Breads of Heaven, Johanna’s soup kitchen in Kurland Village
A big beaming smile greeted us when we first met Johanna Christian, she stood outside the car window when we were driving by with Emma, who had volunteered in Kurland Village last year.
“You have to come by later! Its so good to see you again!” she enthused.
For some years now, Johanna has been running a soup kitchen from her house to offer some of the impoverished local children what might be their only proper meal of the day. But more than that, her soup is her symbol of her love for her community and her willingness to take a step to reach out to them. Her kitchen is self funded and Johanna is hardly well to do, herself relying on the generosity of other people to make ends meet.
Her kitchen walls are a patchwork of salvaged plaster boards, with gaps in between, the cold wind never too far away. The wooden beam holding up the plaster boards was probably hastily put up and now leaning at an angle, threatening to buck under the weight.
As Johanna told us her heartbreaking story of making it through her trials and tribulations of a life unimaginably hard, we made a mental note never to complain about our comparatively insignificant First World problems, when she has overcome her great difficulties without compliant. She runs this soup kitchen as thanksgiving for having made it through her difficulties.
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much great hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” ~ Mother Teresa
I left my job as an advertising Creative Director in August 2012 to travel Africa and South America for a year with my wife, documenting these beautiful places with my Fuji X-Pro1. View the rest of my RTW adventures on Handcarry Only and follow me on my journey by subscribing/following/bookmarking.
Children of Kurland Village
On the edge of the Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve in South Africa and in an area overlooked by Peak Formosa, is the rural township of Kurland Village. In stark contrast with the upmarket tourist haven that is Plettenberg Bay just down the road, Kurland Village is by and large, a poor rural community, with high unemployment, alcoholism, domestic violence and HIV.
A number of NGOs and volunteers from around the globe have been working to uplift the community, with an emphasis on the education of of the kids of Kurland Village as well as more immediate help with daily necessities and housing. I had the privilege of visiting Kurland Village as well as a couple of pre-schools with an ex volunteer and found the experience both humbling and inspiring. People are warm and welcoming and there are many people in and outside the community who work tirelessly to contribute in whatever way they can.
One observation I made was that the womenfolk of the community seem to be the doing the lion’s share of the work for the community, be it running soup kitchens or teaching in the schools. I noticed a lot of men just hanging around the street corners idling. Perhaps a longer stay in the community will reveal otherwise but this was my initial observation.
The children are the hope of the future of this community and it is not surprising that the majority of the community and volunteer projects are geared towards improving the education of the kids, often having to work alongside parental indifference towards education, as well as domestic violence or just the hardships brought about by poverty.
I left my job as an advertising Creative Director in August 2012 to travel Africa and South America for a year with my wife, documenting these beautiful places with my Fuji X-Pro1. View the rest of my RTW adventures on Handcarry Only and follow me on my journey by subscribing/following/bookmarking.
X-Pro1 Diaries: Things I See When I Am Out And About (May 2012)
View the rest of my ongoing X-Pro1 experiences and photos or the rest of the photos on Handcarry Only
Oh to be invisible in a sea of humanity, in the sprawl of the city, a little whisper in a roaring wave. I wander, looking, observing, recording. For what purpose am I doing this? For whom is this photographic record intended? I don’t exactly know. Something compels me. Perhaps it is the most obvious way to share my view of the world around me, one that is at once beautiful and grotesque, serendipitous and staged, symmetrical and chaotic.
For now, I am merely the record keeper.
The lion
Looking over
Synchronised shooting
Queuing for fortune
The man in the alley
Delivering Ya Pear
The new and the not so new
Zero emissions
Hmmm… I wouldn’t mind a yellow Porsche either …
View the rest of my ongoing X-Pro1 experiences and photos or the rest of the photos on Handcarry Only
Children Always Win
There are cures for ‘growing up too fast’. You can temporarily make a child bite their tongue in fear, you can let the rain make their drought of happiness very apprent but we are always children - you cannot steal childhood.
You cannot whisk it away like a toy. You can teach them to forget but that just means you have the power to gently nudge them to remember.
These children had a fierce kind of bedtime monster, they prayed constantly out of a habit that gave them a sense of having to wash their hands clean. But when the hot water hit them as they bathed, they wanted to stay in a little longer to finish the final battle brother’s football and Mr. Soap the evil bubbler.
When they were dried and fed they couldn’t sit still from all the toy dinosaurs they wanted to compare with one another. When they stepped outside in the dimming sunlight, they teased and taunted and broke into song and dance. A relaxed happy sway led by the rhythm of the air that escaped between their hands. The air that escaped their hands - don’t you see. It’s a subtle power in being a child.
Given warm baths, shelter and nutrition, it doesn’t matter what horrors rampaged, children always win.
Conversations by the Window Seatis an ongoing creative collaboration between Adrian Seah and Romila Barryman, with photos and writing themed around a common love of travel and discovery.
View other Conversations by the Window Seat or read more of Romila’s writing at her blog Daydreamsonlooseleafpaper
Class photo taking | Odaiba, Tokyo 2012
School children having their class portrait taken in front of the Rainbow Bridge in Odaiba. Despite the sunny appearance of the weather, the wind was howling and bitingly cold.
See my other photos of Tokyo!
School children on excursion | Tranås, Sweden 2007.
Canon 5D, EF 50mm f1.4
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Over the past 15 years, I’ve been lucky to have travelled to a multitude of places and met countless amazing people. This collectively has played a huge role in shaping my world view and making me the person I am today. What I’ve come to realise is that despite differences in our skin colour, language, socio-economic status, we are all united in our common humanity, that we by and large dream the same dreams and seek the same things in life: Love, security, friendship and a purpose to wake up in the morning.
From the archives is a celebration of people, places and travel, and its limitless potential to open eyes and shape minds. From time to time, I will post a photograph I’ve taken from my archive of 43,000 photos from this period, with a brief description. Some photos are taken on film, some on digital, and I will include any camera equipment details if I have them. Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts!
View the other photos of the ‘From the Archives’ series.
