- Coffee and chocolate? What kind of combination is that? Claudia from South Africa shakes her head and laughs.
She has been in Norway a few weeks, and is excited about her new environment 10.342 kilometers from home. Claudia Wilhelms works at Ekeby Gård, not far away from of Moss, The farm has an agreement with Fairview wine and cheese estate in Western Cape, where she has worked for four years. With wine tasting, cheese tasting, coffee making, chef, sales – everything to give good service to the customers.
 – I needed a change in my life, she says. So this was perfect timing for one year exchange. New country, new challenges, new people.

Wine as bridge builder

Ekeby and Fairview found each other in 2007. Because of a wine label. Finn Erik Blakstad, the owner of Ekeby, got curious when he saw the Goats do Roam label. The goat and the wine came from South Africa, just as his Boer goats. He got in touch with the wine producer Fairview, and visited the owner Charles Back at the farm, which is situated outside Cape Town.

3rd generation winery owner

It was Charles’ grandfather who bought Fairview in 1937. He came to South Africa from Lithuania, and opened a butchers shop in Paarl. Later he bought some land and started with wine making. When he died in 1955, he owned two farms. He had two sons and Charles farther inherited Fairview. Charles started farming with his father in 1978, and is today 3rd generation Back at one of South Africa’s most successful wine farms.

A story of coincidences

The meeting between the two owners Finn Erik Blakstad and Charles Back resulted in an agreement between Ekeby and Fairview. Today Ekeby farm import wine from the South African winery and offer wine tasting, olive oil, pesto and other products from South Africa and a restaurant with local food. Once in a while they have events and parties where Boer goats are on the menu.

Brave enough to be unique

Finn-Erik was familiar with FK’s exchange-programme, and he applied for feasibility study after the visit at Fairview in 2007. The first collaboration agreement was signed in 2008 and the farm is now in their second round of exchange. 
– We have a lot to learn from South-Africa, he says. We’re on stone-age when it comes to local food. He is impressed how professional Fairview is. Urban people visit the big farm to explore farm-life, enjoy lunch, taste wine and cheese and buy local products. Finn-Erik wants to build up something special, he want to be something else than a goat-farm.
- Fairview gives us inspiration, and the international cooperation gives us identity. Claudia is extremely important to us, he says.

Step by step

Ekeby is developing step by step. The farm is situated in beautiful surroundings one hour from Oslo. The farm opened a shop and a restaurant last year. Claudia knows the products from South Africa, and does also tell stories from her home country. Hence Ekeby may offer something special: a little piece of South Africa in the Norwegian countryside.

Another long-distance trip

It’s not only FK-participants that is at exchange between Norway and South-Africa. Ekeby is home to barn swallows. The birds eat flies, and move all the way to South Africa to find their food at winter time.
- We have just started a bird tagging project. In cooperation with bird watcher clubs in Cape Town we want to identify if there are any barn swallows from Ekeby in their districts, says Finn-Erik. It would be great fun if we could tell about a bird-exchange between the two towers.
He points at the goat-tower that is an exact copy of the goat-tower at Fairview. Ekeby was allowed to build a copy of the characteristic tower, which is a toy for the goats, as part of the agreement between the farms. The barn swallows came back to Norway in May, after five months abroad

En, to, tre, fire

Claudia has already begun to learn some Norwegian, and counts to ten. From August she will attend a Norwegian class in Moss, where she lives.
- I do recognize some Norwegian words, because they are similar to my local language Afrikaans. Claudia has just been exposed to a lot of different languages and nationalities at the 3 weeks preparatory course for new FK-participants.

Capacity building both ways

FK Norway facilitates exchange programmes between organisations and businesses in 50 countries, and is a tool for better understanding, mutual learning and capacity building. The exchange let partners learn from each other. The participants involved in the exchange programmes bring new ideas overseas and the get new experience to bring back home after one year in a new culture.
At the moment Pernille Kværner Roberts works in South-Africa, she is at exchange the opposite way than Claudia. She learns about wine- and cheese tasting at Fairview. Knowledge she will bring back to Ekeby. This autumn, when the barn swallows turn south she will take a flight north.

Claudia in the shop at Ekeby. Dried pesto is a speciality from South-Africa. Photo: Liz Palm

Pernille offers cheese tasting at Fairview in South-Africa. Photo: Ken Opprann

Claudia with local soap, a local product. Photo Liz Palm