Cue Article in Mail & Guardian

The Cue article was also printed in Mail & Guardian, a national news paper. I'm very excited about that. I was also interviewed for CueBlog and that should be available online soon. The jewelry is selling very quickly now and things are continuing to go well. 2 days left of Fest!

Cue for You

Quick post about the Festival:

Today the exhibit was featured in the Festival's news/review publication Cue. Click on the link below to read the review.

Cue Article

I'm really happy with how things are going so far. The jewelry is selling well and we've had a lot of positive responses. The Festival carries on until the 5th, but I'll be leaving the evening of the 3rd. I think that this has been a success.

The Exhibition is Official!

Today the booking kit for Festival was made official and put online. The project, Defined by Four Letters, is now listed with a venue. The venue is just up the road here, so it's not far at all. It's actually only a block from the Raphael Centre, which is good for the women. They can get a ride to the Centre then walk down from there. I'm very excited that this is ACTUALLY happening. I had my doubts along the way, but it's for real now! The photos are on their way, as well. I picked up the pictures from the first camera today. They're pretty good. I'm excited to get the rest back.

Wednesday I'm bringing lunch for the women as a celebration. I'm happy to be doing that. We'll look at the first pictures and then I'll get to get the rest developed which will be good.

To see the Fringe Booklet from Festival: Defined by Four Letters, page 40.

Ntombekhaya's Story

I am 38 years of age.

I live in Grahamstown.

Writing About HIV:

I find HIV disease when I was 33 years and I find out when I see limps side of my thigh, it called shingles.

I speak out with my status after I heard I’m positive. At first I was doubt its me have positive and I was shocked. I was told my family. First the members of my church and my friends. The reason that I told the people that are mentioned above is because I was need support from them and advice so I can not take my life to doing wrong things.

I live with my three year old daughter.

The sickness is not an issue in my life. The importance of my life is all the dreams that I have before I diagnosed. I still have them. Nothing can change that, and my life is going on more than before.

As I’m not have pension and I must eat my treatment everyday and I can’t eat without food. Raphael Centre help to give me breakfast and lunch. At the end of the month I have small food parcel at least for a week, but I have once a month. We learn how to survive with positive life and respect yourself.

For myself I think if I followed the instruction and listen the counselors when they teach us how do you live with positive. My dreams become true.

I want people to look me like a human being not a positive woman. There is a wonderful life after you know who you are.

I have two children, a boy and a girl.

I’m not married.

My boyfriend is have the disease as I am but my children are negative.

My Story:

I’m Ntombekhaya Patricia Adam. I’m a single mother of two children. I live at the city of Grahamstown. I live with my little daughter she have three years. Her name is Msindise. My son is 22 years and he live at extension seven at his father’s home.

My son live with me when he is doing standard five because I have no job to do when he want fees for school. I give him. So we decide he go and live with his father.

In 2003 I was diagnosed with HIV and I’m going to speak about this with my family. I was not ready to tell my son about this, but sister of my mom was all ready to do so. I was so worried when she told about this because I know my son very well. I was questioning her, “how he is react?” She said, “he was too painful for him and he was crying because ehe think his mother is going to die soon.” But with the power of God and trust my son is alright now. When he see his mom he see a normal, negative mother. The mother that he had before.

Now I have a 3 year old beautiful girl after I know my status. And I hope is going to be a old girl in front of my eyes. Nothing can change that because I know God is always there for us , every step we take at our lives. I’m not scared to talk about my status. From everywhere in the world I see many people in papers and magazines with HIV/AIDS. They are look healthy and they are beautiful, nothing wrong about that. So, what is going to stop me to look like them?

Written in English, but Ntombekhaya's native language is Xhosa.

The First Time I Got Sick - Nompikiso's Story

In 2002 the person who infected me with the disease died then I went to the doctor to get tested. And I discovered that I was HIV positive. Then I told my sister and she cried cause of the fact that many people with HIV die, but I told her not to worry because I was going to take good care of myself.

In my house I live alone. My baby lives with their dad. The disease that I’m having is breaking my heart, but I’m getting treatment. My dream is to get well. This disease wants someone who can take good care of herself, who can not do other things that she’s not supposed to do. It’s been from 2002 to 2008 living with this virus and I’m taking good care of myself. I eat healthy and I’m getting used to being HIV positive.

Translated from Xhosa by: Ziyanda L.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Today I gave out the cameras at the Raphael Centre. The women couldn’t have been more pleased! It was so wonderful to see them so excited.

We did a little tutorial on how to use the camera and they got started by taking pictures of each other to help me keep the cameras organized. They were so cute! I also gave them their writing assignments for the Festival. The women were a lot more open about HIV/AIDS when talking to me about what they were going to write than I expected them to be. I was surprised. I’m interested to see what they write.

