Shepherd’s Dream of Chickens

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Greetings from Coronavirus Lockdown in South Africa!

Despite all the uncertainty sweeping the world in 2020 so far, it is rather serendipitous that I have a great story to tell. One of success and hope for the future. It involves our gardener, and dear friend, Shepherd, who we have had the privilege of getting to know over the last 18 months. Back in March 2019, I wrote about our blossoming friendship in the blog entitled, ‘Life in the Bushveld with the Cows and the Crocs’, which would be worth a read now, to put this blog in better context. It was around the time of writing however, that Shepherd’s wife, Rebecca, was diagnosed with cancer. Rebecca sadly passed away, at the age of 46, in July 2019, leaving behind 5 children, the youngest of whom is 11 years old. We tried as best we could to support Shepherd through this tragedy, where he also had to contend with a loss of income due to his absence from work, and had the worry of placing his eldest daughter, Pretty, in her mid-twenties, in charge of the rest of the children, whilst he continued to work in the city to support the family financially. Soon after he lost Rebecca, Shepherd was at our side as we too suffered the loss of Laurence’s dad, also to cancer, later in the year. So, understandably, our once light-hearted lunchtime chats that we so often shared, turned to something deeper, our families and our hopes and dreams for the future.

One of our many, many lunches with Shepherd.

In October, it was during one of these conversations that we stumbled across an idea that was to send us on an exciting new adventure. In amongst the sadness we were all feeling, a plan began to emerge, and little did we know that this plan would come to fruition in the middle of a global pandemic.

Since meeting Shepherd, I’ve often wondered how to help him, knowing that we would leave South Africa one day, and I’ve always felt sad that he has spent so many years living apart from his family, returning home only once or twice a year to be with them. So, when Shepherd talked to me about his life with Rebecca, and mentioned that they had had a life long ambition to set up and run a chicken farm at their home in Limpopo Province, but had never been able to save any money to realise their dream, I felt that we could help. Our hearts began to lighten as we discussed the possibility of combining some financial support with Shepherd’s discipline, determination and his dream, and that we would together be able to establish Shepherd and Rebecca’s Chicken Farm, offering chicken to his local community in the bush-veld.

On sharing our plan with Laurence’s mom, Lynn, she was able to offer us some help too. Lynn knew some chicken farmers, Dewet and Esme, a Christian couple who donated 10% of their chickens to charity, one of these being Lynn’s, a soup kitchen for the homeless. So, whilst Shepherd went away to cost up the build of a chicken coop, Lynn set up a meeting with Dewet. Shepherd, Lynn, Dewet and I met up to discuss the plan. Dewet talked us through the set up and maintenance of a chicken farm, from the structure and cleanliness of the coop, to recording the weather every day, and from the temperature of the heat lamps, to the size of the chicken feeders. No stone was left unturned and for this we will be forever grateful. With this knowledge and photos sent through from Esme, Dewet's wife, I was able to write up a guide for Shepherd and his family to follow when he next returned home at Christmas.

On our way to a meeting with Dewet the chicken farmer.

Dewet, Shepherd, Lynn and me at the meeting.

The December holidays arrived, and Shepherd, armed with his instruction booklet and funds raised by Laurence and my lovely Queen Anne’s School friends, headed home with a huge but exciting build to complete, which I hope diluted the pain of arriving home for the first time to the absence of his wonderful wife, Rebecca.

As the photos came through to us back in Johannesburg, we followed eagerly, and by the time the holidays were over, the chicken coop was complete.

The start of the chicken coop build
 on Shepherd's property in Limpopo Province. 

The frame goes up.

On goes the roof.

The start of the walls.

Community hands at work
as the wire fence is added.

More walls going up.

Shepherd and his two youngest sons,
mixing cement.

The finished chicken coop.

Shepherd returned to Johannesburg, to start his working year as usual, whilst his eldest son took over the management of the chicken farm. Kingsley, who is in his early 20s has always struggled at school having left without any qualifications and no prospect of a job. So, the ability to learn this trade, and have the farm as a job, has given Kingsley a sense of purpose, which Shepherd is so relieved about. At the end of February, Kingsley, with help from Shepherd’s friend, Weekend, was able to buy 100, 2-day old chicks from a supplier, and reared them at home following Dewet’s instructions.

The first batch of little chicks.

The new chicks in the coop.

Growing quickly.

When South Africa went into lockdown in March, after the coronavirus arrived from Italy, Shepherd took the opportunity to go home to Limpopo. Using a local radio station and word of mouth, the news spread that Shepherd and Rebecca’s Chicken Farm was open for business. They sold 70 chickens leading up to Easter, and the remaining ones just after. We celebrated over the phone with Shepherd the following day. The sheer delight in Shepherd’s voice carried through the phone. He had successfully completed one cycle with the chickens and was on the first step of the ladder in running a business. Moving home was now a possibility, with the rest of his life to be with his family, and a business to pass on to his children. One that could potentially expand too.

Kingsley with the fully grown chickens.

Kingsley cleaning out the coop after
the last chickens were sold. With his
 dad Shepherd and youngest brother Rikundele.

Shepherd and a new round of chicks.

So, it’s been an incredible 7 months since our chance conversation back in October. Shepherd’s life has changed immeasurably, as has ours too. Through both our family tragedies in 2019 we were reminded that we were not in control in this world. But through our friendship, our experiences together, and the happiness we have been able to bring to each other, we have also discovered hope for the future. Even when our worlds were turned upside down, something good still emerged from the fire. And as a global community, it feels the same now. There is this same realisation that we are not in control and that we are all experiencing loss in our lives to varying degrees. So, I hope Shepherd’s story offers a glimmer of hope for the future, that something good will come from this pandemic, maybe even from an unlikely moment like ours, a simple conversation over lunch.

From our home in South Africa, to yours in another part of the world, we send all our love, and hope that you find some peace during these uncertain times.

Jess xxx

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