There have been many people on my journey from childhood to my adult years whom I have admired and hold close to my heart. They have gifted me with many things for which I am truly thankful.
My name and surname bear witness to my French Huguenot ancestry. Viljoen is an Afrikaans surname derived from the French Villion. I have always felt a strong personal appeal to my ancestry, especially a French Huguenot named Francois Villion. He was the first Huguenot who permanently settled at the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in 1671, three hundred years before I was born in 1971.
Francois Villion left France even long before the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. I have always admired Villion’s individual and strong spirit as a forerunner. I take much inspiration from the idea that this ancestor of mine marched to his own drum and I hope to continue the legacy.
