In the past year I spent about 7 months in Cape Town, South Africa â and I never went into the townships where most of the population lives. It's dangerous, they said. Probably true. I didn't question this coming from locals as a warning. I knew there were guided tours for tourists but it just always sounded absurd to me to take a tour to a place where people live under rough conditions and then later return back to your big, safe house with clean, running water and electricity. But I realized looking away doesn't help the people and doesn't solve the problem. So what does? Raising awareness? Maybe! I wanted to find out more and went to three townships in the Cape Town area (Langa, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha) to talk to some people and see for myself. On that day, I've learned so much and I understand now, that it's important to go visit these places.
In 2023 I learned about The Rainbow Team, an initiative that helps raise and empower the next generation of South Africans through soccer. I had multiple photo shoots and interview days with the founders, trainers and of course the players and their families to find out more about this amazing program. The edited interviews will be uploaded here soon.
When I came to South Africa for the second time I wanted to give back to the people and that's how I found out about The Zoe Project. Over the period of a few months they had me trained and certified as a birth companion and here I was supporting mums giving birth at the Mowbray MOU!Â
đŚđđżđźđťđ´ đŽđťđą đľđŽđ˝đ˝đ. These are the mums of Cape Town. They've all had premature babies and had to stay in the KMC ward of the Mowbray Maternity Hospital. KMC stands for Kangaroo Mother Care which entails continuous skin-to-skin contact between mums and newborns.
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Because it benefits the mother-baby bond, increases the milk supply and is just very important for the overall health of the baby in the long-term. It's great that the hospital offers this to mums who otherwise might not necessarily always have the means to care for their preemie the same way. The hospital nurses and doulas from @the_zoe_project see it as their mission to provide guidance, reassurance and practical help for the mums with breastfeeding and general care for their newborn.
In this series of photos I primarily wanted to capture the strength and willpower of these 8 đđźđťđąđ˛đżđłđđš đşđđşđ who couldn't just return home to take care of the rest of their families after giving birth. Some of them have to spend weeks in the KMC until their babies are ready for the outside world which can be tough.
At the same time I wanted to capture the special glow of happiness that you can only find in a new mums eyes and that shows the infinite love for their babies.Â
Isn't it fascinating, how these tiny human beings grow and develop inside a mother's womb in less than 9 months and then become part of their lives?
Uber Conversations
Uber is my main transportation in Cape Town so I spend a lot of my time in cars with strangers. But I don't want them to be strangers and I found out that every Uber driver has an amazing story to tell. So at one point I started writing them down. The man you see in the photo is Tinashe, I once asked him to model for me because of his beautiful unique look. He said he never even thought about being a model and that where he's from it's not an option â until I showed him that it is! Sharing more Uber stories here soon.
Balinese Cultural Event
In 2022 I spent two months in Bali and we visited the community around a guru called Adi Tara quite a lot. They integrated us in daily work and ceremonies and towards the end of our stay I even got invited to capture this cultural event with my camera â which is usually not allowed and was something truely special.
Timeline Story
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