January 28th, 2010 at 13:13
(Haiti)
I’m sitting in the airplane of the Belgian Air Force. A few hours ago the plane took of in Santo Domingo to go back to Belgium.
I have spent one week in Port-au-Prince and I am sorry that I didn’t find time to write my blog. This time I wrote a blog in my native language German, which can be found here:
http://blog.zdf.de/3sat.Kulturtube/ -> scroll down
Haiti is widely destroyed; it’s horrible to see. An estimated 200 000 people died and the number rises each day. The hospitals are filled with patients; most of them get a Körperteil amputated and are left alone afterwards. They find themselves alone in the streets, without house, often without family and sometimes even without friends. So many people have lost everything. I talked to a 22-year-old boy, who has lost all his family and all of his friends. He happened to be in the streets during the earthquake, while his family was in their house and his friends in school – both buildings collapses and buried every person who was important to him.
I always thought everything happens for a reason. No matter what happens to me or to any other person, if good or bad - would have some kind of sense behind it. But in this situation I just cannot find the sense at all. A country that has been one of the poorest in the world since many years looses many of his kids, of his teachers, of his hospitals, of his universities, of his bancs… It basically looses his future. It’s not that they have to start at point zero - no, they first have to get all the broken buildings, all the mess out of the city before they can start all over again. And this isn’t easy with an almost complete lack of an infrastructure.
Here in the airplane are also 13 Haitian orphans flying with our group. They have been adopted and will get to their parents in Belgium as soon as we will land. They are saved. I hope they will have a good life in Belgium and I wish that when they’re grown up, Haiti will have succeeded to restart all over again and be a nice place.
I don’t think I need to write more – I think my pictures tell more than my words:
http://www.photoshelter.com/
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December 14th, 2009 at 14:35
(general)
The sharp peak of scissors is drilling in and out of an empty Red Bull can. Slowly it starts to form a precise circle, which is then rolled up between old looking fingers. Cutting, winding, rolling, gluing and testing - until the metal is transformed into a flower. “Golden” works every day very hard in his little house in the middle of the biggest township of Cape Town, Khayelitsha. He creates daisies, roses, sunflowers, and margaritas – in blue, red, white, yellow, green and pink.
After dreaming three times of an angel whispering to him in a low voice he should go to the garbage dump and find flowers, Golden got the idea of creating flowers out of tin cans. Nowadays he is the owner of a flourishing business, got himself and his family out of poverty and even has his own street sign so that the tourists can find him in the middle of the township.
You can find pictures HERE
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December 8th, 2009 at 17:03
(general)
.. so this is the time that I start reflecting about what happened in 2009. It was not an easy year, but one of the best I ever had. I learned many lessons. When I was in South Africa I found this saying on someones wall:
I asked for wisdom…And I received problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity…And I got brains and the strength to work.
I asked for courage…And I faced danger to overcome.
I asked for love…And I met troubled people to help.
I asked for favors…And I found opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted.
I received everything I needed.
That’s how I feel about my life and it was thaught to me especially this year. (I changed the quote a little bit so it fits into my thinking).
I have been twice to Haiti this year, I travelled to India, through Europe and a few weeks ago I visited South Africa. These all were such enriching experiences and I learned so much through each of them.
I moved out from my mum’s house and now live alone with a friend - which is wonderful. I started to earn my own money, to get assignments and jobs, I sold prints and had my first solo exhibition in a museum. It is wonderful to be independent and to live from such a wonderful job as the photographers one.
My life really took a turn in the last months. I started to read much more than I used to. I found H. Hesse or Hesse found me ;-). I jumbed the highest bunggejump of Europe in Switzerland, I went to Africa and to Asia both for the first time of my life. I found sponsors for Landa, the girl of the Unicef picture of the year and her siblings as well as 4 others. So 10 kids in Haiti are now able to go to a good school. Like in the years before, I met courageous and interesting people all over the world, had experiences that I never had before, which were so wonderful that it often took my breath away.
So what can I say as a conclusion? Life is often not fair at all, but in the end it is wonderful.
My advise to everyone is to take the chance when it’s ahead of you. Don’t be afraid, take the risks - living is taking risks. To say it in Philips words: Who is afraid to die, is afraid to live.
I already have plans for the next year. First I will be going to Haiti in January and February. I will stay there 6 weeks together with the girl -Feli- who did an internship with me in October. We will celebrate carnival in Haiti, I’m really looking forward to that! Another time of the year I’d like to visit Benin, I wanna return to India and in June I will take a few weeks of probably going to Bali to learn how to surf. Then again, I will go back to Haiti because I want to complete my work to bring out a photography book about Haiti in 2011.
These are my plans so far - they are likely to change, as always.
In case you live close to Aachen, Germany, I will be holding a workshop there at the beginning of 2010 at the Ludwigforum.
To conclude my words from before, here comes a little poem of Hermann Hesse for the German speakers:
Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend dem Alter weicht
blüht jede Lebensstufe,
blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
in ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
bereit zum Abschied sein
und Neubeginne,
um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
in andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.
Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten,
an keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen-
der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln und nicht engen,
er will uns Stuf um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen.
Und wer bereit zum Aufbruch ist und zur Reise,
mag gähnender Entwöhnung sich entraffen.
Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
uns neuen Räumen jung entgegensenden,
des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden.
Wohlan, denn, Herz
nimm Abschied und gesunde.
.
.
.
