James Ricketts, Fish Hoek
Too soon, I lost a new friend on Monday January 26.
Shoakat Karjieker was a true gentleman and businessman, it seemed to me, tending to his business in both Fish Hoek and Tokai with care and quiet, accepting the rhythm of life with all its ups and downs.
It’s only been for a year or so that I’ve gotten to know Shoakat. His kind heart and sense of humour drew you to him, and I’m sure the many customers he met must have felt this too, a warmth of spirit and love glowed from within him.
I remember one windless Saturday morning during spring in 2020 when we met in the main street and took the stairway up past the Garden of Remembrance to walk up Elsies Peak. He looked over Fish Hoek towards his shop and the valley below, full of joy from the thrill of the experience, and shared how he had started to appreciate that life had been good to him. And he told me how proud he was of his son who’d taken over the reins of the family business.
May his spirit be always near those that he loved and loved him. What a man to go too soon.
