Aha! The lesser spotted blog post of 2021! Who would have thought I would be sitting here in late December thinking ‘well this year has been utterly insane’ after the year we all had in 2020? Not me, I thought this year would be completely golden, oh sweet summer child.
Instead it’s been a murky, tumultuous river… ‘There ain't no gold in this river That I've been washin' my hands in forever’ - okay okay, sorry, no one wants me to blast that out, i’ll save it for the shower. But Adele, I have to disagree, there has been nuggets of gold in the river of 2021.
And here is a 32,150.7 troy ounce nugget. My beautiful, courageous Mom made it through a heart attack, kidney failure and another year with COVID with COPD, severe asthma and living in a third world country. Why do I add on the last bit? because it’s just as life threatening. Zimbabwe’s infrastructure means any sort of medical assistance is exhaustingly expensive in an economy where inflation makes day to day living uncertain and difficult, never mind financially catering for the out of ordinary costs….like heart surgery.
The Doctors available are skilled and mostly excellent, I had my own recent Zimbabwean hospital experience (that is a story for another time) that can attest to that, but there are no cardiac, or really any specialist experts left in the country. So we had to wait for funds, and then fly my Mom down to South Africa for the surgery she desperately needed.
So from the horrendous ambulance ride through to landing back at Harare after surgery, my Mom had a time of it. It was a scary, uncertain and painful time. But a time rife with moments of joy, blessings and love and I will forever be grateful that I was in Zimbabwe with my family during this period.
Which is why on this calm, golden hued afternoon I looked up at my Mom watching the birds through the kitchen window and thought, yes, this is a moment for my camera. I dragged her away from her cooking and we went out into the garden set aglow in a way only an African sunset can light the sky to take this set of images.
Throughout my adult life, I have celebrated emotion authentically through my lens. With my personal branding photography, I celebrate strength, bravery and courage in every brand photoshoot. As each and every small business woman I have ever photographed has inspired me with their phenomenal talent, resilience and determination while stepping up and being visible in their industry.
I was honoured and moved to be able to photograph my own Mom in this way. She has an amazing story and has always been a marker of pure resilience, but watching her fight through the last few months was mind blowing.
I’ll stop rambling now and just leave these here.
