Hamburg Village

Hamburg is a small Town, with about 1000 inhabitants, in the Eastern Cape Province. It is located on the coast between the City's of East London and the Town of Port Alfred. It falls under the Ngqushwa Municipality. Hamburg was settled in 1857 by members of the British-German Legion who had fought alongside the British in the Crimean War.

In the early 20th Century it was a typical Holiday Resort comprising two Hotels and a Campsite, with a Pub on the Estuary. Then, in 1972, it was incorporated into Ciskei and fell into disrepair. Title deeds to homes were lost; the Hotels fell over; and most of the Houses lost their roofs, windows and doors.

In the 1980's hotel magnate- Sol Kerzner, paved his way by using the Governments and their ‘approving’ laws for planning a Casino development in Hamburg, intending to replicate his successes in Transkei and Bophuthatswana. Then came 1985 and PW Botha’s infamous Rubicon speech. The development was abandoned and Hamburg remained as it was! 

As the Keiskamma River reaches the Coast it opens into a wide floodplain, bordered by Nature Reserves that are home to hundreds of species of birds. The Estuary, permanently open to the Sea, offers excellent fishing – for years the world-record Cob catch was held here. And between February and May you can feast on Tiger Prawns, that spawn here. Delicious River Crabs are abundant and on the rocks there is an abundance of: Wild Oysters, Mussels and Alikreukel-(Afrikaans for; 'Giant Periwinkle'). There’s also superb canoeing between the Estuarine Islands. Hamburg’s Blue Flag Beach was voted one of SA’s most beautiful secluded seafronts. (as you usually have it all to yourself) A seaside stroll offers up an array of different shells, and you may even find pieces of Qing Dynasty pottery that have been washing up here since the 'Bennebroek' sank South-West of the Keiskamma mouth in 1713 (there were only 77 survivors). Her anchor stood outside the Hamburg Hotel before mysteriously disappearing in 2013.

Hamburg’s ‘fame’ is largely thanks to the 'Keiskamma Trust', a development organisation that offers a range of Community services including; 'Medical support: Early childhood education and Food Gardens.' The Trust’s Music Academy, founded by leading flautist Helen Vosloo. This Trust; teaches 133 disadvantaged youngsters, (some of whom have even performed in England and Germany.) However, what’s gained the Trust its greatest acclaim – and some unlikely fans – is its Art Project. Founder Dr Carol Hofmeyr believed that tackling the HIV/Aids crisis in the community required not only Education and Medical intervention but an initiative that gave people; "a sense of pride, self-worth and the dignity of an income." Today, 150 previously unemployed women craft exquisite fabric artworks that are bought for private collections around the World. Every two years the project undertakes a major work, referencing historical events and making a socio-political statement relevant to our time. Past works include the ‘Keiskamma Tapestry’, which tells the History of the Region from the San to Mandela. At 122 Metres long, it’s one of the largest artworks in the World, and it took 110 artists six Months to complete. It now hangs permanently in the parliament buildings in Cape Town.

The ‘Keiskamma Altarpiece’ is the Art Project’s most celebrated accomplishment. This multi-layered work, measuring more than 100-square-metres, has toured Canada, the USA, England and Germany. The Keiskamma Trust counsellor- Eunice Manganye gained notoriety for taking Hollywood actor; Richard Gere aside at a showing of the ‘Altarpiece’ in Toronto. When informed that he was a famous actor, Eunice said, ‘So? I don’t care. He was blocking people’s view!’ After that, the two got talking and Impressed by Eunice’s no-nonsense approach, Richard’s brother, Professor David Gere, invited her to take the ‘Altarpiece’ to UCLA, where he heads the Department of World Arts and Cultures. Eunice became, according to David, ‘something of a minor rock star’ in Los Angeles, inter alia advising the gay community on fashion and press-ganging UCLA students into an impromptu choir to sing in isiXhosa for the unveiling of the artwork.

When not on tour, Eunice and the ‘Altarpiece’ are at home in Hamburg. It’s the Art Project that also lures a regular but unusual visitor to Hamburg. Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury, and the largest private land-owner in the United Kingdom, comes to commission tapestries for his collection. That’s how artworks stitched to the sound of isiXhosa harmonies in this crazy little Village of Hamburg, came to hang in one of the World’s finest private art collections, in a Scottish Castle, alongside works by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Holbein and Gainsborough!

The Village has only a handful of cars, so most transport is provided by donkey carts that ferry everything from preschool children, to firewood, to furniture … to brides. a few Years ago, to the delight of the Community it was selected as an Urban Regeneration Project. The government consulted with the community to establish their needs. They needed better roads, they needed houses, a new clinic … jobs. What did they get? A R50-millon artist’s Residence with Apartments and Dance Studios. (It stood empty for several Years, but is now a B&B.)

("Fill up your tank; we got no petrol. Bring cash; we got no ATM. Shop on the way; we got no supermarkets and the trading store has only the basics.")