In many respects Grahamstown enjoys a much higher profile than its size and economic fire-power would warrant. After all, it is only just a teeny city, sort of halfway between two medium sized cities. Many people on the N2 highway surely pass us by at high speed with only a casual sideways glance at the sleepy hollow and the massive Settlers’ Monument block.
In many respects Grahamstown enjoys a much higher profile than its size and economic fire-power would warrant. After all, it is only just a teeny city, sort of halfway between two medium sized cities. Many people on the N2 highway surely pass us by at high speed with only a casual sideways glance at the sleepy hollow and the massive Settlers’ Monument block.
Of course the reason why this town (or city, if you prefer) enjoys such a high profile is because it hosts an eminently reputable university, three crème de la crème private schools, a science festival and the National Arts Festival.
The educational institutions and annual events draw from all over the country thousands of visitors who spend anything from a few days to several years in Grahamstown.
They come here because they are seeking an education or they are visiting for pure enjoyment, in other words they are here by choice.
Not everyone who spends time in Grahamstown has fond memories of our home town. Some of them, a barely significant minority group, actually detest this place, but let us not concern ourselves too much with them.
Let us rather consider the large number of learners, students and Festinos who arrive to this city and, in one way or the other, take pleasure in their stay and weave familiar emotional ties with Grahamstown.
After graduation, students might work in the big cities or even pursue careers overseas but they are still curious about what is happening in the town where they learnt so much, and perhaps drank too much.
Those who make an annual pilgrimage to one of the two national festivals in Grahamstown are also keen to know what is happening here in their absence.
There are many people all over South Africa and in various nooks and crannies all over the globe who are concerned about the comings and goings in our community.
It is the interest of the emotional diaspora that lifts our little city above the horizon of other similar sized dorpies.
