11/2010 - From Nancy Towle's journal of the African trip.
Chris Hellinger was the son of German Lutheran missionaries to an area in the extreme Tamil Nadu south of India. Because he is a natural at languages, he readily picked up 3 languages. At Kodai he lived at the German compound: Penrynn. He and Theo Speck (whom I remember as a gifted violinist) were both in our class. Christian managed to get into trouble often, but he credits our class as one of the most formative influences of his life. He made friends with a sheik’s son, who ended up in Kodai at the Carlton Hotel located on one side of the Kodai campus just at the lake front. This prince would get drunk and show up demanding Chris’ attention, becoming intrusive. Chris went to school officials for help with this. After Kodai, Chris returned to Germany for college. He worked a few jobs in Europe, where he married a German girl. When he decided to move to South Africa, she refused to move with him, and they divorced. He remarried and had two children with Sonia. After 20 years they broke up. Since then he has a doctor (anesthesiologist) girlfriend from Cuba who lives on an island off the coast of Nambia. Christian came into his own personal success after Kodai with a remarkable work ethic, a diligence to detail and an uncanny sense of the good deal. He showed us his deep passion for life, desire to do the right and a love of the Lord. It has been our privilege to see a compassionate and gentle side of him.
7/2006
South Africa is home for CHRISTIAN HELLINGER. Africa has been his home for over 30 years. As Chief Executive of Intraco, CHRISTIAN, a mechanical engineer, operated Caterpillar equipment franchises in five African countries. In the 80’s he moved into the diamond industry in Angola. This was a natural transition because the mines needed the heavy equipment. The Angolan politics took a turn for the worst and Christian took up other challenges. He built an ultimate sport fishing resort on Bom-Bom, an island in the republic called Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea. In 1991 he bought a 273 hectare wine and fruit estate in Franschhoek at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. This wine farm also has a 7 cottage hotel, fine restaurant, and horse farm. Recently, in 2005, his 2003 Chardonnay won a gold award at the Chardonnay-du-Monde in France.
