Mothers Of A Nation

When looking at these beautiful pictures I want to say the biggest assets of any nation are probably their mothers. That's my personal opinion of course.

After I have shown you their dresses let me show you now their faces.

               

They stand for peace rather than war, for patience, for love and strength.

They should lead more.  

With this post I am thanking all of them for being so patient with me and allowing me to take their portraits on their special day.

I am extremely happy with these shots because they came out so real and are full of emotion.

Mother's Day in Mdantsane

In this post I am sharing some special pictures with you. 

Mrs.Tom whom I have introduced to you in an earlier article had organized a special Mother's Day celebration on the 31.5.2011 that took place in a church in Mdantsane. To my surprise, I have to admit, because this was not the official date on which Mother's Day is usually celebrated all over the world. 

But she explained to me, that many women were too busy with their daily tasks, did not have the chance or money to celebrate on that day. So she and some other women took the initiative and organized this day to have a special day for themselves. 

The women arrived on a freezing cold day in their traditional beautiful Xhosa attire.

Traditional dresses are worn to many religious celebrations and festivities still today in all regions of South Africa. They are treasured and well looked after. A traditional Xhosa outfit for a woman is expensive to make and therefore is sometimes worn for many years and only at special days today.

On this day an ice cold wind was blowing and the women had to wear additional t-shirts, woolen sweaters and knee tights to keep a little bit warm. But they did in in style and just looked fantastic.

There is a type of traditional dress that is worn and reserved especially for young just married women.

But the dresses you see in the picture are worn by older women.

Beautiful traditional African bead-work jewelry in bright colors is complementing the outfit and is often worn also around the anklets.

I have worked several years with Non-Government Organization and Self-Help Initiatives and when someone who is or can be considered a potential donor is coming for a visit - that visit is understandably thoroughly prepared to show the organization from it's best side. Everybody does this. But often the true spirit and the common goal that has brought a great group into life is buried under these preparations and does not shine through.

The beauty of this celebration that I could witness was that it was unexpected for me and completely natural.

Later on the women will unite in the church to sing and pray together. 

But they will go to the market as well and see what food they can buy

And cook a meal together, may be a hot soup on this cold day.!!!

So if I summarize it is : PRAY, EAT AND LOVE !

I think another famous author has told us this just recently in a book !

The Young Ones

When I last visited my friend Pelisa ( middle) at the Ethembeni Old Age Home, I was lucky to meet two very dynamic ladies who had powerful visions for the future and great stories to tell. And you know by now how much I love to do portraits of people and their dreams.
It inspires me to see other people's determination and reminds me to follow my own dreams.

Mrs.Mandleleni and Mrs Tom were paying Pelisa a visit. She is the visionary, manager and founder of the Ethembeni Old Age Home. Both women were seeking practical advice from her concerning the creation, funding and management of self-help initiatives. And both ladies have just founded two self help groups. They are not shy at all to undertake such a demanding task although their are not in their teens themselves.   

Mrs Tom is the founder of the Simbambisene Service Center for the Aged. 

She says: I want to teach the women skills.
 I have started to train them in the art of traditional bead-work.
Women have to have the chance to learn something in life.

 Our groups are young, she explains, but we take it step by step.
And we have Pelisa, she says, she knows so much.
I have seen this every often and this is the spirit of Mdantsane.
People do help each other.

And they have truly found great advice with Pelisa, a lady who has followed her dream with unbelievable motivation and whose determination has brought the only Old Age Home in Mdantsane from a pure idea into life.

Mrs. Mandleleni is the creator of the Sizamile Women's Group.

We teach women about their rights in life.

Women have to know about their rights in life, even if they are old, she explains to me.
This has been neglected for far too long.

I was promised that I would be allowed to visit their organizations next week. 

But of course my visit had to be prepared.

CAN YOU BE EVER YOUNGER THAN THIS ?

JAH KNOWS BEST

I am sure Gumba's premises are protected because Jah does know best.

There you have it in white on green. Just come closer.

ART IN THE WIND

The weather service had given us a prognosis of gale-force wind, rough seas, seven meter high waves and a daily temperature of 12 degrees Celsius. And there it was. For several days. It can get that cold at the African coast in the Eastern Cape in winter.

The central market at Hi-Way in Mdantsane had the appearance of a gigantic, deserted, broken down theater. Black garbage bags, animal food plastic bags and other plastic rugs that are normally used to cover the make shift market stands where performing a wild dance in the wind and were making a crazy noise.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine who was at the time an art student at a very well known art academy in the Netherlands had come for her very first visit to the African continent. 

She visited me in West-Africa, where I was living in the north of Mali, close to the border of Mauritania.

When her eyes caught a similar sight like the one you see in the pictures she asked me : Is this intentional ?  Is this Art ? Are people doing this ? Old torn plastic bags had been caught in a field and where entangled in the streets, plants and the wire fencing that went all around the field.

I was out of words for a couple of seconds, looking at the surrealistic in the wind moving plastic sculptures that she admired. I could not imagine why she would think something like this, for me being it so obvious that this was one of Africa's big problems. Plastic waste. 

I was unaware that contemporary art had moved in this direction in the West while I had spend years in Africa.  

It tells you that people are trained carefully and with lot of dedication to look at things in a certain way. And the way to look at something can be fundamentally different.

And looking at it through her eyes I suddenly could see it as art as well. Art born out of poverty however that nobody pays for. Art that is genuine because it is non-intentional and non-pretentious.

What do people pay for ?

Here at Hi-Way what people pay for and want are the vegetables. 

In Western countries they pay to look at art that dissolves itself, that disappears.

So what is the discussion here? Is it art or is the fight for survival ?

It depends on our vision. It's both.

Sometimes, not always, there is a Western vision and an African vision.

The lady who owns the stand and sits in the cold is not aware of the Western Vision that she is sitting amidst an installation that would be considered by many as art. And nobody can blame her for that.
And a Western soul does truly not know about her life. 

But: is this not true Entrepreneurship?

It so much is ! And has to be admired.

And even more on an ice cold day in Africa's winter at the coast.

2 CLIP FOR AN AFRICAN TAILOR

Sithembile Nqongqo says I can call him Jeffrey if his name is too difficult for me to pronounce.

I do prefer Sithembile. That's ok. And I do not have to call him Mr.Nqongqo because he is a really friendly person. I can call him by his first name. 

He is the African Tailor at Hi-Way with the blue measuring tape always hanging around his neck.

Sithembile sews on a slightly altered black Singer sewing machine with a sparkling silver label that dates back to the 1940's.

That is his shop. 

A cellphone advertising sign-board with the old Vodacom-Guy with the white beard, so very well known in South Africa, adorns the front of his working table.

His main business are alterations.

I do not design, he says

And these are three of his costumers waiting in his shop, keeping him company

Is he a good tailor, I ask ?

A single YES shooting from three mouths !

A dress for me he will make for " 2 clip" . That is 200 Rand.

But he is too busy now. 

He has got too much work, but can I can come at the end of the month?

So you are rich then? I ask. 

And he gives me a broad grin.