Holiday Tea and Cake

School holidays are nearly over. Tea with the girls rocks!

Home Alone

My children are now 9 and 5. The girl in the picture is 7. My children live at home with me, where Lucy and I feed them, wash their clothes, do homework with them and read to them at night. The girl in the picture is doing her homework reading on her own. Her parents live in the Eastern Cape but send the children to school in Pietermaritzburg where the four of them live alone. The child in picture is the youngest at 7 and her, after school hours, has no adult supervision at all.

It was a tough story to work on. In fact I have yet to read the story which was published in todays Mail and Guardian. It left me saddened. I think sometimes one forgets how lucky we are.

Brazil!

Not only am I now a Bafana Bafana fan but a fan of South African supporters. I loved the inspiration I got from the people blowing on their vuvuzelas even though I could not hear the stadium announcer.

Bring on the World Cup in 2010!

Zuma Celebration

A resident of Nkandla near South African President Jacob Zuma's homestead samples freshly cooked beef early in the morning. Around 20 cattle were slaughtered in celebration of Zuma's election victory and thousands turned out to see wish him well and get a plate full of meat.

Being a fisherman I am at ease with the fact that animals are slaughtered, but my limit of 4 shad are on a completely different scale to the cattle slaughtered here. And while I am sure that hundreds of cattle are slaughtered daily it was strange to see classrooms being used to butcher the slaughtered animals.


It was another interesting day in South Africa to say the least.

When I am big...

I hope to live in a place which has post boxes such as these. I hope to live in a place like this in the not too distant future.

The Blind Man

He is a blind man. I could not communicate with him, I think he had medicated himself to a point. He seemed close to the edge of life, or death.

I photographed him in August 2008 and have been on assignment in the area recently. I think I must ask after him, and would have but do not know his name. I tried to ask his name but his mumbling was incoherent, and sad. Maybe I should have stayed a little while, or visited soon after this.

Are we there to just observe? To record life from up close through a wide lens, but at a distance. I recently chose to get involved and the result has so far been life changing.

The Zumas are Fading

I hope the promises made do not fade as quickly as the posters.