Who is Buks in Valley Song

Abraam Jonkers is a "Coloured" (mixed-race) South African man in his seventies. Called "old Buks" by everyone in his village and "Oupa" by his granddaughter, Veronica, Abraam has lived his entire life in Nieu-Bethesda, a small village in the Sneeuberg Mountains of South Africa's great Karoo region, except for his short service as a prison guard in the Transvaal during World War II. Both he and his father, Jaap Jonkers, have been tenant farmers on the property of the Landmans, a white family. When he was a boy, his father explained to him that if he grew up to be a good man, God would make his days sweet as the grapes that grew in their valley. To be a good man, he explained, Abraam must work hard on the land, love everyone who lives in his home and village, and have faith and worship God in the village church.

Since that time, old Buks has tried to live his life just as his father directed. He has experienced many disappointments over the years. He lost his daughter to the city when she ran away to Johannesburg seeking adventure and opportunity and died there, still a young girl. He lost his beloved wife to old age and buried her beneath the earth he loves so dearly. Now, near death himself, he is afraid of losing the only person he has left, his granddaughter Veronica, to her dreams of becoming a famous singer.