Irene and Pietersburg (Polokwane) were further amalgamated with the Potchefstroom orphanage and there were 260 boys and girls enrolled, when the school was officially opened on 23 October 1907.
On that date the building for this school was also officially opened, situated directly east of the town next to the road to Johannesburg.
Later known as Kruger House, one of the hostels of the Technical High School Potchefstroom, this building is the oldest still standing on the premises of the school. It was built in the early years of the 1900s and was part of the original orphanage and industrial school. The architect was the well-known Potchefstroom architect, John William Gaisford, who designed the St Mary’s Anglican Church. The building was erected at a cost of £10 000. The contractor was Mr GF Warren, also of Potchefstroom. Warren was also the contractor who built the Town Hall in 1909. Photo by August D’Ange D’Astre.
The Director of Education Sir John Adamson (then Mr John Adamson) officially opened the Industrial School and Orphanage. He stood in for General Jan Smuts, Colonial Secretary, who was indisposed. Speeches were made by the Rev ML Fick as chairman of the school committee and by Mr Adamson who said that the results of such an institution could only be judged in the future. The headmaster was a Mr Holmes.
Pupils were taught shoemaking, furniture making, tannery, wagon making, dressmaking and gardening. These trades were taught so that they, after completing of training, would have been able to support themselves. Apart from these academic subjects were also taught. The school was operational on weekdays from 07:00 to 14:00 and Saturdays till 12:00.
This industrial school evolved into the largest school of its type in the country. The number of pupils were extended to 300, but still applications were received from all over.
In 1910 the girls were transferred to a school for home economics (Industrie-School voor Meisjes) in buildings formerly occupied by the South African Constabulary (a forerunner of the police). The boys stayed behind and the school became “Industrie-School voor Jongens”, later the Technical High School. Both were managed by Mr CH Holmes of Liverpool, who retired in 1913.
The Industrial School for Girls became the High School for Home Economics (Hoër Huishoudskool) in 1940. In 1974 it became the Ferdinand Postma High School, boys also now allowed, and relocated to their newly-built facilities in Lanyon Street in Baillie Park.
Abraham Kriel Children’s Home
Situated at the southern end of Potchefstroom, the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Potchefstroom was officially opened on 18 August 1956 by Minister SP le Roux. It initially provided a home for 168 children.
Just as in Potchefstroom, a large number of children were left orphaned in Johannesburg at the end of the Anglo-Boer Warm, allegedly 12 000 countrywide. Rev Abraham Kriel (1850-1928) of the Langlaagte congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church were so touched by their plight that he took some of them into his house. The Langlaagte Children’s Home officially opened on 4 September 1902. By the end of that year 92 children were in its care. In September 1903 the number grew to 245.
This photo of Rev Abraham Kriel was taken in 1917. Photo: Wikipedia
These children’s homes were managed by the Dutch Reformed Church. The Ring of Potchefstroom (a “Ring” is a grouping of DR congregations in a certain area), during the last years of the 19th century included the Langlaagte congregation. On 16 February 1899 it noted that: “as far as an orphan institution, this meeting acknowledge the good Hand of the Father of the Orphans, who placed the first orphans under the care of the minister of the Langlaagte congregation (then Rev Abraham Kriel).”
This meant that the Langlaagte Home, however, had a connection with Potchefstroom since its inception and that Rev Kriel already before the war identified the need for care of these children.
He refused to let the children under his care be labelled as “orphans”. Hence, the name “children’s home” was coined by him.
In February 1904 this project was placed under Ring of Potchefstroom and only in April 1940 it was taken over by the Transvaal Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Overflow to Potchefstroom
By 1956 the Langlaagte Home was crowded. It was decided to bring 80 children to Potchefstroom and they were conveyed to Potchefstroom in cattle trucks.
They initially lived in tents in the veld across from the Technical High School while the children’s home was being built. It consisted of two houses, a hall and staff housing. The architects were Philip Nel and Partners of Pretoria.
The entrance to the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Potchefstroom.
In the following twenty years six more houses were built.
From 1956 to 1981 the Potchefstroom Home was a subsection of the Langlaagte Home. On 1 April 1981 it came under the management of the Western Transvaal Synod of the DRC.
In the early 1990s the wash house was converted as home for babies and then housed the nursery section.
By 2022 the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Potchefstroom took care of 230 children and students.
Liggiefees
What started as a small fundraising project in 2015, the Liggiefees grew to a large and important fundraising project for the Home.
Since its inception in 2015, the Liggiefees@Abraham Kriel has been a source of fascination for young and old.
The head of Abraham Kriel, Mrs Catharien Saayman, saw this as an opportunity to raise funds to fill the huge gap between what the Home received as government subsidy and the true cost of taking proper care of their 230 children.
The first year the Liggiefees was only open for a week and they hoped to receive at least 100 visitors. “We were shocked and pleasantly surprised with the more than 17 000 visitors!”
By 2023 more than 250 000 visitors saw the Liggiefees and it is officially the largest festival in Potchefstroom.
During the 2023 Liggiefees some interesting facts were displayed:
- All the Liggiefees structures are unique and made by hand by the staff.
- It is the only light-show in the country where the lights are synchronised with music.
- To do this 186 672 channels and 62 224 lights are used.
- The light tunnel is the longest on the African continent.
- Power cables, 72 km in length, are needed to provide power.
- 426 500 cable ties were used in 2022 to construct the installations.
The light tunnel at Abraham Kriel is the longest on the African continent. Photo: Abraham Kriel – Facebook
Almost all the children at Abraham Kriel still have a living parent or parents. The fact that a lengthy legal process was needed to remove them from their parents and bring them to the Children’s Home shows that they are “parentless”, just as the orphans after the Anglo-Boer War, although not physically so. The end goal is not that they can never go back. The ideal is still to let them return to a home with a nurturing environment. For this purpose a large team constantly strives to make it a reality for every child.
In the nearly 70 years of the existence of the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Potchefstroom many volunteers and organisations have contributed their time, money and talents to make Abraham Kriel a “home” for them. Potchefstroom still has a heart for parentless children.
