Maren Bodenstein grew up in the tiny village of Hermannsburg in Natal which was established around 1856 to provide support to German Lutheran missionaries in Zululand. Here they came to learn Zulu before being posted into remote rural areas and could send their children to the German Lutheran school. Maren’s grand and great grandparents were missionaries themselves and her parents were pupils and later teachers at Hermannsburg. She currently lives in Johannesburg.