I’m picking the cameras back up in a week and we’re having a celebratory lunch. I wanted to reward them with something nice. They don’t get much food at the Centre, so I thought it would be nice to surprise them. I should have the pictures by the end of the day Wednesday. I was told that the photo place was putting them onto a disc for me. If that happens then I should be able to post them. Not all of the women were there today, so the rest of the cameras will be given out as they come.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with. I hope it’s as powerful as it can be. Below are some pictures of the ladies and their cameras.

Dreams and a Dose of Reality

I'm still visiting the Raphael Centre every Wednesday for our classes. Things are going well, although the number of women has recently dropped. The last few weeks there have only been four women, but we still enjoy our time together. This past Wednesday we drew then spent almost a half hour just talking.

This week we drew our dreams for ourselves. When I came in and told the ladies that I wanted them to draw their dream for their lives one turned to me and said, "it's too late for me to have any dreams." I reassured her that this wasn't true and the three women proceeded to draw their dreams. Two of the women had the same dream, to have a nice house to live with their family. They both drew elaborate houses with their families inside. "Where would you want this dream house to be," I asked the women. "It doesn't matter," one replied, "as long as I'm healthy and with my family." She couldn't be more correct. The other woman drew a limousine-like car. Packed into the vehicle was her large family. In broken English she told me that she wanted a car big enough to fit all of the women in her family. "I want to drive with my daughters (two twins, age 12 and one daughter age 28), my mother and my sisters," she told me. "Where would you go," I asked. "Anywhere we wanted," she answered.

This time I hadn't drawn alongside the women, instead I drew them a color wheel to help with their beading project. When they finished showing me their drawings one asked me, "What's your dream?" I had to think for a second before realizing that I was virtually living my dream. "My dream is to spend my time between Washington DC and South Africa creating artwork with HIV/AIDS patients and their families, like I'm doing right now. My other dream is that one day I will not have to create artwork with HIV/AIDS patients because there will be a cure," I told them. They all smiled at me and one began asking me questions about my motives for working with the HIV/AIDS population. I told her about the AIDS Walk and my experience with Teen Pep. I told her about the differences in the population worldwide and how I think that art can help. "Drawing with you helps me forget," she said. "Forget what," I asked. "Forget that I'm sick," she said. Dreams do come true, I guess...

Last week when I was with the women I was slapped in the face with the reality of working with the HIV/AIDS population. The same three women and I were sitting at a table outside drawing. Since I keep all of their drawings and bring them every time I asked if they wanted to see the first drawings they did. They were excited to see the first work they did with me, so I started showing them the drawings from the beginning. They laughed at each other’s drawings. On top of the pile was my favourite, a drawing that I wrote about here on my first day of class [link]. The image is of a traditional symbol of a heart along with a narrative. The narrative discusses the woman’s wish to have God keep her alive long enough to see her son graduate. I looked at the picture and I was touched all over again. One of the women then asked to see the picture. I handed it to her and a strange look came across her face. “She died recently,” she told me. “What?” I asked. I knew that there was a funeral lately, but I didn’t realize it was a woman I knew. The woman hadn’t been back since the first class, but women in my classes come and go. The saddest part was that her wish never came true. Her son will mostly likely graduate in November and she’s not here to witness it. I have now decided to dedicate the exhibit to her and will have the image displayed. I also hope to get a copy to her son if possible.

The festival is around the corner and I’m trying to prepare as best I can. I’m waiting for some important packages to come, but everything is held up in customs. It’s annoying, but that’s the system here. I will be handing out the cameras soon, but I’m waiting for more. I also am having trouble finding Xhosa translators. I finally heard from Kodak and they will be printing the photos at a steep discount. They’re printing a set of photos for each woman as well as fifty 8”x10” photos for 1000 rand, which is excellent. I’m very excited. Now I just need to get everything else prepared.

On Monday the women will begin beading which will be very exciting. I’ll be going on Monday to see how they’re doing. I hope to purchase something for myself, which will obviously hold a lot of meaning for me. The ladies are very excited and I’m excited for them!

I’m also working on planning an exhibit at home and at school for the summer and fall. I hope that works out.

Portraits

As part of my own art project I will be doing simple black and white portraits of the women, then drawing them to possibly be part of my thesis in the future. Today I started by taking portraits of the six women present. We had a lot of the fun. I didn't give them any direction, so they posed as they wished and I photographed them. My favorites were the ones they didn't like.

