🌊 Voetsoldaat Vloedvas 🌊 River Bushwillow (Combretum erythrophyllum)”In January 2023, a young sapling was planted, not from seed, but by air layering, a method where life is borrowed from the old to create something new. He was not just any tree; he was a child of Ou Oewerwagter, carefully nurtured, given roots before he even touched the earth.

But the river does not care for gentle beginnings. Before he could settle, before he could stretch towards the sky, the flood came. The waters swallowed him whole, submerging him for seven relentless days. The river tested him, but he did not break.

When the floodwaters receded, he stood, baptized by the storm, named by the trial. He had not just survived; he had earned his place.

Now, he grows beside his ancestor, his roots deepening, his branches reaching. He is young, but he is not weak. He is Voetsoldaat Vloedvas, a soldier of the flood, a survivor of the storm.

📅 Printed on this day, March 18, 2025.