Busisiwe was one of the initial participants of The Heart of a Woman Project. Here is her experience.
Busisiwe, a bead artist from South Africa, is part of eKhaya eKasi, a nonprofit art and education centre in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha. The centre provides after-school programs, art education, and literary programs for the community. In 2012, Andrea Rees, a Canadian photographer, visited eKhaya eKasi on a trip to South Africa, and after talking to the women who work at the centre, had the idea of helping them spread awareness of their programs through iPhone photography. With the aim of running mobile photography workshops, Andrea set up The Heart of a Woman Project. She came back to South Africa, and Busisiwe was one of the women who took part in the first workshop. Here is her story.
“I was working as a beader at eKhaya eKasi, when Andrea visited us. She talked about the photography workshops, and it was interesting to me. I wanted to take part because it was something new to me. Andrea came back to South Africa to do the program and we recruited some other women to join us.
Andrea came to eKhaya eKasi and explained what was going to happen and gave us the iPhones that were donated. Then on the first day, we went to Cape Town and Cape Point, where we started to take photos. We spent the day on the hop on hop off bus, taking pictures everywhere. The following day we looked at the pictures we had taken, and Andrea explained what to do when you take a picture, and we learned how to get in the right position, and what a good picture looks like.”
“At the end of the program, Andrea helped us make post cards out of our photos, and how when guests come at the centre, they see the post cards and buy them. They are also interested in learning about the story behind these photos.
“The Hearth of a Woman Project was a good experience for us. It helped us financially, because we’re selling the post cards at the centre. I think photography can help. I think it can help other organizations, too.”
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