Hi Everyone,

Those of you who know me well, know that I often struggle with the decision to take the photo / write the note and document the moment or to simply live the moment and carry the memory with me. Due to this ongoing debate, I am often late with sharing photos or writing and this is one of the reasons that this note has been so long in coming. Other reasons include my volunteer work with the Child Health Unit at the University of Cape Town and Fertile Ground as well as visiting with friends and simply living a wonderful life here in Cape Town.

The photos posted below were taken a couple of weeks ago at Kalk Bay and are the first posts of many that I will share from the travels, hikes and visits of Erica and I around South Africa. Kalk Bay is about a 25-minute train ride from our place in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town and is a truly beautiful town. If you ever find yourself in the area, head to the Olympia Cafe and down to the fish market. Both are wonderful experiences.

I mentioned struggling with the decision to document the moment in the start of this post and I want to touch on another part of this as well. I have routinely found myself debating whether or not to bring my camera out at all. Not because of the threat of having it stolen, although at times it is a possibility but because I do not feel comfortable taking a photo. 

Cape Town (and South Africa in general) is at times hard to understand and contextualize. I have seen cars, houses and clothes beyond anything I will ever be able to afford, alongside poverty and inequality that I could never have imagined. The juxtaposition between the two infuriates me and often leaves me wondering how ignorant is it of me to be taking a photo of someone as they earn a living and go about their daily business. Since I have been here I have often not taken my camera out of my bag because I didn't want to be one of the many tourists / foreigners taking photo after photo of inequality but never actually doing anything about it.

I always try to remain conscience of the fact that, for example; the people working in the fish market are not part of a national historic park that is re-enacting this for my benefit (or yours) but because they are trying to make a living. I have found that this is something many people forget or simply do not think of as they snap photo after photo.

I am not here as a tourist. I am here to find a way to allow my skills to help to relieve some of the inequality in South Africa and in doing so feel as though I did something to validate my being on the planet.

This has been a bit of a rant and it does not mean that I will not be taking photos, or doing day trips and finding nice ways to live my life as I am here but it does mean that I will always try to put the photos, moments and thoughts in context as I post them.

Stay well,
William