Inventory of the Lewis Hine Fellowship Photographs Collection, 2003-2008

Children of a family in the Metlagole, North West.

School with special services for children with disabilities in Ramfontein, Free State.

Children from a refugee family Sunday at market in Baldwin, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Fetching water from rivers running through an asbestos-laden dam in Ag-Thabane, Limpopo.

Children of farm laborers on the way to school in Hirsenbosch, Western Cape.

Preparing to serve dinner for thirteen, nine children, five adopted from sisters who have passed away in Unkunkulu, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

HIV+ mother with her baby Hauperville, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Preparing for school in Unkunkulu, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Sisters playing at Hindi temple in Baldwin, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

San children at play in Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

Children performing afternoon Du'as in Baldwin, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Children of farm laborers in Hirsenbosch, Western Cape.

Family in Metlagole, North West (Note: within the old homeland of Boputatswana).

Unemployed in Unkunkulu, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

In a shelter for neglected and abused children in Wanoni, Gauteng.

Morning playtime in Ramfontein, Free State.

Watching a soccer match in Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

In Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

Late afternoon in Unkunkulu, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Ironing and keeping warm in Unkunkulu, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Being mischievous in Ag-Thabane, Limpopo.

Grandfather resting in Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

In Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

In Vleifontein, Northern Cape.

Orphaned children in Hauperville, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

Church at a neighbor's home in Hirsenbosch, Western Cape.

Watching cartoons in Baldwin, Kwa Zulu-Natal.

In shelter for neglected and abused children in Wanoni, Gauteng.

Scottsdrift, Northern Cape.

Metlagole, North West.

“I have a sister her name is Furaha, she was born in South Africa. Actually she has never been to Burundi from the time she was born until now. She is two years already. She'd like to go to Burundi and visit her grandmother and uncle and people who know us from the time we were in Burundi. I think even Gerard and Jacques can't remember Burundi very well because they left the time they were kids. I think they don't know anything about the war there because they were young. I don't know.”- Wawa, 15 years old.

“I can't explain what [Katolo] tastes like, you can taste for yourself, it grows wild. It comes from Namibia and is part of our staple diet. You can eat it with pap or other food but if you really want to enjoy it you must have it with meat.”- Father.

“It reminds me of the time I ran away from home and came to Gauteng. I was around these huge buildings and I was so frightened, just to look at the buildings. I was so scared I didn't know where to go. I was just crying all the way and people were just staring at me. I was so frightened. Then I thought, maybe I should go and sit where there are no buildings and lots of people around, so I went to this place over here. I was sitting over there and it was so quiet but still I was crying. When these big men would just pass I was so scared, I just thought that maybe one would come and rape me. I just thought something bad can happen to me. But I just sat there until the other girl who I was with said we must take another walk.”- Marlene, 15 years old.

“In Vleifontein we now have taps and don't fetch water from the river. Because we are becoming modernised we now have to pay for water. It is going to be difficult since many people are unemployed and do not have an income to pay for water.”- Father.

Tug of war.

“Willem started getting therapy from the age of around three months, six months something around there...He's still keeping on with his therapy. He gets therapy twice a week from school, he has improved a lot.”- Mom.

“When we were playing we stayed close so if [our mother] called us we would hear her because she was sick. Me and Lungile were discussing that, and how our mother was important to us. She helped us get what we wanted at school.”- Nikiwe, 11 years old.

“I'd like to be very famous and have money.”- Nikiwe, 11 years old.

Baby's portrait.

“If I go to school that's good because there is no future without education. I want to train to become a policewoman, not just become one. I'd like me and my sisters to be successful and admirable in our community, to be able to help other people like we were helped to be educated.”- Gcina, 17 years old.

“This is my older brother Wawa he wants to be a musician in his life, his favorite musician is Tupac. He calls himself Tupac whatever he's doing. Even in this picture he posed like Tupac. If you know Tupac you will see how it resembles Tupac. Everything is Tupac, Tupac, Tupac...In this picture he's dressed pocket down and calls himself a nigga. In every part of his life he wants to be like Tupac.”- Salumu, 14 years old.

Vineyard workers.

