Extracts from Bethal history The move to British East Africa – 1908 With the memories of the Anglo - Boer War and the destruction and damage of the war still fresh in the memory, a large group of people in Bethal and environment ready, themselves to migrate further north. The British authority, which now was once again valid, and the building that was destroyed by the war, was largely responsible for the migration. Already in 1905, a group of people left, led by Uncle Martiens Engelbrecht, per a wagon to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) from where they departed to Beira. Here, they picked a boat to Dar es Salaam, from where it took them nine months to get to Arusha, about 500 km north-east of Dar es Salaam. Later they joined the Van Rensburg group at Eldoret. The large group of Voortrekkers (migrants) led by Uncle Jan Van Rensburg and with arrangements by magistrate Bangley, a son-in-law of Van Rensburg, left Bethal in 1908. This company comprised over 50 families with about 200 members and nearly 400 ox-wagons full of provisions. They went to Lourenco Marques (today Maputo). From there they rented a boat and sail along the East African coast to Mombassa, where the company travelled by train over Nairobi to Nakuru and progress to Londiani. From Londiani they travelled to “Posts 54” (the old name of Eldoret), about 100 km. Eldoret is situated on “Uasin Gishu”– the so called “Highlands of Kenya”. Initially they built bamboo houses which were later replaced by stone houses. The houses were built by Jochemus Engelbrecht and Jan Fourie. 127
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