Umlazi k Section - My Pics 1

Here are my pics from our trip to Umlazi, K Section

This first one I love, I took allot of this girl with the dog. This is the only one I have edited so far and the only one I will put up but I love them all!
She had a gorgeous smile, pitty about the fat kid. lol
We were amongst the informal housing going for a bit of a walk when this man approached Cate. It was quite sad, he was mentally retarded in someway (i'm no doctor, but he clearly had some form of retardation), and was known by the locals we spoke to. They said that his family didn't care for him properly.

He took a liking to Cate, her mistake being giving him a kiss on the cheek upon his request when he came up to her. White people (especially girls) get allot of attention in places we work, especially here in the middle of nowhere as it is so strange to see them there. It would be a pretty safe bet to say that we were the only white people there since I last visited a couple of months ago. Word gets out and people come out side their house and stare.

Culturally guys will annoy the girls (and people generally) until it pisses everyone off, though in there culture it is rude to interrupt or ask someone to go away so people just listen to it. Though it can get ridiculus and i ended up having to tell this guy and a couple of others that day to piss off (in Zulu). I did try more politely before that but these guys couldn't take a hint.
One of Thembisa's sisters dancing on the road.

Cate and Thembisa's youngest sister. Luckily despite considering it Cate did not abduct this child despie being tempted by how cute the kids were. Probably a good thing, they are only cute for so long...

Cate's Umlazi Pics

Here are the photos that Cate took during our trip to Umlazi. They look awesome and I am very jealous of someone who manages photos better than me with less effort and fuss.

I am editing mine now and they will be up in a couple of short hours.

I think this first photo is my favourite from the whole day!
Cate's foot, the kid's feet.
My take on it during editing. In theory it should simply be desaturated, I hope it appears that way on your computer. If not I am blaming in advance my monitor displaying the image too bright.
Thembisa's (she was the student who invited us to her house) youngest sister.
These next three pics are some more of my favourites.


The area is made up of 'informal' housing all built ridiculously close together, and made from whatever materials people could find. The walls themselves are mud (see the walls in the above shots) or sometimes bricks and the roofs are time, or asbestos. If they leave people throw patch them with whatever they can, see the mix of carpet, canvas, tin, wood and steel making up this roof, held there with an equally eclectic collection of weighty objects to stop the roof blowing away.


Yep, it's what it looks like! Just growing along the path to Thembisa's house. Thembisa was far less impressed by the novelty of it's open growth then Cate and I were.


Cate and I have an interesting dynamic, I have an unusual talent for making a fool of myself. Cate has an unusual talent for taking photos of me that compound the appearance on film of my stupidity. Case and point below.

Jedi Knights

As it turns out, everyone in South Africa is actually a Jedi Knight. When we visited Umlazi last weekend, some kids showed us how they practice using the force by levitating stones.





Kate and I started to get pretty good too.


Probably worried that we'd seen to much and fearful of our uber force mastery she proceeded to fly kick me in the head from across the room.


P.S. We were playing a game called (obviously) rocks or stones, can't remember which. You draw a circle and place a pile of stones in it. You throw one up in the air and before you catch it (you must catch it) you pull rocks out of the circle. You throw it up in the air again and you must push all bar one of the stones back into the circle before you catch the one you threw in the air. If you do this you keep the rock that you left outside the circle and go again, if you fail to leave out one rock or drop the one you threw in the air it is the next persons go. Person with the most rocks at the end wins.

We found it a little and spent an hour or two playing it with the kids.

Umlazi K Section - Teaser Pic

On Saturday, Cate and I visited a the home of a student (Thembisa) who I work with. She lives in a 1 room house with her mother and two sisters. I am working on all the photo's now which will be up soon. Here is the first, I couldn't wait to upload this one (it took me about three hours to edit).

Hope you enjoy it.

Dan

Key Change - C4C - The Learners

This, most recent series of photos are from a recent tour I had the privilege of being involved in called C4C (collaboration for change) organised by Key Change Music and partnering with Nelson Mandela's 46664 as well as other organisations including S4S (Schools 4 Schools), hence my involvement.

The tour focused on three main issues; gender roles and relationships, HIV transmission, and political engagement. The 46664 play highlighted the issues in an engaging, informative way and we then encouraged discussion through small group interactions which were at times very confronting for me, when young men in the groups said things like "hitting my girlfriend shows her that I love her" at times girls in the groups agreed, highlighting just how deeply engrained in the culture many of these issues are.

The photo's are split into three sections (posts); one on the learners (students), another features scenes from the 46664 play and it's actors(Dan, Tabs, Aubrie and Ronnie), and the final one contains pics of the cool guys and girls involved in organising and running the three week tour of schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.