--- South Africa
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December 8th, 2009 at 16:33
(general)
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November 1st, 2009 at 22:03
(general)
After a flight of 12 hours I finally arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday morning together with Hedi and Claudia, who are employees for the “Kindermissionswerk”, the NGO I am working for. We checked into the Hotel, which is stunning beautiful (the owners are a supporter of the Zip Zap Circus). We drove a little bit through the city, which looks very European.
Directly on the first afternoon we went to Khayelitsha, probably the poorest township in Cape Town. We saw a dancing program for HIV-positive children, which was great. After the program we drove the children back home into their township.
We continued to drive and after about 15 minutes were thrown back in the “developed world”. It was quite a shock to see the poor and the rich living so close together. I have seen lots of poverty before, especially in Haiti (where the slums are much worse), but in Haiti you have poverty, broken roads and street children everywhere – so before I get from one extreme into the other I always have a long flight in-between. Here in South Africa you have only 15 minutes. It makes you question a lot of things.
Why is it still that way many years after the Apartheid? Why cannot more wealthy persons sponsor a child in the township? Why does the world have money to pay millions for the soccer world cup but not to support those people?
Many years ago we Europeans came here, stole their country and forced them to work for us. Now, many years later, we give them freedom and equality - > to live our lifestyle. But they have never learned our lifestyle.
Our way of thinking straight and forward having a goal in mind – this is what our parents, our society taught us. But no one taught it to them, so how should they know when their parents and their grandparents didn’t know. They used to live in the bush before we invaded their country. The only thing they had to think about was to get enough food everyday and to get along with nature. Nowadays you see lots of big advertising signs next to the poorest people – so it’s natural that they also want all of these things – that creates greed, which again creates violence.
Our system doesn’t work in Africa, if we don’t start to teach it to young children.
But if we would start doing that (which would be the only fair way), there would be a break in our system. People in developing countries would get a good salary, so prices in Europe would rice drastically. But as I said, I think that’s only fair. I know many people in Belgium that buy new shoes every month, new clothes, new cars, …. Why? Because the media is telling you that this is the only way to be happy and to be someone.
But isn’t the only way to really be someone to do something with your life that has a deep sense in it? Like helping other people?
Another project we visited is the Zip Zap Circus. I have put pictures on the blog yesterday. Brent (white South African) and Laurence (French), who worked in circuses as well in younger years, started it 17 years ago and they have been helping so many children to get out of the poverty and have a goal in life. To reach that goal, they have to work hard – they learn it at the Zip Zap Circus School. Many of the kids come from townships and without the circus, it could well be that they would be part of a gang and shoot each other in the streets. But instead they are now traveling through the world performing their acts on the trapeze, the trampoline, by joggling, …
3 Comments
October 31st, 2009 at 12:53
(general)
I was planning on writing a long blog post about everything I saw in Southafrica yet. But now I only have 5 minutes left, so I have to postpone the looong post.
Southafrica is a very interesting country, my feelings for it are mixed. I will describe it later on. I will try this evening!
Here are some pictures that I have taken in the circus Zip Zap here in Cape town. It’s a wonderful project which is open for every child that wants to participate… from townships or from the richer areas. They live like a family, give hope to the children and create a mix of cultures. The children travel around the world as the circus is becoming really popular and they are invited to Europe, America, etc.
I photographed them during training.
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October 27th, 2009 at 22:10
(general)
I am on my way to Cape town and Durban. It’s an assignment for the German NGO “Kindermissionswerk”.
My pictures are in the German Geo this month!
I cannot write a long text, as I am at the airport and have to step into the plane soon.
If I will find a internetconnection in Southafrica, I will write more often and upload pictures when I am there!
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October 5th, 2009 at 23:46
(general)
PORTRAITS
PORTRAITS IN THE EVENING
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September 24th, 2009 at 18:41
(general)
hey,
it’s been a long time I haven’t written any news about my photography and what my plans are. In August I have been back to Haiti, some of the pictures I have taken there you have seen in my previous post about Miriam. When I came back to Belgium I photographed some portraits and a wedding (I will post the pictures soon on my blog), than I went to Perpignan to the festival Visa pour l’image, which was really fun. Also in September I went to Paris with two photography-friends to show my portfolio to magazines and newspapers there and the week after that I did the same in London. In the meantime I have travelled to the Northern Lakes in England to photograph a witches-weekend. Pics will follow soon.
My plan is now to also travel to Hamburg to present myself and my pictures to the magazines there and than work a little bit at home to earn some money. Selling pictures, photographing portraits and other commercial work. By the end of October I will than travel to South Africa. The German NGO Kindermissionswerk will give me an assignment to photograph their projects there. In November/December I will either go to Cameroun, Benin or back to Haiti another time. I will let you know. And I will soon update my website so that you can all see my new work.
I wish you all the best!
Alice
1 Comment
September 9th, 2009 at 17:06
(Haiti)
In Haiti there are over 300 000 “Restavek. The Restavecs are children of Haiti living in a family different from their family of origin and often used as domestic servants or as slaves. From poor families in rural areas, they are placed by their families in urban families. Often the economic situation of host families is not very different from those of biological families of these children. Also orphans often end up as Restavecs.
Miriam is a little 7 year old girl who lives in Port-au-Prince and is a restavek. Her father died 4 years ago. Her mother went to the countryside to organize the funeral and never returned. Today, she lives with her neighbors, who have a 6 year old son. When he is outside playing with his friends, she does the cleaning, dishes, and shopping. In return for her work Miriam has the right to sleep on the floor and eat the remains of the family meal.
More pictures - soon on my homepage
1 Comment
