Foto’s Blog: DMW is highlight of trip home to South Africa!
NEW Phodographer Robert Karp in Guguletu, South Africa, April 2011
I’m Robert Karp, I work in Admissions at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, and I recently traveled to South Africa where I was born to celebrate my 40th Birthday and other family events in the Cape Town area. Wanting to practice Dog Meets World without a contact in a local township I turned to Google where I found a link to Liziwe’s Guest House and Tours. I emailed the house and immediately got a reply from a guy named Andrew who helps organize the tours through a local township. We emailed back and forth as to the specifics of what it was I was trying to do and accomplish. The more we talked, the more excited I became at the idea of doing something like this.
Andrew picked me up and provided transportation both to the township Guguletu and then to the airport afterwards. Once there, and after some briefs tests of my camera and the printer, we started out on our adventure. We began in the neighborhood creche which is what a preschool would be here in the States. I took and printed around 50 pictures of the children there and the process was incredible. For some of these children, the pictures were the first of them ever and they were enthralled with the process and the camera and printer. Tentative glances turned into true smiles, followed by excited chatter and laughter. I was surrounded by a swarm of amazing little children who were taking this all in.
After the creche, Andrew and another man took me into the shacks where the poorest of the poor lived. The pictures I took of the children and families here were the most meaningful and had the most impact both on myself and on the people whose pictures I took and printed. For one family, it was the first and only family portrait they have ever had.
The rest of the trip was spent walking around and taking and printing pictures until my supplies ran out. Afterwards, Andrew told me it was incredibly moving and fulfilling for him as-well because although he loves doing the tours, no one has given back in such an immediate way. He invited me back for my next trip to do a longer day of taking pictures and meeting new people.
Thank you Dog Meets World. It was the highlight of my trip back home.
Love that you took the time to do this on your busy trip back to cape town Rob. But then, that’s you! Wish I could have joined that day but I’m inspired to do this next time I’m “home”.
So glad you took the time to take these shots which were so meaningful to these kids and their families, but also that you took the time to blog. Hope this project gets some mileage through your efforts.