Russians in South Africa

A few days ago I saw a photo of a Russian Orthodox church in an article by @alextribeck. Go check out this young man's work here:

https://steemit.com/photography/@alextribeck/trip-to-the-kamyanets-podilsky

It made me think of the only such church I have ever seen in person. I live in South Africa, which is not exactly where you would expect to find Russian Orthodox churches. But there is a large enough expat community here to justify it, and just a few kilometers from where I live one can visit St. Sergius Russian Orthodox cathedral:

I go there now and then to go enjoy the beauty of the place, and to take some photos:

![2013 St Sergius 5.JPG]
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I noticed this inscription on a wall there:

Seeing as I can't read Russian, I couldn't make out head or tails of it, but I did notice the dates "1899 - 1902" in it. That was when the South African War (also known as the Anglo-Boer War) took place, between the two Boer Republics and the British, so I wondered whether there was any connection. A friend of mine found someone who could translate the text, and this is what is says:

Eternal Memory

To the glorious sons of the State of Russia that died in the Anglo-Boer war 1889-1902
Lieutenant B Strollman, junior Lieutenant S Duplov
junior Lieutenant N Petrov, junior Lieutenant P Ripert
corporal L Pokrvsky, corporal I Nikitin and to all orthodox military commanders and soldiers that laid their lives in South Africa

So my guess was right. During the war, a number of Russian volunteers fought on the side of the Boer Republics - an obscure but interesting little bit of history, that not many South Africans are aware of. It is ironic that during the Cold War, in apartheid South Africa, the descendants of those Boers and the Russians became bitter enemies; I well remember how the Russians were demonized when I was at school during the 1970s and 1980s. Nowadays we're all friends again.

If I can ever afford more than a point-and-shoot camera, I'll go and take some better photos.