The distance from Jerusalem to Pretoria is about 8000 km and it will take about 150 hours to cover it by car. It took the Gospel almost 1900 years to reach Pretoria.

In ancient times, the church was a persecuted community and was considered a subculture. Initially, the Gospel was preached in the Roman Empire as well as in Armenia (outside the Roman Empire).

After almost 400 years, the church in Rome slowly became formalised and after the conversion of Emperor Constantine the Great, persecution stopped; after his death the Christian Church was declared the only church. At some point there was a split between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Churches with Constantinople as their seat.

After the Renaissance, the reformers emerged with Maarten Luther and Calvin the most prominent. Churches splintered into, for example, Lutheran, Calvinist, Presbyterian and Anglican churches as well as sectarian groups.

With colonialisation, missionaries spread the Gospel in the colonies among the indigenous peoples and churches were founded. The history of these in South Africa was briefly discussed and the talk ended with the ecumenical ideal that gained ground after the First World War.

The talk was well illustrated.

Before the battle of Bloedrivier, strong Voortrekker leaders were killed in the events at Bloukrans, the murder of Retief and the battle of Italeni. The Voortrekkers searched for a leader in the Cape and Andries Pretorius joined the Voortrekkers and organised the men by appointing commanders and field cornets.

The guns, the making of bullets, how gunpowder was made, the cannons and ranges of the various weapons were discussed.

There were livestock – cattle, sheep and horses – in the camp as well as all the Voortrekkers and helpers. The cattle did not become restless because the great noise of the rifle and cannon shots.

The Zulus were orderly and shrewd; the Voortrekkers were not militarily trained The Zulus had a very large military force and the ratio was 20:1.

The Covenant and the role of Charl Cilliers were discussed.

It was illustrated by photos, illustrations and a short video clip.

Vivian Oosthuizen’s Family Story as told by Vivian and members of her family. Animations by means of MyHeritage Deepstory artificial intelligence technology. Narratives from diaries, letters, memoirs and publications

Adrian gave an overview of the conservation of buildings over the past 2000 years. He began by explaining conservation, using the Pantheon in Rome as an example. It was built around 20 BC by Agrippa as a temple for the gods. After that it was changed and later changed again. After a fire it was practically rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian. Much later it was converted into a church, and even later (early seventeenth century to the nineteenth century) two bell towers were added. These were later removed.

Over the centuries, different schools of thought have been followed regarding conservation. Today, attempts are made to stay as closely as possible to the original and to use original elements. The structure of the Acropolis, for example, was stabilised in the early 1900s by using cement and steel. Currently, work is being done on the structure and the cement and steel must be removed.

There are different ideas/schools of thought on reconstruction/restoration. Adrian illustrated one of the ideas by showing photographs of the restoration of Tulbagh after the earthquake of 1969 where there are clear examples of over-restoration.

He discussed the theory of conservation and restoration and the theories advocated by various theorists such as George Gilbert Scott, Camillo Borito and Alois Riegl. In 1964 the Charter of Venice was published and in 1979 the Burra Charter in Australia, which deal with restoration and conservation.

Adrian also showed the architectural plans of the Union Buildings and photographs of the beautiful sandstone.

The Union Buildings have been nominated to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Adrian concluded by saying that one should never stop caring, touching, cleaning and preserving.

Sam told the story of four South Africans' participation in the escape from Stalag Luft III during the Second World War, 24/25 March 1944. Stalag Luft III held Western Allied air force personnel captive.

Alta's starting point was her great grandmother, Lettie Roux, who had 14 children of which 14 died young. How does one deal with the death of so many of your children?

Later on she was called "Crazy Let". Without any emotional help, empathy and assistance, she just had to get up every day, often with a pregnant body, and just go on.

This is the thread running through the talk - people who needed mental and physical care in a time it was unavailable. Society did not understand and did not have the expertise to help. Another member of the family had 10 children within 10 years and lost them all to syphilis. There was no help, no counselling and the minister just said; "It is God's will". He was neither capable nor trained to help people in such dire situations.

Orphans were often left to their own devices, people with dementia were usually declared insane. There were only a few institutions, poorly managed, where hygiene left much to be desired. People were admitted to remove them from society and not to treat them and improve their condition.

Centuries ago, it was believed that illness was a punishment for sin and therefore treatment was futile. Priests had to exorcise demons - depression was seen as black bile in the body and all sorts of methods were used to get rid of the bile. Later, shock techniques, lobotomy and other terrifying methods were used.

Alta mentioned a number of conditions for which inhumane methods have been used as treatment.

Only in the last 50 years has there been research of mention, improved diagnosis and a better understanding of conditions related to depression. Institutions that look after people have improved a lot and the people are treated with human dignity.