Location: Wallacedene, Cape Town, South Africa
Contact: philip_crockett@hotmail.co.uk
My number with a face is without a doubt, the undisputed, undefeated heavy weight champion of the world for cuteness and AWWWWWW factor! I met her when I was building a home for her aunt in the township of Wallacedene, just outside Stellenbosch, South Africa. My homeowner’s sister would come around to help build and make lunch for the builders and us labourers When I first met her she was a little on the shy side, and me being a 6foot 2inch “white” thing towering above a wee 5year old girl, no wonder! She would sneak a little sideways look out from underneath her red hooded coat at me with her big round brown eyes and just stare in silence for a second before turning and walking back to her mum. She got a little more adventurous whenever her mother was wearing her in a sling around her back. Being up at our level was just not as intimidating it seemed and she started to smile and to giggle and to chat away to me and everyone else on the site.The following day I came into the homeowner’s shack, made from scrap wood and tin, whilst the women were making dinner. The shack had two rooms, a store and a room for living, eating and sleeping. The girl was standing in the makeshift door way between these rooms, just looking out through another doorway to the building site that had taken over the front yard in the last few days. She didn’t move at all as I entered the room just turned her head and looked for her mum, but I crouched down onto my honkers and she seemed to be reassured. I had brought my video camera that day and moved to my bag to get it. It has a small LCD display on it, which I was able to rotate around so she could watch herself as I filmed.
At first she must have been thinking “what is this big eejit doing with this shiny silver thing” but as soon as I switched it on she was mesmerised. It is extremely hard for me to convey to anyone, in words or otherwise, those next 15 minutes of my life but its fair enough to say they changed it. I was crouched in the middle of a rotting, smelling, leaking, cold, damp, dark shack but all I could focus on, all I or anyone else who was there could see, was the pure innocence and sheer joy on the face of this young girl. I’ve never seen, and am unlikely to see again such un-adulterated, absolute and perfect delight in a human being. Her eyes were fixed upon the screen, except for the moments she turned round to get her mum, who was watching from the other room, to look at the screen pointing with her hand and giggling as she did. I began to twiddle my fingers over my lower lip creating a smacking sound, she copied using her whole hand to wiggle her lips and again some more of those beautiful giggles came out as she watched herself. Those giggles and laughs shall remain with me till the day I die.
At one stage she just stopped and looked straight into the camera, her hand in her mouth but no smile, no giggles, just her usual everyday expression. I’m at a lost for words to describe this moment and can only say that beauty was defined in her. She continued to watch herself, swinging her foot about, giggling and at one stage playing hide and seek with the camera. 15 minutes of her life that I believe have changed mine entirely and for that I thank her. The following days on the build site were all awe inspiring, everyday you met people and heard stories all of which made me look at life and how we treat others in the world a little differently but everyday the one person who affected me the most was this young girl. After the video camera day she always approached me with a smile and loved to get picked-up, to be up high and giggle and laugh at all she could see.She is part of the numbers that gets thrown out in the many statistics that are used by charity and government reports. but surely no number has got as beautiful a face.
Useful Notes...
The program that Phil participated in is organised by the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland; headed by Rev. Steve Stockman. To gain further information about the trip, please visit the following sites:
http://www.adamharbinson.com/StockiinCapetown.htm
http://medialook.org.uk/innovation_conceptv5/ver5/intro.htm
http://www.stocki.ni.org/caress/capetown.phtml
Habitat for Humanity International seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and currently operates acrosst the globe, including South Africa and Northern Ireland.
Bridges of Hope is a social-action organization dedicated to helping in the fight against AIDS in Africa.
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