Photovoice: Khayelitsha and GAPA

Two Fridays ago (May 7), I did a walking tour and a photovoice project in Khayelitsha. Two of the grandmothers, Mama Susan and Mama Mase were kind enough to be my tour guides. I explained to them that I preferred if they took the pictures, and if they had anything they wanted to capture, to stop me and let me know. I also said to take pictures of anything they would want people from outside Khayelitsha to know about their community. I taught them how to use my digital camera; and together, we took many pictures. Not until finishing the picture-taking did I realize that many of the pictures we took that day were depictions of hope, activism, and self-help.

Oftentimes, in the world of higher-education, I have tended to focus on the problems and the needs. I have been constantly reminded in Tim’s and Janice’s classes to recognize the communities’ assets. In theory, this is easy, but I find it very difficult to apply in practice, especially when my main learning of townships have been from the outside, learning about the hardships and problems they face.

I learn the facts, the numbers, about the prevalence of this or that, what the government has not been adequate in addressing, etc. These are important to know; but I should not let these blind me from the things that people within Khayelitsha are already doing, how they are trying to help themselves, and how the best way to help them develop is to remove the hindrances that might prevent them from reaching their full potential...I took a lot of pictures that day, and behind many of the pictures are stories...I'll share with you a few...(unfortunately I can't all upload them on here because my internet connection isn't fast enough)

The "Should Loud, Change our Education System" painting stood out to me, as it made me think about Jonathan Clark’s talk from service-learning the Thursday before about post-apartheid education. Though he ended with a positive note, I could not help but feel almost pessimistic and helpless about the education system in South Africa. Thoughts like, there is so much that needs to be done, when will change happen, where do we even begin, crossed my mind. Seeing this however, reminded me that though there are communities that may have inadequate education, there are people from these communities who are advocating and fighting the disparities. They can recognize their barriers to development; they can articulate; they are not passive. I would be further reminded in my visit to Lwandle School of their fights for changing a system they feel might be inhibiting them from fully developing.

I was fortunate enough to meet some members of the administration and the faculty at Lwandle Primary School. The principal was so excited to share with me their school’s celebration that day, and the program they would be having later in the afternoon to thank some of their donors. I also visited a classroom, and immediately upon entering, Mama Susan became overwhelmed by all the children hugging her tightly. At GAPA, she takes care of them at the after-care, and I felt proud to be with someone who was a celebrity to these children. In her ways of showing love and care, she was helping these children’s development.

The grandmothers took me to a number of places, and I am thankful that they chose to take me to people who were working. I was even more excited to see the children of the men who sell smiley’s on the sidewalk (smiley's are sheep heads. They're really popular in Khayelitsha). The children reminded me of the other dimension of these men; they are also fathers, working for their children. There is a stereotype that people in townships are viewed as lazy and waiting for the government to give them something, but walking around, I was reminded of this passage from a CDRA reading:

 “…it is the act of people freeing themselves, choosing to take initiative and responsibility for change and then doing something about it, that is most important. Understood in this way, we can see that the process of development becomes the point of development itself.”

From the conversations I had with the GAPA grandmothers and the community members of Khayelitasha, I witnessed many who are choosing to take initiative and trying to free themselves. Learning more about the developmental process, I have begin to better understand my role as a developmental practitioner and the role of GAPA in the gradmothers’ lives, which is to help remove the outer and inner hindrances that can inhibit the grandmothers’ natural abilities to develop. The grandmothers, all of whom have lived through apartheid, have experienced many hardships, crises, and have learned from these experiences. We cannot disregard the enormous amount of knowledge and capacity they have from what they have learned through their experiences. “Not only is it respectful to work with what is already there, but it is just simple common sense."

This picture was one of my favorite from the day. It's Popeye, but his face is black. Khayelitsha and the people within have strengths and assets; we just have to take time to recognize them.