If I were to leave this cottage tomorrow, I would not have a single photograph of it and none of myself living here. That gives me pause for thought. I don’t own a camera and don’t like having photographs taken of myself or my home because of my father’s voyeuristic behaviour when we were small children, the indecent pictures and ways in which we were manipulated and coerced to pose for him. Enough of that.
Changing the subject, I found Stef Renard’s In search of a personal history here via woods lot and was struck by the creative piecing together of an unrecorded past. Life reimagined.
“… The fact that I almost haven’t had any contact with my family during the last years makes that even these pictures feel as if they have a distance to me. A lot of people on the pictures remain strangers to me. To fill the void in my personal history I started to take pictures of my surroundings. Not only places that are seen in the pictures I had found but also places that resonate my feelings about our universal history, family life and my personal history.”
More protests and rioting here in the mountains, the knot of tension twisting in my gut, the despair in me at the plight of so many exploited and desperate people. Wide-spread intimidation and destruction of property. A brutal start to the year. Many of the protesters are women farm workers with hungry children at home. Working 14-hour days for as little as five dollars a day.
A woman who works on a farm is most likely to have been born on that farm. She is most likely black, with little or no access to formal education. The agricultural labour force in South Africa is characterised by a distinct gender division of labour: farming is still perceived as predominantly ‘men’s work’, with women’s labour considered supplementary. As such, the permanent workforce within agriculture is predominantly male, with women forming the largest percentage of casual and seasonal labour.
In a research study conducted on farm worker wages in the Western Cape, we found that women seasonal workers receive a minimum wage of between R48 ($5 US) and R60 ($7) per day. A seasonal worker’s maximum monthly wage is R1 200 ($130), without any incentives, bonus or benefits guaranteed. Our study also found that women farm workers spend their wages mostly on their family’s needs, such as food and healthcare. One seasonal worker who participated in this research said that the hardest time for her is when the season ends. The worry she experiences at this time was evident in her voice as she explained her situation. As a single mother with two school-going children, she feels distressed when she is not able to put food on the table or pay her children’s school fees.
You should be safe. I sincerely hope so, anyway.
The humans, they are becoming desperate.
And rightly so.
Love,
T in J
Safety is such a relative and abstract concept, isn’t it Terri? Physical safety, law and order security, the state killing others to keep a certain group safe, the absence of any ‘safety’ in the midst of a brutal and inhumane system known as Western society, the anarchy of the Third World. I don’t know any of us are safe, but what matters more is how we understand how we are connected, how we are all One — and I know you understand this.
That is a brutal image you posted, indeed. Such a gorgeous blue sky stretching out above such devastation.
That is the contrast and contradiction all of us live with — the patch of blue sky in the midst of the hurricane, the crisp autumn skies above burning towers, the trees and rivers and war happening all around, the chaos of rioting on a quiet country road. For some of us the violence is more latent rather than evident, for some of us the violence is directed against us and for some on our behalf. None of it is easy to live with, but we must do the best we can.
Your life seems like an extraordinary thing from where I’m sitting. Just sayin’.
I don’t know what to say but cannot read and then go away silently. We must help each other.
That is how I feel Carol and yet I watched Hurricane Sandy approach and could do nothing to help but wait and send messages of support. Here, there are solutions but not as yet workable.
Hang in there Mary. All the very best.
Thanks so much Andrew, this is a horrible time.
I’m sorry for the riots and the plight of the worker. In this country, the illegals are exploited as well. Yet, people turn away and ignore their plight because they are “just” illegals. Not viewing them as humans or people who are trying to have a better life is much easier than feeling something. The difference is that the workers here settle for the low wage and don’t protest. They work hard and take what is given because they are not citizens. And the employer is happy because someone is working for next to nothing. Sad stuff backed by greed and lack of compassion.
Stay safe, dear Mary.