Speech by Kiff, Magaliesberg, 2002 reunion
Kiff Holland: Magaliesburg, April 21, 2002.
Happy Acres is about my mother’s private fantasies that became shared property. For some of you, it was a scheme that Janet and I had. But it was a scheme that was passed down from the foresight of my parents.
I wish I was cleverer and a wordsmith to put down all the things that came into the mix of influences that came to bear on the people that you all are. Influences that, after 30 years, you can get together and have these wonderful relationships, based on a common grounding in your lives. It is much more than an esprit de corps.
You’ve expanded on everything Happy Acres taught you. All of you had the potential to be more than you could be. My parents started the camp that could help you do this. Some of it rubbed off onto me. And it gave you the chance as well.
Happy Acres was not about Ma and Pa Holland, or Kiff and Janet. It was an honest bringing together of a group of young people who, through all our combined efforts, were willing to go for a goal, and to make the place work. If it had not have been for you, Happy Acres would not have existed. So this occasion today is not for me, but for you. Thank you.
