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May 06, 2005
How To Remember...
There are so many wonderful experiences that I have enjoyed in my life, but have forgotten over the years. That’s where the Moleskin journal comes in. I try to keep a record of things that mean something to me on paper. It’s amazing what you forget over time. It’s also amazing how a sketch or a few scribbled notes will help you to remember. You don’t have to be a brilliant writer or an accomplished artist to keep either a written or visual journal. Stick figures with annotations will trigger memories you would otherwise have forgotten.
I have recorded most of my trips back to Africa in my Moleskin journals and each little picture is the ‘start’ button to many memories that I always want to remember.
The sketches above are from a small village called Morgan Bay in South Africa. The mother in the bigger sketch, Pamela, is the wife of my friend Ben, an Australian. Ben turned this small South African town upside down by marrying Pamela, who was a servant working at the hotel where Ben tended bar. This was a first in the town where most white people and their African neighbors don’t mix socially.
I saw another side of life in South Africa thanks to Pamela and Ben. Not the life you see in the wonderful resort brochures featuring five star hotels and smiling people drinking cocktails with umbrellas in them. I saw the life of the people who serve the cocktails. The warm and friendly African staff who actually form the ‘heart’ of most of these resorts. I saw how an extremely poor community still manages to find rhythm and joy within poverty.
I had the privilege of spending many wonderful afternoons in the village where the family live. The hours I spent sitting on an apple crate and drawing in the dusty unpaved streets was an incredible experience. The little village kids would crowd around and watch the strange white man drawing pictures everywhere he went. They would grin from ear to ear with their beautiful pearl white teeth as they peered over my shoulder to see what I was drawing. “Draw me. Draw me,” they would sing, dancing in front of me.
Ah. What a pleasure to flip through my Africa Journal #5 and enjoy some of the most inspiring times I can remember.
Posted by trevor at May 6, 2005 10:43 AM
Comments
I like this entry. Your memory of times with simply kind people warms my heart today. i don't know much about Africa but lately I've been thinking many of us westerners would do well to learn more about Africa and all of its peoples. So much of our impressions of other parts of the world are so distorted.
Thank you.
Posted by: patricia gregory at May 6, 2005 11:51 AM
beautiful pictures and lovely story Trevor! Oh how i long to go back to Africa! I was born in Casablanca Morocco . The last time i was there was when i was 19.......31 years ago!
violette
Posted by: violette at May 6, 2005 10:16 PM