“Broken” is a short drama created by the students of MADaboutART that brings to light the issue of incestuous rape and family stigma against children in their community. “Gardening Eden” is a short film that documents the understanding of the importance of caring for the environment, as well as the efforts of the students at MADaboutART to reduce and clean up garbage dumping within their community. Each short film has a running time of approximately four minutes.

This film is a documentary that highlights three Hero Book stories from MADaboutART, an arts-based HIV education center in South Africa. A Hero Book is a hand made book in which the child is the author, illustrator, and main character. The aim of the “One Child, One Hero Book” campaign is for youth to share with other youth their own strategies in the face of problems. The documentary guides the viewer through the stories of three HIV positive individuals (two children and one young adult) who have created Hero Books. The prompts for the sharing of their stories include: 1. My Self-Portrait; 2. My Community's Problems and Strengths; 3. An Early Memory; 4. My Problem; 5. One Shining Moment - When I Overcame My Problem; 6. Tricks to Overcome My Problem; 7. Me, the Hero. The running time for this documentary is approximately twenty-five minutes.

Preparation for a “white wedding ceremony” performed by Lesedi la Bophelo Cultural Group, a dance and drama group for children living in Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Siblings in front of their home, a four-room shack attached to a Black Apostolic church where their father is pastor. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Teapot against the texture of wallpaper made of newspaper advertisements. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Funeral ceremony feast. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Four years ago the owner of a tuck shop or dry goods store in Grassland Phase II fled his home of Bangladesh, leaving his wife and two children. “Do you want to see them,” he asks, pulling a negative of his children out of his wallet and holding it up to the light. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Rehearsal, Lesedi la Bophelo Cultural Group. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Children in front yard doing chores. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Family and friends take turns throwing the first fistfuls of dirt into the deceased's grave. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

After Nicho's sister passed-away he moved into her shack. On his day off from work he plants his garden, both for food and decoration. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

A landscape formerly owned by Afrikaner farmers is reshaped as the land's new inhabitants fell trees and disassemble abandoned structures to harvest firewood and collect building materials. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

A young child finds playfulness in front of her home. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Ntabitseng requests a portrait in front of her home. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Women holding a map of Grassland Phase II showing the division of land into 2,883 individual half-hectare plots, referred to as sites. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

While several residents are busy upgrading their living structures with mud and cement brick, the majority of Grassland Phase II residents continue living in shacks. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

During a funeral service at the St. Johannes Lutheran Church for a deceased resident of Grassland Phase II. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Elizabeth on her front porch a few weeks before her husband passes away. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Flanked by lion statues, the former entry to an Afrikaner-owned farm is divided down the middle where two sites meet. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Flanked by lion statues, the former entry to an Afrikaner-owned farm is divided down the middle where two sites meet. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

An orphaned young girl lives with her grandmother, brother, two sisters, and nephew. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Mpewane Adelineh Mananzi, matron of Lesedi la Bophelo (Light of Life) Creche, provides early childhood education for several children in Grassland Phase II. She recently opened her crèche and is receiving support and practical information from Diketso Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust (DEDI) concerning the sustainability of her crèche. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

A group of children crowd around the camera's viewfinder, interrupting their chores. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Wet laundry on the line. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Children handing out in the yard. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Child living with her grandparents, while her mother remains living in Lesotho. Her grandfather works at a golf course and her grandmother sells homemade African beer. Selling homemade beer is illegal, yet, because it is relatively inexpensive and easy to produce, many people find it to be a lucrative business, especially in the face of 40-45% unemployment rates among Grassland's population. Throughout the day neighbors come to drink at their house. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Fifty-gallon steel drum doghouse. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Shadrack's grandchildren pick the remaining pieces of meat from the bone after he has finished eating from it. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

At a community day celebration children are served soup and pap, a corn porridge, donated by the owner of a corner store. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Repairing the roof. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Monaheng in the doorway of his home. Monaheng and his wife, Mpewane, moved into an abandoned farmhouse a year before the land it stood on was bought and died into the 2,883 individual half-hectare sites that now make up Grassland Phase II. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

