This is a long time coming, but I finally got copies of the student work that came of Sonke’s PhotoVoice project, which I conducted along with Honor Genetski, Nyanda Khanyile, and Patrick Godana, with support from teachers, principals and parents in the schools where we worked.
PhotoVoice students learned basic photography concepts, including technical skills, project planning, and how to document their work through keeping a photo journal. They also improved their writing and editing skills, and put all of this to work in the context of Sonke’s One Man Can campaign, which encourages everyone in the community to take part in the movement for gender equality.
We chose a selection of some of the best student writing and photography, as well as themes that recurred throughout many students’ work, to present in the form of banners at exhibits in Mpathesitha High School in Nkandla, KZN, and the grade school at Mhlontlo, Eastern Cape.
Student work:
As part of the exhibits, school desks and chairs were placed next to the photographs all around the courtyard, and adults and children alike were encouraged to sit in the place of the photographers and write reflections in Zulu (KZN), Xhosa (EC) or English about student photographers’ observations. They were also given post cards of the students’ images, pre-addressed to the mayor, on which to write their thoughts and suggestions. Although I was unable to attend the Mhlontlo opening, the exhibit in Nkandla was nothing short of joyful. The whole school came together to celebrate the student work and prepare for the hundreds of visitors who came. A group of boys (neckties thrown over their shoulders) slaughtered a cow, and school mothers and teachers spent hours grating and chopping veggies for all. The shrubs were watered so thoroughly I feared they might drown. There were speeches upon speeches (the mayor, the beloved school principal, tribal elders, student leaders, Sonke…the list goes on). The gospel choir, crowned in the buttery rays of light that make Nkandla unique, performed several songs, and the school’s traditional Zulu dancers had the crowd in stitches with their not-very-gender-equitable sexual innuendo. Swarms of birds (probably smelling the shisa nyama, though Nyanda also credited the good graces of the ancestors) circled above. A strong wind whipped up everything and reminded us how small we were, even on this momentous day.
Students gather for announcements on the morning of the exhibit.
For more pictures of the day’s events, click here.
