“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis I (28)
FERGUS – Imagine having to uproot your family, travel across the ocean, land in a new and very foreign country with few modern amenities and taking up a new occupation along with a new language.
Now, imagine doing that twice.
Swaantje Sikkema not only did all that, she also survived two world wars. And instead of looking back sadly on those troubled times, Sikkema, who now lives in Fergus, is thankful and grateful to God for all that she has.
Born in 1913, she remembers little of World War I. She married Kornelis Sikkema in 1936. Just four years later, the Germans invaded Holland on May 10, 1940.
Groningen, the province she called home, has a long history and Swaantje Sikkema has mirrored many of its tenacious characteristics throughout her life. It was once called Cruoninga and was founded as a union of several scattered farms. The first traces of people living in the area go back to 300 B.C. A consistent settlement existed from the 6th or 7th century onward.
Historically, Groningen’s existence was first documented in 1040. It is a province that has endured, as has Sikkema herself.
On Oct. 29 she became a great-grandmother for the 100th time, with the birth of Micah Broersma. Curiously enough, Micah’s older siblings Hadassah, 2, and Nethaneil, 1 -the children of Michael and Diana Broersma – were great-grandchildren number 80 and number 90.
Swaantje Sikkema can understand English and even read it, but mainly speaks her native Dutch language now.
Her daughter, Henny Broersma, translated during an interview at the home of Dietje Jansen, Sikkema’s first daughter and second child, while several of her great-grandchildren played at her feet.
Groningen was severely hit during World War II, and Sikkema did not want to speak about the war years. Yet it was during those perilous times that she and her husband, who was a baker in the army, began their family.
Klaas was born in 1941, and Dietje followed in 1942. Henny was born in 1947 and Onno, their final child, was born in 1952. Four years after their final child, Kornelis and Swaantje packed their bags and their children and moved to Brazil.
Kornelis wanted a change from the life he had been living in Holland, according to Henny Broersma, who was 9 when the move happened. The change was not only in location, but occupation. Kornelis moved to a co-operative farm in the middle of Brazil, where his brother was already a member.
“It wasn’t easy for her,” said Henny. “Dad was sick a lot.” The family certainly found a different life. There was no hydro and no water system as the family raised cattle and pigs.
Broersma said her mother “never complained. She took things the way they came. She’s still like that.”
As for her father’s motive, translated for her mother, “Dad thought he would get – not a better life – but something different.” Henny called Brazil “an adventure. I had my schooling in Brazil. Just the elementary system. We all got more in Canada. Some of us met our spouses in Brazil.”
The cooperative had a factory and produced milk, butter and cheese as a means of making a living. “It was sold in the cities around us.”
Meanwhile, Swaantje Sikkema worked as many other women did, with little in the way of modern appliances or comforts.
The schooling her children received in the middle of South American’s largest country was provided by Swaantje Sikkema.
While the family struggled to learn Portuguese and earn a living from the land, she did all the household chores and taught her children not only their academics, but how to live their lives.
“She was more than a housewife,” Henny said after conferring with her mother. “She taught us how to be wise with money. She taught us how to run a household.”
That included, “down to earth cooking. Whatever means she had, she would cook. And she liked [all foods]. She still does.”
Among the way of life for the family in Brazil was the same that it was back in Holland. It begins and ends with a “strong church family.” But the modern world was again to intrude into the family’s newfound way of life.
Not quite ten years after they moved to Brazil and their cooperative farm, the man who rented then the land decided he wanted it back for other purposes. In an age when people were discovering the importance of the rain forest in Brazil, the landowner was taking back the co-operative farm community in order to plant trees for the making of paper.
Henny said the co-operative scattered. Some members returned to Holland, and the rest came to Canada in 1965. Her family chose the Fergus area, and has been in the area every since. Klaas lives in Fergus, as does Dietje. Henny lives in Elora, and Onno resides in Elmira. Kornelis died in 1989, and Swaantje lived on her own until four years ago, when she moved in with Dietje and Marten Jansen.
Those four children of Kornelis and Swaantje Sikkema presented the couple with 30 grand-children. Of those, 27 married and raised families of their own. Of course, not all remain in the area, Henny said. They are scattered to British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Kentucky, and Australia.
Henny remembers Christmas gatherings used to be “a lot of fun” with so many family members enjoying the season in one place. Of course, with the family scattered, it is difficult, if not impossible today for them all to gather.
Not all of them could return to the area for Swaantje’s 95th birthday, but Henny was pleased to relate that they all called or sent letters and cards.
When they first arrived Canada, they began learning English and how to make a new life in their third country. Kornelis worked at the feed mill in Fergus for some years.
Today, the many members of the family are still involved with the Canadian Reformed Church, an offshoot of the strict Holland Church that formed during the Reformation.
Since then, there have been several splits, with the strong Biblical believers creating a Reform Church. Phrases such as “by the grace of God” are a part of the family’s speech, and the members mean every word of it. They are strong in their religion.
That, too, might be a part of their Dutch heritage. In 1614, the University of Groningen was founded. Its initial focus was only for religious education.
Henny said her mother has no favourites among her many descendants, and indeed was surprised to learn that there is much interest in someone who has 100 great-grandchildren. Henny noted that if she had died the same time as her husband, in 1989, she would have had only one, so being blessed with a long life was a big part of having so many great-grandchildren.
“She always says, ‘I’ve been greatly blessed by the Lord.’ Every day, she is thanking for her blessings.”
Swaantje chimed in, “Oh, yes.”
Henny added, “We are all thankful of what we have here. That is our life. Serving the Lord.”