During funeral preparations for her grandfather, four sheep are sacrificed the night of the vigil. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Nine-year old boy kicking a bottle dangling on a string in the wind and dust. He is visiting his mother during school vacation, but will return to his grandparent's home in a town several hundred kilometers away at the end of his two-week stay. His mother is unemployed and his father is in Johannesburg looking for work. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Dusk. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Braiding her boyfriend's hair. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Mother of seven, Elsie lifts her 3-week old son in front of the entrance of her home. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Despite a shack's outside appearance it is not uncommon to find modern appliances filling its interior spaces. In some homes these appliances are used, but for the majority they prove too expensive to actually plug in. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Sun, dust and other elements of weather pass through holes in corrugated iron sheets and burlap that make-up this family's shack. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Margaret, 7 months pregnant, in her shop where she sells fruits and vegetables, snacks, paraffin, and other staple goods. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

The embrace. Lesedi la Bophelo Cultural Group, a dance and drama group for children, perform a “white wedding ceremony” for the residents of Grassland Phase II. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

Dikeledi, 16, lives with her grandparents after being orphaned a year ago. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

A child's shadow falls on a patchwork floor. Grassland Phase II, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2004.

When I asked Tesfaye what he wants to be when he grows up, he answered that his dream is to be a doctor. The next day, a group of doctors came to the home to do check-ups, and Tesfaye received his first medical lesson.

Salam slips off into a daydream as she comforts the group home mother who is HIV positive and feeling sick. Salam aspires to be a doctor when she grows up so she can cure her beloved group home mother.

After washing her face, Addis patiently waits for her group home mother to fix her hair for school.

Alem and Mesfin (seated) are surrounded by the neighbors who took care of them. I accompanied Yewoinshet when she went to get the children to take them into HFC. I could see that the neighbors loved them dearly but could not be their caretakers.

In addition to running Hope for Children (HFC), founder and director Yewoinshet Masresha serves as a parental figure and confidant for many of the children.

When at all possible HFC allows children to stay in their own communities and families. Sarah's aunt, and primary caretaker, points to a photograph of Sarah's mother who passed away from the virus several years ago.

Alem shows off her mother's identification card, one of the only items she brought with her to the group home.

Margaret, a group home mother, explains to me her sorrow at the departure of two of the children. Although the children's needs were met, they were unhappy in a controlled environment and decided to return to the streets of Addis Ababa.

Muslim and Christian children living together in the group homes has not caused a problem other than the different cooking requirements. When asked if they would rather live in separate homes, the children responded, We don't want to be separated, we are brothers and sisters. At present, living together seems to create understanding and tolerance, but I sensed that HFC staff members worried about what will happen when the children enter their teenage years.

Rahel and Kaleb have been raised by Nazanet since they were both a few weeks old. They are inseparable and have a very special love for each other. Over the years the relationship between these two children has become an inspiration for people in the HFC community. When someone is having a bad day, the remedy is to go and visit Rahel and Kaleb.

During an impromptu photo session, Abebech asked me to take her picture and struck a pose for the camera.

Days after joining her new family Mary has begun to interact with the other children but is not yet ready to join them in the daily routines.

While playing outside her house Sarah suffered a terrible fall. The subsequent gangrenous infection took such a hold that she had to have her arm amputated. Hope For Children is currently raising money for a prosthetic arm. Medical attention for amputees in Ethiopia is limited, and many of them end up using their disability to beg on the street.

After their parents passed away Tesfaye and his older brother lived with their blind grandmother. Although the grandmother is no longer able to look after the two boys she visits them regularly. During this visit Tesfaye's grandmother touched his shoes, clothes, and face to make sure he was being well looked after. With my basic Amharic I was able to understand that she was whispering to him to study hard, mind his group home mother, and become an important person.

Each HFC group home is different, but the love and support the children give each other exists in every one of them. I was amazed to observe the empathy and understanding between children who were not born siblings but have become family.

“The NSSA house is the government building where a Zimbabwean would file to collect a deceased relative's pension. The process of claiming a pension, however, is made difficult by a complicated system that requires multiple forms of identification and documentation. So far, a lack of proper documentation has made it impossible for Farai to receive his father's pension.”