The story of Goedverwacht (near Piketberg) begins with an enslaved woman, Maniesa, originally from Bengal, India. She was held in slavery by Hendrik Schalk Burger. Burger was a widower whose children had abandoned him in his old age.

#AColouredTapestry (1/4)

Before the emancipation of slaves in 1838, Burger asked Maniesa and her children to stay on the farm to look after him until his death. He bequeathed the farm to Maniesa and her children. With his death, his own children contested the will. (2/4)

They were unsuccessful, even after appealing to the Queen's Council in Great Britain. Maniesa and her children became the owners of the farm. In 1888, Maniesa's last child – christened Christiana by the Moravian Missionary Society – died. (3/4)

Rather than sell the farm on the open market, Christiana's children decided to sell it to the Moravians for £750. They established the Goedverwacht Mission Station which was the forerunner of today's village. (4/4)