Nomfundo and Her Daughter, Olwaso

Nomfundo's daughter, Olwaso

Ntombekhaya Adam's Daughter

Nomsa "Sheila" Ntile

Veliswa "Patricia" Matinise

Ntombekhaya "Patricia" Mpolweni

Ntombekhaya Adam's Daughter Drawing with Me

Ntombekhaya "Patrica" Adam

Phumeza "Pamella" Maholo

Nomfundo "Tamara" Nojoko

Visit #4

Today I had my fourth visit with the women at the center. It was nice to be back up there after being away for a few weeks for break. While I was gone I received two packages from home with lots of art supplies, as well as beads and beading material for the women at the center. I brought the beading supplies to Jabu (the head of the Raphael Centre) this morning and she was thrilled. She and I cannot believe the amount of support I have gotten from home - the art supplies were enough, but now I'm getting beads and money for developing the photos, too - it's amazing! I'm so pleased! The women will be selling the jewelry that they make with the beads and the money will go directly to the women, with a small portion being donated to the center. Anyone interested in purchasing jewelry or AIDS ribbon pins please contact me via email and let me know.

After taking a two week trip and making lots of fabulous memories, I decided that this would be the theme of my first class back - "My Favorite Memory." There were only a six women there because some of the other ladies were continuing their Easter holiday, while others were visiting another woman in the hospital and sadly a few were still grieving over a recent AIDS-related death. The six of us and two of their beautiful baby girls sat around the table with our crayons and our memories, drawing away. They chatted in Xhosa, occasionally asking me about my break in English. It was relaxing to enjoy my morning with them. When everyone was done we stood up and shared our favorite memories.

I have photographed their drawings and posted them below. Narratives written in English are typed exactly as written, those in Xhosa are roughly translated through their verbal narrative shared during class. In the future all Xhosa writing will be translated into English by a Xhosa speaker so there will be no more guesswork.



Nomsa "Sheila" Ntile (left)

This is Nomsa and her boyfriend on Valentine's Day. He gave her presents and he gave her children presents, too. It was a "happy day."










Nomfundo "Tamara" Nojoko (right)

"It was me, my boyfriend & my baby and it was Sunday morning. We were cooking a nice dinner for us and Olwaso (the baby) was playing with her toys while we were cooking. It was a nice day. We were laughing, playing music, kissing while we were cooking."








Ntombekhaya "Patricia" Adam (left)

"Happy Memories:
The Day of Valentine here at Raphael Centre

There are clients that eat lunch at the centre hall. At that day we make us happy by share nice food, and show the way we love each other."







Ntombekahaya "Patrica" Mpolweni (right)

This is Ntombekahaya with her nieces going to pick up her sister from the Greyhound station coming from Johannesburg. After they picked her up they had a good lunch at KFC!








Phumeza "Pamela" Maholo (left)

"My family. We are going to church in the Easter week."








Veliswa "Patricia" Matinise (right)

This is Veliswa and her family going to church on Christmas. They do this every year and she loves it.









After the women all shared their favorite memories and drawings I shared mine - the day I got my acceptance letter to WAC. I did a simple drawing of the side of my face as I read the letter. I told the women my story about having to work really hard in high school to get into college and how it felt finally making it. They all applauded for me. By the end of this experience my favorite memory is going to be quite different...

Visit #2

Yesterday I had my second session at the Raphael Centre. It was not nearly as exciting as last time, but it was still a lot of fun and I think that the participants got a lot out of it.

The weather in Grahamstown was awful yesterday. It rained and rained all day, so I suspected that there would be few people at the center. When I arrived I was greeted by six women eating their breakfast. As they finished breakfast I prepared myself for the lesson. As I looked around the room I realized that none of these women were there during the first session, so I would just repeat what I did the week before: symbols.

The ladies were excited to draw and paint. They eagerly picked up the colored pencils and began drawing for me. After the first woman finished she asked for another paper. Soon all the women were asking for another sheet and then another. Each woman drew me three different pictures. Another surprise was a man who came to join us about halfway through my time there. He drew, as well. It was nice to have a man in the group, I've never seen one there before. He promised to come back next week.

The products this time were a lot different than last time. A common theme was gardens and animals, two things that I think are also therapeutic. Also, this time only two women wrote in English, so I asked a girl down the hall from he to translate the Xhosa for me. When that is done I will post everything here.

I heard a rumor that there's a scanner on campus that I can use and I'm going to try and get there ASAP so I can scan the images and put them up here. I think it's important for their drawings/paintings to be seen.

