ubuntugraphy: The Day Hell Rose on Flickr. Via Flickr: Paradise draped in a facade of hell , that is what this place felt like sometimes. Souls so entwined so much that we just wanted to get away, to remember who we were again… Strangers confined in the same room, the same complex, 4 walls, one gate, do you know what that can do to a person? This was one of the worst few days we had during out training. We had just been moved from our original rooms which were spacious and accommodated out basic needs to what I can only describe as abandoned jail cells. This was compounded with the terrible weather that we were experiencing, terrencial rain and fog. The environment was like a reflection of our feelings during the time, our minds blinded with this fog of uncertainty, our vision unclear of it’s destination. We had so many questions that simply could not be answered by word only by experience, the experience we were about to embark on… This voyage took us from one extreme to the other, I will always remember the smell of mould in the walls, damp air and the mind-set that I was in. It made me, it made us as a group stronger, I truly believe that. There were times where, you know, I really felt like I was at the bottom of a mountain, there was a great big, fog up there, and I’m never going to cross to the other side, but cross it we did!FacebookTwitter
04.25.12 /16:05/♥ 2
ubuntugraphy: R12 Taxi on Flickr. Via Flickr: I was going to give this picture a caption with a deep meaning, bur thought i’d keep it nice and simple. This is one of our taxi drivers, I can’t remember his name but I do remember that he had a prolific crush on one of the volunteers and every time he saw her would relentlessly request for her to give him her number. Whether or not he succeeded that is not within my knowledge. Taxis in South Africa were an experience to say the least. They were loud, cultured, tight & sometimes felt like a tin can which was about to fall apart. However they do still hold a place in my heart, for some reason they triggered the philosophical emotion within me when I was in them. I would found myself completely lost in my thoughts, trying to understand the reality that was presented before my eyes and really trying to make sense of it all. One journey which always got me was the ride from Kwelerha (the community where I was staying) to town. There is a stretch on the motorway where on the left hand side all you see are mansions, flash cars… just an unimaginable accumulation of wealth. Then on one side you have a township and everything that is contain within it. Everytime I drove past it, it reminded me of the inequality that still exits in South Africa. The two polarising society which live in a system of duality, so close together but at the same time so far apart. Besides that Taxis were enjoyable, I learn’t a lot about South African and Xhosa people… but most of all South African House music which became a love of ours. FacebookTwitter
04.23.12 /15:59/♥ 2
ubuntugraphy: The gates of Hellven on Flickr. Via Flickr: Lekker Ood Christian Campsite this is where me and the other volunteers spent two weeks of training. It is an understatement to say that I grew as a person in these two weeks at this location. I honestly changed. The beauty of this place never ceased to amaze me, Lekker Ood sits on a hill that overlooks the Indian oceans to as far as the eye can see, then on one side… civilization… that is the City of East London. I remember I would wake up in the morning, walk out of my dorm, look on both sides and feel like a giant. Our two week training was.. a journey that I can only compare to entering a black hole & still coming out alive. This process as much as it was educational in terms of providing more information on what we’re going to be doing like how to facilitate sessions and work shops in schools on the Youth Centre were I was working. It challenged us as people, it forced us to be pragmatic, to face problems and issues head on because there is nowhere we could go. This is one of the reasons i’ve captioned this picture “The Gates of Hellven” as beautiful and majestic as this place was, sometimes it felt like a prison, you couldn’t escape or run away forever simply because of it’s location it wasn’t possible… You had to stay and overcome those problems. Sometimes it felt like paradise and other times it felt like hell. These hard times brought us closer together as a group, we gelled, bonded as a unit. We came into Lekker ood as strangers but we left as friends. FacebookTwitter
04.23.12 /15:19/♥ 4
ubuntugraphy: The gates of Hellven on Flickr. Via Flickr: Lekker Ood Christian Campsite this is where me and the other volunteers spent two weeks of training. It is an understatement to say that I grew as a person in these two weeks at this location. I honestly changed. The beauty of this place never ceased to amaze me, Lekker Ood sits on a hill that overlooks the Indian oceans to as far as the eye can see, then on one side… civilization… that is the City of East London. I remember I would wake up in the morning, walk out of my dorm, look on both sides and feel like a giant. Our two week training was.. a journey that I can only compare to entering a black hole & still coming out alive. This process as much as it was educational in terms of providing more information on what we’re going to be doing like how to facilitate sessions and work shops in schools on the Youth Centre were I was working. It challenged us as people, it forced us to be pragmatic, to face problems and issues head on because there is nowhere we could go. This is one of the reasons i’ve captioned this picture “The Gates of Hellven” as beautiful and majestic as this place was, sometimes it felt like a prison, you couldn’t escape or run away forever simply because of it’s location it wasn’t possible… You had to stay and overcome those problems. Sometimes it felt like paradise and other times it felt like hell. These hard times brought us closer together as a group, we gelled, bonded as a unit. We came into Lekker ood as strangers but we left as friends. FacebookTwitter
04.22.12 /17:02/♥ 4
ubuntugraphy: Wonderer’s of the Earth on Flickr. Wonderer’s of the Earth I remember the first time my eyes could see the orient of the sea by the horizon, the suns reflection off it, in total omniscience but humbled by the gravity of the earth. We we like wonderer’s of the earth, alien to this new environment which we had stepped foot on and forced upon our eyes. This is the beach in the Eastern Cape, near where we were saying for our two week training period called “Lekker Ood”. I remember the feeling that I felt when I first stepped on the beach, it was as if a breath of new life had been inhaled into my soul, it was almost euphoric… each wave was like parapsychological beat of delight. At that moment in time, we were in paradise, we were wonderer’s of the Earth.Via Flickr: I remember the first time my eyes could see the orient of the sea by the horizon, the suns reflection off it, in total omniscience but humbled by the gravity of the earth. We we like wonderer’s of the earth, alien to this new environment which we had stepped foot on and forced upon our eyes. This is the beach in the Eastern Cape, near where we were saying for our two week training period called “Lekker Ood”. I remember the feeling that I felt when I first stepped on the beach, it was as if a breath of new life had been inhaled into my soul, it was almost euphoric… each wave was like parapsychological beat of delight. At that moment in time, we were in paradise, we were wonderer’s of the Earth. FacebookTwitter
04.21.12 /21:48/♥ 2
ubuntugraphy: South Africa - The Journey Begins on Flickr. South Africa - The Journey Begins
04.21.12 /21:47/♥ 3
ubuntugraphy: South Africa - The Journey Begins on Flickr. South Africa - The Journey Begins
04.20.12 /17:33/♥ 3
ubuntugraphy: African woman original on Flickr. African woman original
12.26.11 /19:25/♥ 2
ubuntugraphy: trish88 on Flickr. Congolese Queen
12.26.11 /19:25/♥ 20

Congo 2011 presidential election - a sham that is being ignored

makemymark:

Researching the increasingly tragic history of The Democratic Republic of Congo is a distressing task. The reality is that Africa’s second largest country is one of unbounded potential that has never been allowed to materialise; a consequence of western complicity in the rape of a nation. Despite its wealth of natural resources, the DCR remains bottom of the United Nations poverty index.

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12.09.11 /14:39/♥ 11
Canvas  by  andbamnan