thank you!

peace and blessings be with you.

i realise that besides it not being easy to update the blog on a daily basis , i also have to contend with american spelling , only because i was taught , and more or less know how spell in the queens english , so it is a minor irritation, but one that is easily managed. 

before i go any further , i would like to thank a few people, starting with my wife , who helps me in ways that i don’t always appreciate out loud. thank you my liefie (lovey  in afrikaans ). then i would like to thank miyere , clare and christoph who all commented in one way or another. 

i am starting to accept the fact that i have way too many photos to turn them all into postcards , though if there is a request for post cards to be made ,a print or a larger jpeg we can make a plan. 

solomons hands

these hands belong to solomon. i know him from seeing him around the city , selling super glue for cash. the glue comes in strips of ten , and if i remember correctly , he sells them for 4 rands each  or 3 for 10 rand. solomon is full of “tjappies”  ( an afrikaans dialect for gang tattoos , usually prison gangs) , in his neck , on his face and arms , and on his legs. i was working as a fixer for a german documentary maker looking to shoot a pilot to take back to the fatherland and get funding so that they could make a feature doccie on south africa , what has changed , stayed the same , gotten worse…. and so i called solomon over to have a chat with us. the life of crime that he has lived was over, its something that has no benefit for him(in his own words, albeit afrikaans) , so he humbles himself and sells super glue  to try and sustain the family that he has for so long neglected. he was married , but his wife passed on , and when he told us about her , he shed a tear. now he has his children , and he has to provide for them. what does his hands tell you ?

 

remember that concert you took me to when i was a kid?

sometimes we have memories , or very strong senses of a memory that sticks with us no matter what happens. maybe this kid will grow up remembering the day his mom took him to the free concert on greenmarket square in the city . i have worked with esp afrika on the jazz festivals for the last 5 years probably , its one of my favourite jobs . hey , if anyone knows this kid or his mom , tell them they can contact me for a print .

pentz street , bokaap

i was raised in bo-kaap , one of the oldest suburbs in south africa. i remember seeing some maps in my high school geography classes where bo-kaap was stilled referred to as the malay slave quarter . i lived one road higher than this one , which is at the corner of pentz and pepper street.  you see the water furrow at the right side edge of the road..? as kids we used to climb into plastic milk crates , five in a row , and slide all the way to the bottom! 

again …. thank you to all the people who make the effort to read my ramblings, 

i do really appreciate it

salaams

yasser