Preserving history, one headstone at a time: KZN’s cemetery guardian

FORMER fingerprint expert Deon van Niekerk now spends his Sundays cleaning and photographing forgotten graves across KwaZulu-Natal.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

His volunteer work documenting headstones for digital archives helps reconnect families with their history, and preserves the memory of those who have passed, including fallen service members. This unusual passion is bringing closure to many families.

Armed with a plastic scraper, scrubbing brush and a heart full of purpose, Van Niekerk spends his Sundays reviving the memory of the forgotten.

He is a dedicated volunteer for the eGGSA (Electronic Genealogy Society of South Africa) Graves Project and the South African War Graves Project.

Now based in Pinetown, Van Niekerk is part of a small, but committed team that works methodically through local cemeteries, cleaning and photographing gravestones, and uploading them to digital archives for families and genealogists around the world.

“T was originally just looking for my own family’s graves, but I got it wrong at first due to old naming traditions.

“Eventually, I found my grandparents’ graves with their full names and dates. That helped me identify the correct family line.

“Tt was emotional and it is something that can really help others doing genealogy or just looking for closure.

“I chose cemeteries by finding them on the eGGSA site, and if they seem under photographed. | visit it to see if it has been done before or not. I thought Redhill Cemetery would have been a small cemetery, but turns out it is very large.