Oupa Frans, December 2013 - Photograph by Matilda Within the context that Matilda sketched in her post Waiting for heaven is hell , last Wednesday was exceptionally challenging. It was a day filled to the brim with doctors’ appointments and visits to potential care facilities for Oupa Frans. Being out of his usual routine makes him even more agitated than usual. He tends to slump when sitting on a chair, to such an extent that his head is sometimes almost between his ankles. At the GP and during the interview at the retirement village, we had to help him sit up straight and then had to physically keep him in that upright position. The pit stop over lunch at friends’ house was arranged so that he could rest for a while. Nothing came of it because left alone in the bedroom he started undressing himself in an effort to get rid of the catheter. He constantly carries a harmonica, an early birthday present from Juanita, Matilda’s sister, in the upper pocket of his shirt. He...
The Restory is a Retreat Centre nestled against Tafelkop, a singular mountain head near Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Here we live a simple life as contemplatives. It is a place of re-connection: with ourselves, people, Nature, Silence and Creativity. Our retreats are aimed at this. Our conversations, writing and art centre around the univocity of life. We need a place that reminds us that we are all one. The Restory hopes to be such a place and space.