Once
upon a time in Inanda a curious puppy decided it was brave enough to take on a
chicken. The chicken won. The pup lost its eye. A man found the pup, and rescued
it from the chicken. The dog has never left the man’s sight since. A friend of
the owner said, ‘This dog is big problem. It follows the man everywhere. Whenever
you see the dog you know you will find the man. Dog make him get caught
cheating – wife loves the dog!’ We all roared with laughter.
I
did a rural shoot in the poorest place I’ve ever stepped foot in.
Even
the one-eyed dog enjoyed every second watching the team warm up and supporting
them from the field’s edge.
The
company I work for sponsors a football team in the heart of Inanda
(Pleasant Place), eastern KwaZulu-Natal, and they needed a photographer to
capture the handover of the gear and a few shots of the game. I simply couldn’t
resist, not truly taking into account that the four of us would be the only
whites amongst hundreds of blacks where the opposition’s team and fans didn’t
particularly favour sponsorship from white people. ‘We can win without white
people!’ ‘We don’t need white people to take us to England!’ Not to mention the
smoking of whoonga – apparently now known as the cruellest drug of South African
slums – all in the midst of children…
Unfortunately,
‘our’ team lost.
In
hindsight – not so sure it should be done again…