I was born to Eileen Dorothy and Sidney Alexander on the 06 March, When I was 2 years old my mother got Polio and spent 10 months in hospital, first flat on the back and paralyzed from the wast down and then learning how to sit, take care of her self and how manage life in a wheel chair, only walking 1 hour a week for exercise, with bases and crutches, for the rest of her life.
My Father walked out about the time she came out of hospital, saying he could not live with a wheelchair. It was because my mother could no longer pick up his dirty cloths and mother him, and also because he liked the ladies, always has and always will. He did not choose to be in my life much.
My mother and I lived a poor simple life, in a bachelor flat, until I was in high school, when we moved into a one bedroom, which we shared. Our first TV was given to my mother by her work colleges. I never had my own room until she retired and moved into a two bedroom flat and we only got a car when I turned 18 years, so that I could help with the driving.
My mother was a remarkable woman, and not only worked at the same company for 22 years but was chair lady of Cripple Care Vereeniging for many, many years, and won a award for her service to the community from Round Table. I strive to follow in her footsteps.
I did ballet and horse riding, which I really enjoyed and help mold me, as a child and teenager, all because of kind teachers who sponsored me most of the time. I played hockey and was part of the debating club at high school.
My grand parents on my mother side were the best grandparents ever, they not only visited us, but paid for us to go on holiday with then, until they were to old to make the long trips from Durban to Vereeniging and then to Warm-baths. And then paid for us to come to Durban and visit them.
I left school at the end of grade 11, because my mother could no longer afford the hostel fees of the boarding school in Potchefstroom and did a one year course of Typing, shorthand and office management. Hated working in a office. I signed up with a Correspondence collage and did my matric while working.
When I was 21 years old, I signed up to become a nurse and then after qualifying nursed for nearly 6 years, some of the best years of my life, It was very rewarding and I was able to give back to the community.
By this time I had met and married my husband Joe and we had got married. I stopped work to become a mother and my first son Daniel was born in Taiwan in Dec 1988, motherhood was wonderful and 18 months and 1 day later our Twins Kevin and Roxanne were born in Vereeniging, because Joe was away on army duty for 7 months. I took the twins and Daniel home to Taiwan when they were 3 months old, we had to wait for the weather to even out, Taiwan was to hot 35 Degrees and Vereeninging was to cold - 6 Degrees the day they were born.
My wonderful mother passed away from cancer in July 1998, I miss her so much.
We all lived happily in Taiwan till the twins went to school and then the problems started, Because all the children were diagnosed with ADD and have high IQ's and the schools in Taiwan, can only give children with low IQ's extra classes, and those children are labeled for life even on their ID cards when they are older as having a low IQ, we decided that it would be better for me and the children to return to South Africa and finish schooling.
So we bought a house in Durban and I got on with the job of raising 3 children on my own, and my husband got on with the job of supporting us and having to pay school fees and aeroplane tickets, because that was the only was we could see each other up to 3 times a year. He would come out twice for a week each visit and we would go back every December holiday and stay 6 to 8 weeks
In 2005 I went the F.E.T Collage of Hairdressing and completed a one year course, 6 weeks after completing the exam, which was a 8 hours practical and 3 hour written exam, my right shoulder started to become very painful at night and I was advised to rest it. This meant my dream of opening my own salon was shattered. It took four years and a lot of pain and physiotherapy. I hardly ever have pain now, which is wonderful
We have been sponsoring girls from disadvantaged homes for the part 10 or 11 years. Our first child is graduated from high school and is working doing a Hairdressing apprenticeship. It is wonderful to see how they grow and become young woman. I believe if you educate a girl you are educating a nation. unfortunately many families will only educate the boys, because they believe that girls will get married and have children, they forget that the mother is the babies first teacher, she has to teach her children their first language. Three of the 5 children (one pic missing) we have sponsored have only a mother, the fathers have either died or deserted the family.
Joined the Department of photography in January 2009, I started with a Canon D 450 EOS and two lenses EFS 18 to 55 mm and a long lens EF-S 55 to 250 mm. It was daunting, as I had always used a point and shoot. Used to sit with the second and third years and ask them questions about the camera, because had not learned all the jargon and did not understand what the little camera book meant sometimes. Times have changed, now I can tell other about how a Canon D 450 EOS works and how to get a good picture.
Last year I did second year and passed with one distinction out of the four subjects.
Here are some of the images that I shot during 2010. My favorite subject was Theory of photography, I found both the Digital and theory classes very interesting and informative.
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