One item that stuck out to me this week was a poster-style painting that one woman drew. Across the top it says "HIV & AIDS" in bright colors, then she wrote: "HIV is the virus is no cure. When I disclose about myself it was 1999 (she was 17). I like the Raphael Centre. I love the people I stay with at the Centre. My family love me to." I thought it was very brave of her to write this on a poster like this. She did exactly what I want them to do with their photographs: make HIV/AIDS personal. She painted two other pictures, as well. One of her house and yard that says "dreams can come true," and another of the farm that her father grew up on. The tree that she drew in her yard is so beautiful. She is a wonderful artist and spent a lot of time on her work.

I will post the rest when I get them translated.

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I have been receiving emails about donations and I have been made aware of campaigns for donations that are being done in the States. I want to thank everyone involved. I never imagined that this project could grow so much, but now that it is I am thrilled. The women at the Raphael Centre, as well as the street children, will all appreciate your donations more than I could ever express. Thank you very much for your support.

Anyone interested in donating art supplies or disposable cameras, please email me at KarenHye@aol.com

Thank you again!

Visit #1

Today I went to work with the women for the first time. We talked about symbols. I asked the ladies to draw something that she believed symbolizes who she is. Unfortunately I do not have a scanner and my camera is not adequately capturing the images. I will find a way to get the images on here eventually, but the following is what some of the women wrote:

Priscilla:

“My heart makes me who I am, very strong and meaningful. I always follow my heart. If my heart says no then it is no. I always trust my heart. It makes me feel good. My kids are my everything. I would do anything if you try to hurt them. They are my inspiration. They made me who I am. I always ask God to keep me alive until they finish school and start working. I don’t even care how much HIV and AIDS can try to put me down. I always bring myself up and wait for the day when my youngest son is old enough to work.”

When Priscilla told me her story she explained that her son is 20 years old (my age) and in eleventh grade. She seemed embarrassed. “He had cancer,” she told me, “that’s why he’s so late in school. He was in the hospital a lot when he was younger and missed a lot of school.” Despite his troubles he went back to school and is finishing his education. “I ask God everyday to keep me long enough to see my son [finish school]. After that AIDS can take me.”

[Priscilla drew a picture of a heart. The heart is drawn like a traditional symbol of a heart, but then she also added valves and such]

Gladys:

“My home and my family are very important to me. Also I have a child who I love so much. He is the gift from God. Why am I proud of the above-mentioned things? Because my home is where I live. My family support me in every step of the way in my life. Even this period of sickness they still are with me. That gift that I have already told you about is the major priority in my life. I have skills I am doing.”

[Gladys drew a picture of her house, herself, beading and a star. She explained her house and the beading and then said, “I drew a star because it is a symbol of the star I want to be.”]

Buyiswa:

“I have no parents. I have only two sisters. [My parents died] when I was thirteen years old. I know how to cook because my two sisters teach me everything at my home and I know cleaning my home and sewing hats.”

[Buyiswa drew her two sisters and her stove with pots on it]

Nombulelo:

”My family is so important to me in my life. If I am sick they are the most important to me. They are the one who look after me and we live in a happy home. You don’t hear us fighting and shouting. My husband don’t like to do wrong things to the person. He is a nice guy. I like to stay with him. He is not the father of my son, but you can’t see that. He loves him. He do for him everything that he want. My son is 11 years old. I was very corrupt in my younger age, but for the sake of him [I changed].”

[Nombuelo drew her husband Moses and her baby’s Sonwabo’s face]

Ntombizandile:

“I was born here in Grahamstown in Tantyi Location. I grew up with my brothers and sisters, two brothers and five sisters. We used to go to church every Saturdays. My father worked at Colobruk for years so that he can make each of us everything we want to be. Now I’m old enough. I’ve got my own family and I know how to cope with my children. The oldest one is working. He shared his salary with me and his sisters which are still in school. No matter I’m sick I know that my family is still loves me. That’s what I’m proud of. My parents, they makes me live my life stronger and safer.”

Ntombizandile had a baby boy with her. He was wrapped up on her back. He was beautiful and healthy. She expressed her sadness to me that eventually her son will have to grow up without a mother.

[Ntombizandile drew portraits of her father and mother]

Additional drawings/stories:

[These were either written in Xhosa or are just a drawing with no narrative]

Monica:

Written in Xhosa. Monica drew her house with her family in it and her mother and father wearing very elaborate clothing. The house is very detailed, as well.

Mutiwe:

No narrative: Mutiwe drew her and her two sons eating apples. The apples are very large, up to their waists. The clothing is also very detailed like Monica’s.

Thelma:

Written in Xhosa. Thelma drew her children. Two are just heads and two have bodies. She uses interesting shapes to configure the bodies, rather than stick figures or circles.

Noziplo:

Written in Xhosa. Noziplo drew her mother. She talked about how much her mother means to her and how much she loves her mom. The drawing is also rather detailed showing her mother in heels with earrings and rings.